Since the world has slowly begun returning to normal, gun violence has been at an all time high.
Over the course of the pandemic, gun violence didn’t disappear nor decrease. In fact, 2020 had faced a record high of 610 mass shootings.

The extreme gun violence wasn’t as talked about due to the fact that the pandemic had taken over everyone’s lives.
Now that it’s finally coming to an end, people are starting to draw their attention back to the gun violence that never disappeared.

Since the start of 2021, there have been over 150 mass shootings in America. There have been at least 45 mass shootings in the month of April alone.

Gun violence in America runs much deeper than just mass shootings. Mass shootings gain the most attention from the media, but unfortunately it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Mass shootings make up a mere 1% of all the gun violence that occurs in the U.S.

On average, over 35,000 people die every year from gun violence in America.

According to Everytown Research, 60 percent of these deaths are caused by suicide, 36 percent are caused by homicide and police shootings, and unintentional and undetermined deaths are each 1 percent of the gun related deaths that take place every year.

With the recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Boulder, Indianapolis and Evanston, the Biden-Harris Administration is pushing for Congress to pass legislation to reduce gun violence.

“Too many people have died because of gun violence and it’s the government’s fault because they have yet to take action and pass gun reform laws,” junior Niyat Ghiorghis said. “It’s crazy to think that there are still people that are trying to justify the use of guns even though thousands of people are dying at the hands of them every year.”
The administration has implemented a few actions to help lower the deaths that are a direct result of gun violence. President Biden plans to nominate David Chapman to serve as a Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is an agency that enforces gun laws.

The Justice Department also plans to issue two rules. One to stop the proliferation of “ghost guns” which are firearms assembled with no serial numbers and the other is to crack down on stabilizing braces that are used to turn pistols into a short barreled rifle.

Despite these efforts, no huge changes can be made unless Congress pushes for gun reform.
Biden’s plans are a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done in order to prevent more deaths from happening.

The U.S. has one of the highest rates of gun violence compared to other countries.
This should be a sign to the federal government that there needs to be major gun reform in the U.S.
Gun violence is preventable, but lawmakers are refusing to acknowledge that guns are the reason hundreds of people are dying everyday.

“Too many people have died and the federal government has not done anything about it,” junior Tsion Abate said. “As a teenager, I shouldn’t have to be afraid of getting hurt every time I leave my house, but I can’t help it because I see people getting hurt on the news every single day.”

If the government really wants to decrease the violence going on, they need to start pushing for gun reform. There is no excuse for needing to have a gun.

People want to be able to go to the movie theatre, to school, to FedEx, to Walmart, to the grocery story without having to think about getting shot. Changes need to be made now.