In recent years, the United States has witnessed an alarming increase in mass shootings, leading to shocked and grieving communities that struggle to make sense of the violence that has rocked their lives. 

This is the reality of the United States we live in today. Whether it is at school, a concert, work or a local church, mass shootings create a bubble of fear among vulnerable individuals, especially for emotionally and mentally developing students. 

State and local governments, as well as policymakers, should establish stronger legislation for gun control that improves mental health facilities and prohibits the possession of certain types of firearms to protect and prevent communities from experiencing the unrestorable trauma of mass shootings.

During the past decade, the sheer scale and frequency of shootings has only increased, with an average of one mass shooting happening every eight days in California, and a total of 163 mass shootings in the United States this year, according to The Gun Violence Archive. 14 were school shootings resulting in injuries and deaths of students.

Gun violence, specifically in K-12 schools, often leaves detrimental impacts on students’ mental health, performance at school, attendance and future income levels, according to PBS News. In many instances, students suffer long-term effects of a fatal shooting — the average monthly antidepressant prescription usage by youth under age 20 who endured a shooting was 21.3 percent higher than students who have not experienced gun violence, according to Stanford University.

“I definitely think that students would feel better if some legislations were reformed,” 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting survivor and math teacher Jessica Torres said. “It’s different because when I was in high school, I never even thought about politics in that way because it wasn’t a prevalent part of our lives. But now it is. So I think students would feel a lot more safe knowing that there was some sort of control.”

Governmental officials and school administrators must enforce stricter legislation prohibiting the sale of firearms with magazine capacities larger than ten rounds and perform stricter background checks on purchasers. Especially since most mass shooters are mentally ill but have no previous criminal records, it is important to conduct a thorough analysis of a buyer’s intentions and medical information, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Countries such as Australia and Japan have extremely strict gun laws that require passing mental health evaluations, a written test and a shooting range test. Japan, on average, has less than ten shooting deaths per year, according to the Insider.

“I actually consider myself more of the lucky ones because I was able to bounce back a lot better than some other people,” Torres said. “But I couldn’t even imagine if there was a shooting at Portola because I was 22, I was a full adult at that point. But you guys are between the ages 14 and 18, and I couldn’t imagine going through something like that so young.” 

Contrary to arguments claiming that gun control goes against the Second Amendment by infringing the right to bear arms, it is a false narrative to assume that the Second Amendment gives Americans unlimited access to guns. Courts across the country have shaped the judicial precedent that the right to live always outweighs the right to own firearms, according to Giffords Law Center.

When considering the controversial topic of gun violence, individuals must acknowledge not only the physical but also the long-term mental health dangers that shootings pose to their own communities and schools. Advocating for stronger control can help to create a safer community for students.