September 10, 2025. A date when the country spiraled into social chaos. American right-wing political activist, author, and media personality, Charlie Kirk, was fatally shot while speaking to college students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Simultaneously, Evergreen High School in Denver, Colorado, experienced a tragic school shooting, leaving two students severely injured. The shooting was the 47th school shooting this year. The entire country was left shaken, with thousands mourning the violence that had ensued. Tragedies like this have the potential to shake the country to its core, but also have the possibility to cause people to come to realizations. The Great Depression underscored the need to establish important financial institutions. The 9/11 tragedy underscored the need to ramp up counterterror operations. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for new biomedical innovations and better attitudes towards health crises. The tragedies of September 10, 2025, underscore the need for gun control. In a nation where fatal gun crimes are a near-everyday occurrence, gun laws need a massive overhaul.
September 10th: A date that will live in infamy
September 10th was deemed by many to be a tragic day for America. While it is indisputable that Kirk’s death sets a terrifying precedent for the future of political discourse in this nation, and that the events at Evergreen High School were tragic, they unfortunately symbolize a growing trend. Every day, students go to school knowing that their lives are at risk. In this era of growing uncertainty, society has begun to break down.
The tragedies of September 10th should serve as a cold warning for future events. If we don’t act now, the future is filled with terror. Schools are no longer places for learning. The streets become warzones. Society stops being characterized with humanity, and instead by fear.
The response to Kirk’s death was a sad reflection of what America has become. Thousands took to the internet to hotly debate whether or not Kirk’s death was justified because of his political views. These debates, while lauded by many as ‘meaningful political discourse,’ obscure the true issues at hand. America needs change, and it needs it now.
The Problem
“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” This was the headline of an article published by the Onion, a satirical newspaper, after a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, shook the nation to its core. This headline, while unserious, does accurately explain just how unique the issue of gun violence is to the United States. A study on gun violence in high-income nations with populations above 10 million from 2021 showed that the U.S. had a firearm mortality rate of 4.52, indicating that for every 100,00 people, 4.52 were victims of fatal gun violence. The country with the second highest was Saudi Arabia, with a rate of 1.42. The majority of nations on the list had mortality rates lower than one. The numbers make it clear: in a nation that claims to be among the most liberal, developed, and economically advanced in the world, it is absurd to have such high rates of gun violence.
America’s problem with gun violence is a result of many things. Lax gun laws, an apathetic government, an irrational public fear of the potential of total societal chaos, and a laundry list of other issues have also been attributed to be the cause of America’s issues, but perhaps the strongest cause is America’s obsession with the Second Amendment. Outlined by the framers of the Constitution in 1789, the Second Amendment guarantees every United States citizen the right to bear arms. This amendment, though tailored to a completely different time period in the midst of a revolutionary war, has become a holy grail for gun rights advocates across the nation. Thousands proclaim the amendment is a necessity for continued freedom in America, and that those who advocate for gun reform are engaging in a blatant violation of constitutional rights. This argument, however, is flawed, and has significantly halted progress on gun reform in America.
The idea that the Second Amendment cannot be changed just because it has been codified in the Constitution is asinine. No reasonable interpretation of American law suggests that it must remain static and unchanging, even when society is constantly undergoing cultural and social shifts. Amendments have been added and changed in the past to adapt to the ever-changing desires of the public. Unfettered access to guns might have been what the framers of the Constitution intended for in an era of intense violence and repression at the hands of British rule, but it’s certainly not a necessity for modern society. Furthermore, society should be willing to risk marginal freedoms when the cost of said freedoms is mass deaths and absurd levels of violence.
Additionally, the majority of policy solutions proposed by gun reform advocates aren’t contradicting the Second Amendment, nor personal safety. Universal background checks, gun registries, waiting periods, and red flag laws are all examples of necessary limitations that still give citizens the right to defend themselves, while simultaneously limiting the amount of violent behavior stemming from gun usage. Appeals to ‘safety’ and ‘rights’ are vacuous buzzwords that allow both the government and society as a whole to paper over the immense violence that plagues our nation.
The issue with gun violence in America isn’t that citizen’s beliefs are out of line, but rather that the general populace is too vulnerable to evocative, yet nonsensical messaging. Politicians and advocacy groups, whose pockets are lined with blood money from gun lobbyists, lie through their teeth about caring about the wellbeing and so-called ‘personal freedoms’ of their constituents while simultaneously ignoring the violence that occurs daily under their watch. The sooner America wakes up and smells the stench of this deceptive messaging, the better.
