I don’t have the words for what just happened in Texas; what is happening in this country. Over 300 school shootings in the last 24 years and we do nothing but scream and cry and pray. What kind of society doesn’t protect its own children? And should that kind of society continue to exist? Are we, as Americans, impotent to create the change we want to see…? It seems I have only questions.
America is the land of the outlaw and has been ever since white people showed up. The first recorded school shooting was in 1764. Of course, back then every kid carried a gun in case they saw dinner on their way home from school — but it was a you-only-get-one-shot-at-it situation, not like today’s semi-automatic weapons which require neither the skill, nor the solidity.
I know we idolize the lone gunman with his face in the shadows, but that gunslinger is literally killing our kids. And now we are becoming desensitized to the murder of children. So, I guess my main question is, do we need guns to protect us from tyranny? Or has the arms industry become the tyrant, using our own weapons against us?

Mikael Nickolauson, 17

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Cassie Bernall, 17

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Corey DePooter, 17

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Matthew Kechter, 16

Daniel Mauser, 15

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Catherine V. Hubbard, 6

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Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

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Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

George Chen, 19

Katherine Cooper, 22

Cheng Yuan Hong, 20

Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20

Weihan Wang, 20

Veronika Weiss, 19

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Gia Soriano, 14

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Treven Taylor Anspach, 20

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Peter Wang, 15

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Chris Stone, 17

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Hana St. Juliana, 14

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Jacklyn Cazares, 9

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Jose Flores Jr., 10

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Xavier Lopez, 10

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Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10

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Rojelio Torres, 10