Are We Safe Anymore?

Gun+Control+by+Nick+Youngson+CC+BY-SA+3.0+Pix4free.org

Gun Control by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free.org

Sydney Feamster, Staff Writer

The world is changing fast, and not all of the changes are good. If you compare the violence in the world from the early 2000s to now it is unbelievable. In 2017, for example, the homicide rate hit almost half a million. Gun violence and road rage have been around for years, but in 2020 the number of fatal incidents in the U.S. involving guns and vehicles hit a high, according to CBS News.

It is beginning to feel like no one is safe anywhere. If a person goes out in public–no matter if it is to pick up groceries, attend a baseball game, or take a walk in the park–they are taking a chance on being shot. Some students even feel nervous about attending school because they are afraid they could be the next victim of a school shooting, like the recent Nashville school shooting. 

Many people each year are injured or killed due to road rage. According to CBS News, one father was murdered because his windshield fluid splashed onto another car’s windshield. There must be some way we can all be around each other without all the violence. Where did it come from? When is it going to stop? How can so many people take other people’s lives?

There is not just one answer when it comes to what drives these murderers to do what they do, but it seems like it’s the lack of self control. People need to learn how to control themselves; there is nothing we can do until they decide to do that. Not everyone is out to get them, not everyone is mean. If these murderers are simply jailed, they will not understand that what they did is wrong. They don’t feel the pain that the families feel when they get the news that their child or family member is dead. When killers are put in jail, they are still living their lives; loved ones can still visit them, whereas the loved ones of the victims never even had the opportunity to say goodbye. Murderers should be punished in the the same way they ended an innocent person’s life.