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We must end gun violence
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very time a mass shooting happens we wonder, “why do innocent people keep dying?” Maybe instead, we need to be reminding each other that gun violence has to end, and actually take proactive steps to prevent more members of our communities from being murdered. We added two more places to the list of mass shootings this month: Santa Clarita on Thursday, Nov. 14, and Fresno on Sunday, Nov. 17. These news stories have become so familiar to us that we no longer feel the urgency the haunting issue of gun violence requires from us. In Santa Clarita, a student opened gunfire at a high school, killing two students and injuring three before attempting to kill himself. This all happened in a matter of seconds. It only took 16 seconds for a teenager to forever alter the lives of his community by taking the lives of innocent young adults. The shooting in Fresno has potential links to gang violence and occurred at a family gathering at home; 10 people were shot, with four dying from gunshot wounds. Time and time again we face the issue of gun violence with more deaths each year, yet nothing has been done. If you are wondering if we should be angry, then you are right. If you aren’t enraged at this point, you are not paying attention. Every time people die due to gun violence, we fall into the predictable cycle of
thoughts and prayers and debates over changing gun laws, but nothing changes even when the next time more members of our communities are senselessly murdered. In the U.S., we are sending the message that it is okay for innocent citizens to continually die because the economy and the National Rifle Association (NRA) are more important. We should be ashamed that our country has such a high rate of gun violence. Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicides than citizens in other wealthy countries, as reported by Time. Here are a few active steps our country can take to prevent gun violence. We should create a culture of gun safety, where firearms should not be in the hands of people who might be at risk of harming themselves or others. We need to stop protecting the NRA and others in the gun industry. Manufacturers of such weapons must be held responsible for the misuse of their products. Moreover, there must be mandatory training for gun owners. While many of us argue that we must get rid of guns to solve the problem of gun violence, maybe the first, smaller step is to acknowledge that will not be happening anytime soon. Instead, we need to be thinking about alternative shortterm solutions, because every day we don’t do anything is another day innocent Americans are killed.
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Take political opinions seriously Jump in with Jordan Jordan Boaz
Social Justice Editor @LALoyolan
M
y mom doesn’t like cats; I do. My friend prefers art classes; I prefer sociology classes. My sister enjoys one TV show; I enjoy another. None of these things will impede my relationships with any of these people, because there is room for differing opinions. In fact, diverse opinions should not only be tolerated, but welcomed and celebrated because they allow the world to grow in dynamic and creative ways. But political opinions are more than just opinions. With political opinions, there is much more at stake than the taste of a pizza when pineapple is added — human lives can be healed or devastated due to changing political climates. Those who fail to recognize that political opinions are more than just opinions are often cozied into a nook of privilege that bars them from seeing that, when it comes to politics, lives are often carelessly tossed around and damaged due to changing ideologies, policies and laws. Holly LaPlante, a junior women’s and gender studies and environmental studies double major, agreed that too often, political apathy is enabled by privilege. “I feel that people who say that they aren’t into politics or that politics don’t really matter often have the privilege to not be involved,” she said. She believes that all political opinions hold weight and importance because they “affect people’s lives– some people’s more than others.” She said that because these opinions have
“real outcomes” for “real [people],” they are “not something that we can simply agree to disagree about and leave it at that.” This is about who counts as a person, who deserves basic human rights and whether weapons deserve more protection than people. Within politics, there is hardly room to agree to disagree, because lives are on the line. Political apathy is selfish when people are dying due to high costs of medical care, being deported to countries they are unsafe in or being killed because of their type of body. These things are not okay, and how people should be cared for is more than a matter of harmless opinion. Lila Roades, a sophomore history major, has found that political opinions often lead to serious
consequences. She mentioned that these opinions can result in dangerous scenarios like the El Paso shooting, a mass shooting that was motivated by racism. “When political opinions are voiced, it empowers people to take action, especially when a lot of people are saying the same thing. So, like, when we elect an openly racist president whose followers are very loudly and publicly supporting his message, people are empowered to act on it,” Roades said. In the case of El Paso, the result was 22 racially-motivated murders. Opinions on race and immigration hold more weight than normal opinions. These opinions are truly causing death and tragedy for too many families. See Political opinions | Page 4
Cartoon: Camille Bautista | Loyolan
Political opinions and ideas must be taken more seriously than other opinions because they can vastly alter the quality of life for many people and communities.