Reform Is In The Air

For years now, our nation has been tormented with an extreme amount of violence, especially from mass shootings such as Sandy Hook, Columbine, and most recently, the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. We have lost too many lives and seen too much heartbreak in our society to the point that change is absolutely necessary.

Since the most recent shooting happened back in February, reform has began to take place. The Trump administration has announced several proposals that have been received with very different emotions. One of the most controversial of these proposals is that Trump would like to use the justice department funding to train teachers and specific school personnel to use firearms in order to protect schools against mass shootings. On Monday he tweeted, “If schools are mandated to be gun free zones, violence and danger are given an open invitation to enter. Cowards will only go where there is no deterrent.” The entire country is in a huge divide on this topic – some say that bringing in more firearms will only make the problem worse, while others think the idea will work and be a positive reinforcement to prevent and lower violence rates in schools.

Picture taken on February 19 in Parkland, Florida by a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. 

Even though some parts of the proposals have become very controversial, and openly rejected by society, the White House has made progress this week when they endorsed the bipartisan Stop School Violence Act which wants Congress to provide funding to support evidence-based school violence prevention programs. This legislation has been endorsed by the Sandy Hook Promise, which is a nonprofit organization that was created after the Sandy Hook Shooting happened. They are in charge of the “Know the Signs” programs in schools, and they even praised Trump and the White House’s support for extreme risk protection orders, improving and updating background checks, and now the Stop School Violence Act.

Reform is in the air, and even though there is much debate and controversy over the best way to make our schools and country safer, it is comforting to know that so many advocates and so many voices are being heard. It has taken quite a long time for the advocates to be heard by politicians and our government and so to finally see it being taken seriously and for these proposals to be analyzed this in depth is an amazing improvement in our country.