Clay’s Court: Something has got to change

Thoughts and prayers are only good for empty condolences. 

How many times are we going to see “12 children dead in school shooting,” repost a “thoughts and prayers” post and move on about our day? 

“We don’t have to worry about that here.”

I saw that last quote on social media on Wednesday, the day of America’s latest school shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

It was in reference to a conversation the original poster had with their partner the day prior. They were considering homeschooling their daughter because of the risk of sending her to school. A day later four are dead — killed by a 14-year-old boy who allegedly made online threats of school violence in 2023 according to the FBI.

Richard Aspinwall, 39, had a wife and two daughters. Christina Irimie, 53, was described as patient and caring by her students according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14, leave behind friends, family and a full life ahead of them.

These four people were robbed of their lives, and for what?

Thoughts and prayers don’t mean a thing for the daughters who just want to see their daddy again. It won’t do anything for the students and family who are missing a patient and caring educator.

It certainly won’t do anything for the mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and classmates who lost sons, nephews and friends.

When is enough, enough? When will we make a change?

There is no one right answer on what we should do. I don’t have all the answers. What I do know is we’re the only country to have this problem.

According to World Population Review we have the most school shootings by far at 288 from 2009-2018. Mexico is second with eight, and the number of shootings in America has increased significantly since 2018.

According to the Washington Post, there have been 416 school shootings since Columbine in 1999. In those shootings 213 have been killed and 464 injured.

With less than five percent of the world’s population, the United States has 46% of the world’s civilian-owned guns according to a 2018 study by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey.

Including school shootings, and others, guns killed more than 45,000 Americans in 2021 according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

I hope this is gut-wrenching information to everyone who reads it, because we need to wake up.

When will we stop letting our children be mowed down by semi-automatic rifles and handguns in a place where they’re supposed to be safe. Locked doors, security guards, metal detectors, none of it has done any good for the hundreds of dead children. Not even the police were any help in Uvalde.

There is not one solution, but there are several things we have to focus on right now.

Handguns are the most common weapon used in school shootings by far according to a 2023 study published by JAMA Pediatrics. But, semi-automatic rifles have taken part in the most deadly shootings in our history.

Uvalde, Parkland and Sandy Hook all involved semi-automatic rifles.

There needs to be an immediate ban on all semi-automatic rifles unless there is a case for genuine need of one, as well as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The Sandy Hook shooter had 10 magazines that held 30 rounds.

There also needs to be a restriction placed on handguns.

Australia mandated licensing and registration on automatic and semi-automatic rifles less than two weeks after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. They required those applying for a license to demonstrate “genuine need” for particular types of guns, and take a safety course. They cracked down on handguns after a 2002 shooting in Melbourne, as well.

Some people might make the case for rural farmers and their defense against wild boars and other animals; You can argue that’s a genuine need. “Self defense” is not.

I’m not saying the government should come to your house and wrestle every gun you own out of your hands. There needs to be some kind of buy back program to compensate people for the money they’ve spent on these firearms.

I’m also not saying ban every firearm. Bolt-action rifles and shotguns should suffice for defense in your home.

A common argument involved in gun control discussions is that criminals will get guns regardless. Not when it comes to school shootings, but I’ll get into that in a second.

Stolen guns are a big source of firearms for criminals. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report in 1995, there were 341,000 incidents of firearm theft from private citizens every year from 1987 to 1992.

1.26 million handguns, 470,000 rifles and 356,000 shotguns. There were 240,000 automatic weapons registered in 1995, and 7,700 were stolen.

When it comes to school shooters, though, most of those guns are procured through legal means. In that same 2023 study it was said that 82% of firearms were stolen from relatives. Friends or acquaintances was the next highest method.

These are also not your average criminals we’re talking about. The most common age for a school shooter is 15-19 according to Campus Safety Magazine.

These are kids with access to their parents firearms. There’s not enough discourse about the responsibility, or lack thereof, shown by the parents of school shooters. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, but firearms need to be kept more secure.

I know someone who has a gun safe, but it’s kept unlocked. Children under five live in their house. There are other people who just keep them in the closet with a “don’t touch daddy’s guns” rule. This isn’t enough. Keep your firearms secure.

We also need to have a serious talk about mental health in the internet age. A lot of school shooters have been infected with extremest ideas from internet spaces — a place they find comfort because they don’t “fit in” at school.

Monitor your child’s internet access. Check in on their mental health.

That’s not the final solution, I don’t know what is. But this matter goes beyond individuals. We all have to make the necessary sacrifices, and come together for once.

There is so much individualism in America, and I’m guilty of it. We have no sense of community, no sense of unity.

It’s red versus blue, white versus black, rich versus poor. This goes above all that. Forget the party, forget the race, forget the upbringing, we need to unify for the sake of the children, and the future of our nation.

I’m begging you, America, come together for once and let’s make a change.