As most people know, there was a shooting on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This makes the 18th school shooting incident of 2018 in just a few months. Bowie has taken initiative and has decided to lock the gates of our school. But is that alone going to prevent tragedy?

This morning, I decided to watch a video that I saw on social media about the shooting that happened. It consisted of Snapchat videos from the perspectives of students at Stoneman Douglas, and it was awful. I was left in disbelief that people have seen those same videos, and that immediate action was not taken.

That doesn’t mean that Bowie is doing nothing, locking the gates was an important decision that needed to be made, but it is so sad that we are left defenseless in case of an emergency. People always say “oh, it won’t happen to me,” but it’s going to happen to someone because no action has been taken to change this. The gates are locked and closed, but we need drills that actually prepare us. The gates are a good start, but we need to be ready, as well as take initiative to change the laws putting us in such an unprepared situation.

If a school shooter came on campus, what would you do? We are taught to hide silently, away from the covered door, but what if they manage to open the door? We would be left lost and confused, scared for our lives, just waiting for help.

We deserve to live freely, but at this point guns have done more harm than they have done good in civilian life. People can go hunting all they want, but when it gets to the point that we are killing each other and no one seems to do anything about it is truly the problem. There needs to be stricter laws, for example having a screening process before guns can be sold is important, guns should not be an easy thing to purchase. Guns should not just be handed out, mental illness should be checked in the screening process, in addition to age and criminal background, when selling such a deadly weapon.

It’s not enough to just talk about it. Clearly the government isn’t going to act on it, so we have to as a community, as a student body. There has been conversation of a peaceful protest, a walk out of class to show that we as students will not take this matter lightly. On Friday, April 20th, also the anniversary of the Columbine mass shooting,  students will promptly walk out of their classes at 10:00 am, sit outside of the schools and speak their minds as well as chant “We are students, we are victims, we are change.” Dozens of celebrities, as well as students from all around the country have shared the message and committed to protesting until change has been made.

As a community we need to come together, we don’t have a choice anymore. We shouldn’t have to have a debate about whether or not we want people to have free will over weaponry, while we fear for if our children will live to graduation.

On top of caring for one another, being genuine friends with one another, we need to be aware of the signs. We can’t continue to ignore mental illness, or push it under the rug, this stops now.

I urge everyone to be kind to one another, make an effort, be aware that we live in a blessed community and that we shouldn’t take advantage of that, and lastly fight for change and prevent tragedies in our community by being knowledgeableBowie has made some much needed changes, but action needs to be taken. Locking the doors won’t be enough, it is up to us to make a difference. How will you contribute to a better, safer future.