Young Philosopher's Society

By Jasmeet Randhawa

1 year ago, on May 24th, the world stood in shock, as we witnessed yet another school shooting take place in Texas, USA.

The Uvalde School Shooting took place on May 24th, 2023. 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a former student of Robb Elementary School, fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers at the school, with nineteen others left injured. The shooting was one of the most deadly in school history. Makenna Lee Elrod aged 10, Layla Salazar, aged 11, Maranda Mathis, aged 11, Nevaeh Bravo, aged 10, Jose Manuel Flores Jr., aged 10, Xavier Lopez aged 10, Tess Marie Mata, aged 10, Rojelio Torres, aged 10, Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia, aged 9, Eliahna A. Torres, aged 10, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, aged 10, Jackie Cazares, aged 9, Uziyah Garcia, aged 11, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, aged 10, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, aged 10, Jailah Nicole Silguero, aged 10, Irma Garcia, aged 48, Eva Mireles, aged 44, Amerie Jo Garza, aged 10, Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, aged 10, and Alithia Ramirez, aged 10, all lost their lives in the event. You can read more about their stories, who they were, and how they were loved in the source listed here.

It is important that we remember not only the shooter, but honour the lives lost. Not only in terms of the victims, but also the people who loved them, as they had their whole life changed in a singular moment from the push of a trigger.

I myself lived through a “school shooting” of sorts. On Thursday March 9th, of this year, a shooter was identified in my school, with a BB gun/replica firearm. We were all very confused, sitting in second period, when a lockdown was called. We didn’t know what was going on, thinking it was a drill, until we realized it was real after the calls of our teacher to simmer down.

It was a very interesting experience for sure. I assumed at first it was a false alarm of sorts at first, to me there was no way that a school shooter would come to my little boring slice of suburbia.

It wasn’t until my friends started getting messages on their phone that I realized that this was a bigger issue. In the age of social media and e-communication, information spreads fast. The instagram posts of the “shooter” were all over everyone’s phone, images of him shooting stray bullets at a hospital, story posts about his guns, etc.

Stuck on the third floor, I should’ve been scared. I truly think the only reason I wasn’t was because I still didn’t believe it was real. There was no way that someone could get a gun in this country, we had very strict laws. It was probably some stupid kid acting dumb.

The SWAT team came, along with the police, arrested and eventually the lockdown was lifted. I didn’t know what had happened, and truly the only thing I could think about was the fact that the lockdown had interfered with my history test.

But I later found out, that not everyone was feeling the same. The SWAT team had broken into a classroom, in order to arrest the student. One person, was left traumatized, having had a panic attack when she heard the stamping of the SWAT team, not knowing what was happening. Many others students were scared, calling their parents, in turn many families didn’t know if they were going to ever see their children alive that night.

As I reflect on Uvalde, I think about how lucky I am to live in the country that I live in. Canadian gun laws are strict enough to not allow something like Uvalde to happen here. My school, could have had the same experience as Uvalde. It could have been an AR-15 instead of a BB gun. The motivation was there. The victims were there. We sat for two hours in the dark of a classroom like sitting ducks. All that was missing was the weapon, the gun of the executioner that would have left a stain on the school, the community and forever redefined thousands of lives. In a singular moment, our lives would have been changed from high school students with some of the brightest academic futures to shattered victims of a tragic event. Worse yet, we would not have any life left at all.

It makes me question the rights and liberties that other countries prize. The US, famously has spoken to their 2nd amendments rights within this context. The 2nd amendment in the USA, is “the Right to Bear Arms”, in which the people of the country are allowed to own and use guns in the name of self defense and the support of the security of the state. In a country where school shootings are common, the topic is one of the most controversial hot button issues in the states. I do not intend to make light of the other side, liberty is a fair cause to fight for, and the freedom to make ones own choices is something that I fundamentally prize, but I question the reality of this right, and how it acts counter to the issue trying to be supported.

The United States, was founded by a military militia, that threw off the yoke of the British Empire, establishing a free country, where they did not have to bend the knee to some King a ocean away. To be able to bear those same arms, represents the right used by the Founding Fathers, to stand up for the values of the state that they wanted, to create and protect. It’s a symbol of the power of the citizen, as a singular entity capable of standing up for themselves, and their ideals. To limit that symbol in any capacity is seen as limiting the power of the individual by a tyrannical government authority.

Self defense, is and always should be a human right.

However, the way guns are being used, are NOT what the right was meant to protect. A school shooting does not protect the state. A drive-by does not protect the individual. A homicide does not enshrine life. An armed robbery does not protect liberty. A gun, is not conclusive to the pursuit of happiness.

The ease at which guns can be purchased are jaw-dropping. In Canadian Walmart, the knives are wrapped in so much packaging you couldn’t pry them open without industrial grade scissors. In US, you can go to any Walmart and check the feel of a shotgun in your hands simply by walking through the door.

The idea that we will stop all troubled people from committing any crime through therapy or intervention represents naivety. Prevention, while important, will not stop everyone, and even one child victim of a school shooting is one too many. Barriers are needed, to stop those who would wish to do harm. Mental Health checks, criminal record checks, and gun registries, are all just starting points. Laws that regulate the storage of guns and access to guns within households are also becoming more and more necessary. There should be fines and penalties in place for improper storage, guns in the presence of minors, and unsecured guns. These will help keep guns out of the hands of those who never had a right to use them in the first place while preserving the right of law-abiding citizens to use them safely. Furthermore, a waiting period, between when a gun is ordered, and when it is delivered, can allow a “cool-down period” that prevents rash decisions that would have disastrous consequences.

Furthermore, the barriers will not stop law-abiding citizens who want guns for legal purposes be they hunting or self-defence, rather they help enshrine that same right against detractors who would punish all gun owners for the mistakes of the few. Gun safety, for a weapon so deadly, with the capability to take a human life with a single push, is a necessary consideration.

If my country didn’t have the laws it did, the article I would be writing today would be much different.

The right to life is a right that supersedes any other, and If we are to reconcile the considerations of different citizens and different views against each other, regulation of some kind is needed. Denying access to guns, may be an infringement of a given right to some, but to others, it’s the difference between life and death.