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Parkland, Florida
Chatterbox: Down to Earth
Parkland, Florida
Parkland, Florida
I wasn't sure whether to talk about this, and I know it is borderline appropriate if appropriate at all, but I figure I should try. It wasn't necessarily very close to where I live, but my math teacher knew about that school, and knew some other teachers that worked there. After miraculously finishing our lesson early, our math teacher paused the class to talk about it. There have been 18 shootings since 2018. February isn't even over yet. A while ago there was another shooting that was a lot closer to my community, and there are shootings all over America. There is the saying that guns don't kill people, people do. But guns provide an effective method. Distance, range, and danger are all increased. According to NPR, there are more gun shops in America then Starbucks in the world. Why do we need more guns than coffee? The second amendment is important, and I never used to care, but with this prevalance I am starting to think there should be restrictions. I don't want this to continue to happen in my country, and I don't want something like this to happen to my community, or any other community. However, I have to face the concept that this could happen to my school. Some of my teachers have brought it up, saying they don't know what they would do, and don't know if they could protect us. My school has taken a few more precautions. I don't want this to happen to any of my family, friends, or any of you here on the CB. We need to think about why this happens so often and if there is anything we can do to prevent it.
submitted by GreenMango
(February 16, 2018 - 4:51 pm)
(February 16, 2018 - 4:51 pm)
I share your pain as a Florida resident. My band director knew several people there, and my friend has friends that go to that school. I haven’t gotten word yet if they’re okay or not. Please keep those families in your thoughts and prayers.
As for the gun control issues, I think that background checks should be much more thorough, but I don’t think guns should be taken away from American citizens, because bad people will get guns either way. At least with guns legal, there will be ways for innocent people to defend themselves.
I really hope that there will be ways for this to be prevented, and I myself will begin studying this matter. This is a horrific incident that should have never occurred.
(February 16, 2018 - 10:53 pm)
I agree. Someone in my school moved here from Florida this summer. His middle school was right next to the high school. Later this week, I will be visiting Florida, but thankfully not close to where the shooting occured. This is a truly horrible thing. And now, all the kids at my school are scared, because 3 boys threatened to bomb the neighboring high school. Even though everyone's assured us that everything will be alright, the police visit our school a lot now. Sorry I got off track. Like I said before, this was really a horrible thing to happen. I agree with everything you and Kyoto said.
(February 17, 2018 - 7:55 am)
I know... it's such a scary time for everyone. I might be far away from Parkland, but even all the way over here we were all terrified for you guys. After the shootings started happening in January, I began to read BBC every night. It's heartbreaking, and scary because I know all of you - any of us - could be at risk. Every time there was a shooting, I'd learn about the location as soon as possible to make sure there was no chance it was one of you. Even recently, I think in January, one of the school shootings was literally a few towns over - a teeny, tiny town at that. I know kids who go there, but fortunately, they were all okay. Still, it was a scary time for my town, friends, and the people I knew. That was a tiny shooting compared to the one in Parkland, and yet it still shook people.
I was shocked by reading those stats though. That means we have over 28,000 gun shops in the US (I didn't have enough nerve to find the exact number). It's a scary thought. You walk downtown and mixed with all the beautiful restaurants, parks, and stores you see gun shops. Bars on the windows, glowing "open" signs. It's disgusting. I don't want to go into all of my opinions because it is definitely a controversial topic, but in simplest terms, I feel it is long due that we have gun control laws. My UK friend brought to light the situation a few months ago because I wasn't seeing from an outsider's eyes. In all honesty, I was so naieve to the situation that I had no idea what was going on. I just took it as part of life. Thanks to him I started forming a genuine opinion because I saw what was going on, and how bad it was hurting people.
All I want is for you guys to be safe. I don't care what it takes - tons of gun laws or whatever - I just want to know my friends, family, and strangers are safe. Not just in school, but everywhere. Hopefully none of that gets cut out, but I just get really worried on a topic like this. I love you guys <3
(February 17, 2018 - 1:47 pm)
The shooting was absolutely awful, and it saddens me to think of all those innocent people's lives that ended that day. However, as I’ve learned, no matter how many guns you outlaw, outlaws still get guns.
(February 17, 2018 - 6:36 pm)
In a situation like the US, yeah, people would still illegally get guns. But if only we had outlawed guns long ago, like the UK ;-;
Suppose we cannot turn back time, though.
(February 17, 2018 - 8:55 pm)
@Observer
I understand the point you're making, but I disagree. When we look at other countries who've banned guns, like Australia, we see that they haven't had a mass shooting since 1996, when they instated their gun ban. While I realize that a universal gun ban would not have as much success in the U.S. because of its population size and a number of other factors, I still think that our government should take steps to prevent gun violence, and I think that banning military grade assault weapons is the most effective way to do so. Even if criminals still manage to get assault level guns through a black market, at least we did something to try to stop them— at least we didn't stand by.
(February 17, 2018 - 9:16 pm)
But It makes it way harder for them to get guns! Its like saying you shouldn't take medicine because "you'll die anyways".
Any sort of prevention is good. Because that time they spend trying to find a gun illegally is time spent trying to find people who are trying to get guns illegally.
(February 17, 2018 - 9:32 pm)
But direct your focus away from mass shootings; guns aren’t the only factor here, which people miss. A lot of places in the UK also have better facilities to help people with mental health problems, which is much different from America. So no matter how many guns you take away, there are still sick people out there that will harm loads of innocent civilians.
Also, @Ashlee, if you look at the incident in France when someone drove a truck into a crowd of people, and many people died, guns are banned there. Yet if one person had a gun, with a concealed weapon permit, they could have stopped that driver from continuing their destructive route.
(February 18, 2018 - 7:06 am)
There's so much I want to say here, but I'll keep it short:
1. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the shooting in Parkland, and everyone else who's afraid for their safety at school, at church, at work. . . the tragedies that have happened in America over the last 30 years have been horrific. 14,400,000 Americans have been killed by guns in the past 50 years, the same number of Americans that have been killed in all the wars in American history.
2. I still don't understand why our government has done virtually nothing to stop this violence. They haven't passed legislation for stricter background checks or a ban on military-weapons— and these are things I would have thought were already in place— no one needs a military style assault rifle to do anything but kill people. You don't hunt game with military grade weapons. The unfortunate truth, however, is that after every mass shooting, our senators and representatives send their thoughts and prayers, but somehow, it's still easier to get a gun than a driver's license in a number of U.S. states.
I love you guys. Stay safe <3
(February 17, 2018 - 6:15 pm)
I think the shooting was really awful and I'm trying to send out good feelings of strength and love to the kids at that school and their families. I think that making it much harder to buy guns would be a really good first step, and that it's stupid to allow people to own machines that can kill so easily and basically just trust that they won't hurt anyone. It's true that if you outlaw guns, they would still be sold on the black market, but I think they will be a lot harder for outlaws to access.
I live in a city, though, so I guess I don't really understand the people who feel like they need guns for protection. I just think that knowing a neighbor had a gun would never make me feel safe, even if I really liked that neighbor.
(February 17, 2018 - 9:14 pm)
@Observer- I'm with you 100%.
Guns are needed. Didn't any of you hear about the man with his concealed carry gun who saved a police officers life earlier this year?
In rural areas people need guns to protect their families from wild life or people. Last year my dad had to shoot several rabid raccoons so they wouldn't harm us or our pets.
People who really want to harm other people will find a way, guns or no guns. Honestly, criminals are criminals because they disobey laws, banning guns will not affect them, just honest people.
If disturbed kids are going to school with guns should we:
A. Make it harder for them to get guns. Or
B. Find out why in the world these kids want to kill people and help them get over their urge and become good citizens.
Actually, I'd say we should do both. We want to give Chatterboxers a chance to comment and share feelings on these recent events, but we don't want to have a debate on gun control on Chatterbox. Both sides of the issue have now been expressed, and we may limit further comments.
Admin
(February 18, 2018 - 1:55 pm)
@Admin, YES. Thank you.
@Everyone, look, I have no problem with a friendly debate. But please please please keep that on another thread. This is a huge tragedy that has really struck home for me and for many other people, and honestly, the last thing that is needed is a debate about gun control on this thread. I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t know how else to put it. I’m sorry if I sounded harsh, I just...This should just be on another thread. I’m not trying ignore any issues, but it’s just not appropriate to debate about this right now. And I fear sometimes those living in America and other places miss that, especially in the face of this tragedy. The problem that I have is that some people use events like this as a platform, when it really is something devastating that has occurred. Imagine the families and friends of those teenagers and teachers watching people scramble to prove the other side wrong on gun control issues while they’re mourning the loss of their loved ones...so I’m just asking to please be considerate. I love you all, and I’m not trying to bash any of you. I’m glad the Chatterbox is open to the voices of so many young people. <3
(February 18, 2018 - 8:24 pm)
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
St.Owl, we're not going to have this discussion/debate on Chatterbox, but we will post the ML King Jr. quote you included.
Admin
(February 19, 2018 - 5:21 pm)
I am here to spread a small ray of sunshine on this topic. There has only sort of been 18 shootings. Whoever made that count counted any time a gun went ff near/in a school, even if it wasn't violent. So while I promise I'm not saying that Parkland wasn't a terrible tragedy, I am saying there's been less of these tragedies as you think.
(February 22, 2018 - 8:51 pm)