The Rise of Guns

by Esteban, Gerardo, and Miguel

In recent years, there have been many mass shootings such as the massacres in Newtown, Connecticut in an elementary school, in Colorado in a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises”, and most recently the San Bernardino shooting. Could we have prevented these shootings by having stricter gun laws? So far the U.S gun laws allow people on the “No-Fly” list to legally purchase guns, and legally purchased semiautomatic weapons which was banned under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994-2004), but this law expired, so access to assault weapons in the U.S is easily obtained.

The United States is the leading nation in the world in deaths caused by gun violence.  This does not only include mass shootings, but suicides, accidental shootings, and homicides.

After interviewing Mr. Johnson about his position on gun control he said that there needs to be a new policy that doesn’t violate the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, but needs to strict access to assault rifles. He said “criminals will always have guns because criminals don’t follow the rules and it is only going to affect the people that legally own guns”. When we asked Johnson about if the district should supply him with a handgun and this was his response “The district doesn’t allow us to carry a handgun”. Luis Chavez a sophomore here at APB, said that he would feel safer if Johnson had a gun on campus. Karla Reygoza a Junior here at APB believes that  Mr. Johnson should be able to carry a handgun because then the students will feel safer and we will have someone to protect the school in case of an emergency.Furthermore Johnson stated that people  with disabilities should be able to buy a weapon, he said “depending on the disability like if someone has mental issues then he or she should not be able to buy a gun”. To add on, he said that new gun control regulation would help with the mentally ill, and he believes that people with a history of crime should not be allowed to own a gun.
Is APB ready for a mass shooting? Mr. Johnson strongly believes that APB should not be worry about a shooting because APB is a small school and is not a target, and he also pointed out that APB already has strict protocols in order to protect the safety of its students.