So we are now 25 days into 2014, and all I see in the news is guns! There have been 14 days of school so far and 8 school shootings! That is more than one every other day! Not to mention, a shooting today, January 25th, in the Columbia Mall in Columbia, Maryland. Howard County Police say they found 3 people dead, including the shooter, but are still doing a thorough search of the mall as I am writing this blog post. Although this shooting is sad and unnecessary, along with the hundreds more that have happened in several cities and neighborhoods across the nation just in 2014, I want to focus on school shootings this year. As I stated earlier, 8 school shootings in only 14 days of school. That is 101% unacceptable! This is a list of the school shootings so far this year:
- Liberty Technology Magnet School, January 9: one student shot
- Berrendo Middle School, January 14: two students shot
- Albany High School, January 17: one student shot
- Delaware Valley Charter Elementary, January 17: two students shot
- Widener University, January 20: one student shot
- Purdue University, January 21: one person shot and killed
- Wakefield Elementary, January 21: one person shot
- South Carolina State University, January 24: one person shot and killed
Apart from the school shootings listed above, there has also been several near misses. A few are:
- An eighth grader was arrested in Georgia last week after he brought a gun to school on consecutive days and robbed a classmate.
- Portland police rushed to an area high school after a student was reportedly showing off his gun to a fellow classmate during lunch.
- Four teenagers were arrested after they were seen pointing a gun at a school bus in Norfolk, VA.
Clearly there is a need for gun regulation.