Gun laws in the U.S. desperately need revision; after over 470 mass shootings since the beginning of this year, this shouldn’t come as a shock. Far too long have communities, schools, and families been torn apart by acts of atrocity enabled by access to weapons of mass killing. There is no reason an individual should have the ability to shoot many hundreds of rounds at worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, students in Uvalde, shoppers in El Paso, or concert-goers in Las Vegas.
In 1999, SDSU Professor Chen Lieng, 32, walked into a laboratory on August 15th. It was a cold day – San Diego was having its highest daily low temperature of 73 degrees. He was there to listen to Fredrick Martin Davidson’s – a friend, coworker, and student – defense of his master’s thesis. Fellow professors Preston Lowrey III, 44, and Constantinos Lyrintzis, 36, took their seats alongside him just before 2 p.m. As the meeting started, Lieng rose to give a brief intro speech – but Davidson wasn’t there to listen to the professors critique his thesis. As soon as Lieng sat back down, Davidson pulled a handgun out of a first aid kit and sent a volley of bullets at the professor, killing him almost immediately. As Lyrintzis and Lowrey began to flee, the Army veteran followed and killed them with tactical and methodical precision. With a suicide note tucked in his pocket, Davidson surrendered to campus police shortly thereafter. Lieng’s wife and two kids never saw him again.
LJHS junior Jason Leib said, “[Gun laws] need to be stricter. Too many people have access who shouldn’t.” The professors were just a few of the people affected by overly loose gun regulation – so far, in 2023 alone, there have been over 34,000 deaths due to gun violence. So, what revisions need to be made? Well, if the American culture around guns won’t change, the laws must. According to WIRED, study after study has shown that, on a state-by-state basis, looser gun laws lead to more mass shootings. I urge you, dear reader, to protest, write a letter to a politician, and/or become informed. Make a difference.
