In the wake of yet another tragic and preventable school shooting, people are once again sending their thoughts and prayers to victims and their families. Moral support is crucial and while “thoughts and prayers” is a nice sentiment, it is, unfortunately, unproductive in the long run. People express their sympathy and pain online and then forget about the whole thing in a week or so, delaying the possibility of urgent gun legislation and allowing victims to fade from memory.
There seem to be two main reactions to school shootings — one is dismissive and denies that America has a gun violence problem altogether, while the other acknowledges the problems but believes they are out of our hands. Both schools of thought share one thing in common — they both halt progress. These shootings will continue to happen if gun legislation gets passed, though it rarely does. Still, as everyday Americans, we have to start shifting our perspective on gun usage if we want to end the trend of mass shootings.
To do so, we need to look back to the Second Amendment. We are given the right to bear arms for protection, not to collect as many as we can and certainly not to cause destruction. The shooter of the recent Apalachee High School shooting, Colt Gray, was reported to have been given the AR-15 he used to murder four innocent people as a holiday gift from his father last December. This is the crux of the issue — we need to reform our culture to stop seeing guns as fun items to collect or Christmas presents, but rather as dangerous weapons that should only be used for protection with obvious exceptions. It is only when we become less reliant and sever guns from our core identities that lawmakers will listen to us about gun control.
In Jamelle Bouie’s 2023 New York Times article “America’s Rifle Fetish Is Destroying Its Sense of Freedom,” he writes that gun manufacturers have convinced us to view guns “not as a tool for hobbyists and sportsmen but as a lifestyle accessory that stands for freedom, individualism and masculine self-sufficiency.” Essentially, we are taught by the gun industry to see firearms as a means of self-expression and to covet the perceived power they give us rather than desire them for their actual uses.
America is the only country where you can travel down a major highway and see a new billboard advertising another gun superstore every 10 miles. In your average American gas station, you can find all kinds of products advertising the use of guns, such as t-shirts, hats and car stickers. Some of these products are marketed toward children, such as a onesies saying “son of a gun owner.” Guns have become so deeply ingrained in our daily lives and cultural experiences that we see them more as collectibles and commodities than weapons. They are not just valued, but also fetishized. In any other place in the world, it is not normal to dress your infant in a gun-themed onesie and, frankly, it should not be here either.
According to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, making the United States the only country in the world to have more civilian guns than people. According to a 2024 CNN article, “Half of the world’s developed countries had at least one public mass shooting between 1998 and 2019. But no other nation saw more than eight incidents over 22 years, while the United States had over 100 — with almost 2,000 people killed or injured.” Moreover, the amount of gun owners in the United States combined with the number of mass shootings makes it a global outlier for gun violence when compared to other “progressive” and “developed” countries.
It can feel utterly hopeless at times to acknowledge that America has a clear and unique issue with gun violence, and it feels out of our control. We can vote to try to get more progressive candidates into office, but for many who lean right, even the slightest bit of gun control is a step toward eradicating guns. I do not believe in doing away with guns entirely as this is not reasonable, realistic nor a passable law, nor do I think many, if any, politicians want this. However, I do believe America has a unique mass shooting issue and that we have sat back to send our good hopes and prayers for too long. If we want our federal government to eventually enact reasonable gun control, we first need to evaluate, fundamentally change and rebuild the way guns fit into our culture, and that starts with recognizing that they are inherently destructive.
Jordan Ori is a junior majoring in English and is a Pipe Dream opinions intern.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.