A spate of high profile school shootings in 2018 stokes fear. The violence sparks youth marches and<\/p>\n
activism for gun control, provoking a backlash from gun-rights advocates. Where will the debate lead?<\/p>\n
BY FAITH LINDSEY<\/p>\n
duPont Manual High School<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thomas Robinson, 15, and his aunt entered a gun shop and she chose a small pistol, signed a paper and walked out with a new gun.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means anyone can just walk in and buy a gun,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
In her home, Jennifer Bencomo-Suarez, 20, stumbled upon a Facebook post for an event hosted at her school, University of Louisville, supporting open carry on campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it\u2019s ridiculous, but it is also a concern in colleges, and in high schools, and in schools in general, because often they correlate gun violence to police brutality. I do think in order to have a healthy conversation about guns, you also need to talk about police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Wright, 18, rang the doorbell at Ballard High School and, without any identification, was admitted into the school immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking to myself, \u2018When I press this buzzer they don\u2019t even look at the camera to see who is outside,\u2019\u201d Wright said. \u201cI\u2019m like, dude, I can have a rifle in my hand and then come and blow up the entire office.\u201d<\/p>\n
These students live in Louisville, where instances like these aren\u2019t extraordinary. Their\u00a0experiences vary widely, but the issue of gun control connects them.<\/p>\n
Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s biggest city, is one of only two counties out of 120 that voted Democrat during the 2016 U.S. presidential race.<\/p>\n
The views of urban students often vastly different from those who live in rural areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cUrban residents tend to be more liberal-leaning and rural residents tend to be more conservative-leaning,\u201d Robinson, a sophomore at duPont Manual High School, said.<\/p>\n
In light of the increase in school shootings and last year’s highest homicide rates in decades in Louisville, the conversation on gun control and the power of the Second Amendment has created a gray area for many.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very pro-gun and everything, but after these recent shootings I had to re-analyze the way I think about guns,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
He values the Second Amendment and still says he\u2019s a supporter of it, but admits there is a need to enforce some laws regulating whose hands guns end up in.<\/p>\n
Just like Bencomo-Suarez and Wright, Robinson believes strict background checks and intensive training would be a solution to the epidemic.<\/p>\n
Robinson also believes psychological tests proving a person\u2019s mental capacity to own a gun are needed. \u201cThat way safer people are getting guns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some people, like Wright, believe that while these solutions sound plausible, it would be difficult to make sufficient progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that this many people can die and we just let the same crap happen – we get mad and we get sad about it, then we march and we cry, then we get on Twitter and then the same stuff happens,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like an endless cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate on gun control transcends race, culture and socio-economic status.<\/p>\n
Bencomo-Suarez, a Cuban American female, says she steers away from guns because of her upbringing in a Cuban household. When Fidel Castro was Cuba\u2019s leader, he mandated strict gun laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents, because they are Cuban, they come from the background that in Cuba you couldn\u2019t have guns as a civilian. That\u2019s something that they\u2019ve never really grown out of. That\u2019s not something that they believe in having, so neither my brother and I don\u2019t really want to own a gun either.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Wright, an African-American male, was raised in a home where his father kept a gun inside the home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI support the Second Amendment. I understand that some people live in neighborhoods in which having a gun is productive where you can actually help yourself or keep yourself from getting hurt,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
Even though he supports it, Wright believes the amendment is due for some changes. \u201cNot completely doing away with the Second Amendment but tailoring it to our current situation in America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One of Wright\u2019s proposed solutions is outlawing military-style weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that the people that like really support it are always like, \u2018Well, I should be able to have any type of gun I want.\u2019 I don\u2019t believe that,\u201d Wright said. \u201cLike you don\u2019t need military-grade weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thinks certain groups of people, however, fight to keep guns that aren\u2019t needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is white people love their guns. They love them. They don\u2019t want to let them go. It\u2019s like a part of their society,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
Similar to Wright, Robinson also grew up around guns.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad hunts. He owns a lot of guns. His dad hunted. He owns a lot of guns and that\u2019s just how I was brought up and that\u2019s how he was brought up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuns are definitely not important but they\u2019ve just always been in my life, and so I think that there\u2019s often misinterpretation of what guns are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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