Since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 where 27 people were killed, there have been over 1,600 mass shootings and over 1,800 deaths from said shootings. In all that time, Congress has never budged on their stance on gun control. But this time, because of student lash back and protests, things could be different. The National School Walkout and the March for our lives have both been scheduled to make a stand against gun violence and voice concern for children and others who are at risk in their day to day life. Trump tweeted on the issue, saying that Democrats should've passed legislation when they were the majority during the Obama administration.
This article was written by German Lopez at Vox earlier this afternoon. Before I read the article, I knew general facts on the causes of gun violence and the statistics surrounding it, but this article was highly informative on how gun violence connects to other issues and gave a solid analysis on how other countries are remedying the problem. Something that struck me was the fact that as of 2015, only 22% of mass shooters had a mental illness. I feel like so many people operate under the assumption that the majority of shooters are mentally ill when that's not actually the case at all. More people need to realize this so we can stop blaming gun violence on mental illness and start attributing it to the real causes. Trump’s comment angers me greatly. As president, he should be bringing the country together in a time of crisis, not politically dividing us. And he’s being a giant hypocrite! Even if he thinks that democrats should’ve done something when they had the chance, he can’t talk, because now he’s in the hot seat and has power to change things. I’m upset that the National School Walkout is scheduled for our spring break, because I think it would’ve been really empowering for us to partake in as a school and as a community of artists.
Synthesis: The strikes and protests that have been scheduled can be connected to the labor strikes that occurred during the Progressive Era. In both cases, mass groups of people are responding to laws that they feel are unfair and lobbying publicly for change and increased safety.
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