There have been more mass shootings than days in 2023. Yet, no effective legislative action has been taken against gun violence.

Just this year alone, there have been at least 565 mass shootings in the United States, 69 of which happened at schools. Over 600 mass shootings have taken place each year since 2020.

The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as a situation in which four or more victims are shot or killed. 

The endless occurrence of mass shootings and proceeding media coverage places fear in the hearts of American students.

Schools should be environments conducive to learning. Students should not be afraid of falling victim to violent people whom American mental health and gun control systems failed. Yet, students continuously have to ask themselves this question: Is my school next?

This past April, SJHHS was placed under a lockdown after an unidentified man came onto the campus.

Students hid in classrooms, some crying, others texting their loved ones. The journalism class locked themselves in a closet while waiting for further instructions from the staff.

Rumors spread quickly among classrooms about the presence of a gun on campus. While this was eventually disproven, it is evident of the genuine fear students feel.

“With everything going on in the world and news today, an event like today, even with the safe outcome can rattle us. Please know if you need to talk to a counselor, they are here for you,” said principal Manoj Mahindrakar in an email following the lockdown. 

Although the man was removed from campus and no one was harmed, it reminded students of what could happen.

It is human nature to believe that none of the awful things that we see being reported will ever happen to us. Until it does. 

AP Psychology teacher Kathy Boggio was part of the mass shooting in 2017 that took place at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival being hosted in Las Vegas. The shooter killed 60 people and left more than 400 injured. 

“People were running, so I obviously started running in the same direction, and then [makes sounds like repeating gunshots], that round hit. People drop every time the rounds start, people just drop, but there’s a difference between dropping and being shot. That’s when the girl … got shot next to me and she dropped,” said Boggio in an interview with The Express in 2017.

The mass shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018 is the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in history. In the aftermath, Americans hoped that effective steps would be made towards controlling gun violence. But, as years pass Americans continue to be disappointed.

President Biden has enacted laws that increase background checks and provide school-based mental health grants, and 19 states have introduced “red-flag” laws that allow community members to report unstable individuals that have access to firearms.

However, the number of mass shootings across the country has not decreased in response.

Conservatives and liberals are stuck in a limbo while they fight over gun control and mental health solutions, which has undeniably halted legal procession towards preventing gun violence. Both sides must prioritize lives over their own interests and act with bipartisanship for America to see any end to this unprecedented period of violence.

Lives continue to be lost because efforts are not severe enough. How many dead people will it take for bickering to stop and for real efforts to begin?