We all know that there has been a very sensitive topic going around: gun violence
2018 has started off very sad; CNN reports that there has been an average of one school shooting per week since the beginning of 2018. A lot of people want to take a stand for this, they want to take a stand against gun violence. Our school has decided to come together and discuss what they think on the topic. On May 22, Mrs. Fulmer hosted a “town hall” discussion in the Park Forest Middle School library.
First, what is gun violence? A lot of people are taking a stand up to it but what is it? Since people have noticed that so many schools and children are getting shot and or injured with a gun, people want to stop giving certain people certain guns.
To start of the discussion, our high school Diversity club came to speak to some kids who want to know more about the topic, at first they spoke about what gun violence is and why it’s such a big deal and why we need to stop it. Then they split everyone up into groups of four so that the kids would have a better chance to speak their thoughts on the topic, then asked the kids questions:
What events have happened including gun violence?
Did anything happen in the last few weeks?
What does gun control mean?
How has your opinion changed over the course of these events?
Of course everyone had their own opinions on the topic, but to summarize what everyone said is that people who have commited a crime should not be allowed to get a gun. Some people said that citizens should only be allowed to have small guns and no heavy duty ones. Some students asked, “ We are citizens; why would we need such big military weapons?”
It is important that kids know what’s going on in the world, and it’s sad that some kids didn’t even know what gun violence was until recently. What’s your opinion on the topic? And do you think that’s important for kids to know more about this?