Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” In other words, it is crucial to learn from your mistakes to obtain a different outcome. Unfortunately, this is a concept the U.S. has not been able to grasp. Over the past few years, school shootings have become a regular occurrence, and yet, nothing is being done to change or prevent these tragedies. One of the most recent school shootings took place on September 4th, 2024 at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia. The assailant was fourteen-year-old Colt Gray, a student of the school who had just enrolled on August 14th. Gray took the lives of two teachers and two students with an assault-style rifle gifted to him by his father, Colin Gray.
Now, both Colt and his father are being held responsible for the shooting at Apalachee High School. Colt Gray is charged with four counts of felony murder, while his father is being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children.
The question many people are asking is how a fourteen-year-old had access to an AR-15 rifle in the first place? How was Colin Gray able to purchase this gift for his son so easily, especially when you consider that Colt had already been investigated by the FBI for his previous plans to commit a school shooting? Finally, why was this weapon not being stored securely following the FBI investigation? This not only says a lot about Colin Gray as a father, but also about the U.S. and its lack of gun control laws.
Over the past 25 years, school shooting incidents have increased, alongside youth gun violence as a whole. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, in 2019, gun injuries became the leading cause of death among children ages 0 to 19. Along with this, the data shows that the U.S. has 57 times as many school shootings than all other major industrialized nations combined. While it’s clear that school shootings have become more frequent over the past 25 years, so has the prevalent issue of gun violence among children. So why haven’t more federal gun control laws been put into place in order to help combat this crisis? Thoughts and prayers have long been an insufficient response to these tragedies, and it is vital to establish stricter gun laws to prevent future incidents.
One solution to this issue would be stricter and more extensive background checks. Background checks for registering and purchasing a weapon are often guidelines and laws left up to the states to determine and uphold. However, it is crucial that the federal government set up an outline of regulations or requirements that determine weapon ownership eligibility in every state. This would ensure that citizens are mentally and physically fit to own and carry. Taking this into consideration, individuals like Colin Gray would not have been able to purchase such a dangerous weapon like an AR-15, because an extensive background check would have discovered that someone he lives with, his son, was suffering from mental health issues and had previously levied dangerous, violent threats. This would have made it clear that it was unsafe for Colin Gray to own and store a weapon in the same house his son was living in, which would have consequently prohibited the purchase.
While the Second Amendment has long been a divisive topic in this country, one thing that should unite everyone is the desire to protect the lives of innocent children. The fact that assault and war-style weapons are available for public purchase in the first place is astonishing in itself, especially when data shows that a significant number of mass shootings involve assault weapons and high capacity magazines. According to RAND Corporation, 10-30% of mass shootings and active shooter incidents involved assault weapons, and 40-60% involved high-capacity magazines. Despite the clear evidence presented and the fact that we continue to see school shootings taking place, most find themselves asking: when will the U.S. finally learn its lesson? Children’s lives should not be taken at the hands of guns and rifles, and we need to improve the background check process in order to see the change we so desperately need.
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This article was edited by Naba Syed and Natalia Gaitan.
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