Even as the Florida shooting survivors return to school, the US government has done little to prevent a repeat of the massacre
Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
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Two weeks after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, survivors are returning to the campus where they lost 17 of their own. Meanwhile, thousands of American students are walking out of classrooms in protest, asking, "How many more have to die before gun laws are tightened?"
Students from Chicago to Pittsburgh to Austin, Texas, paid tribute to the fallen victims of the Florida massacre and protested lax gun laws by walking out of school. Many of these demonstrations lasted 17 minutes - a minute for each victim. Students also held a protest march in Washington DC, to mount pressure on lawmakers to act on gun control.
The Florida attack was the 32nd mass shooting in a year that is just two months old, and the eighth to happen at a school. It comes a year after US President Donald Trump repealed an Obama-era regulation blocking sale of guns to those with mental illness. While Republicans and pro-gun citizens argue that stricter gun laws won't stop such attacks, several countries have proved otherwise.
Trump's solution: More guns
President Trump wants to arm teachers and school staff in every school in Florida, a move that could add 37,000 more guns statewide. Trump has since hinted he is open to resurrecting gun safety legislation that has been opposed for years by the National Rifle Association (NRA). He also ordered a ban on 'bump stocks', which turn semi-automatics into automatic weapons, like those used in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.
What's being done now?
The pro-gun Florida is mulling on raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, and imposing a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, until a background check is done. The state is also considering Trump's suggestion to arm teachers. Meanwhile, Dick's Sporting Goods, which sold the gun to the Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz, has stopped selling assault-style rifles in all of its stores. Walmart, too, will no longer sell arms to anyone under 21 years.
Norway gets smart
Norway is moving to ban semi-automatic firearms as of 2021, which will mark a decade since a mass murderer killed 69 people, most of them teenagers, in 2011.
UK made a change
The trigger: In 1996, a shooter unloaded his handguns at Dunblane primary school, killing 16 kids aged between 5 and 6.
Action: All handguns were banned by 1997 (semi-automatics had already been banned after a similar attack in Hungerford in 1987). Since then, there has been only one mass shooting (2010).
Canada LEARNT TOO
The trigger: In 1989, a student walked into a Montreal engineering school with a semi-automatic rifle and killed 14 students.
Action: The government introduced regulations that require all gun owners to undergo background checks and a public safety course. Canada has had eight mass shootings in the last 20 years, while the US had eight in schools alone this year.
Oz dodged a bullet
The trigger: In 1996, a shooting spree at a gift shop in Tasmania killed 35 people in half an hour.
Action: A fortnight later, then prime minister John Howard proposed a firearm licensing system that required people to register their reason for having a firearm, such as target shooting or hunting. There have been no mass shootings since.
5% of world's population is in the US
45% of all guns in the world are in the US
1.8k
No. of people killed by guns in the US this year
27cr
Estimated number of civilian firearms in the US
31%
of all mass shooters in the world are in the US
* 2016 study by the University of Alabama
* As per the Gun Violence Archive
* As per Small Arms Survey, 2007
Six weeks, 16 shootings
Feb 14, Parkland: 17 dead, 12 injured
Feb 13, New Orleans: 2 dead, 3 injured
Feb 11, Paintsville: 5 dead
Feb 11, Detroit: 4 dead, 3 injured
Feb 8, Lantana: 3 dead, 2 injured
Feb 5, Colorado Springs: 2 dead, 4 injured
Feb 4, Garfield Heights: 1 dead, 5 injured
Jan 31, Saint Louis: 4 injured
Jan 29, Melcroft: 5 dead
Jan 29, Reading: 4 dead
Jan 28, Indianapolis: 2 dead, 3 injured
Jan 27, Los Angeles: 5 injured
Jan 27, Bowling Green: 4 injured
Jan 25, Washington: 4 injured
Jan 23, Benton: 2 dead, 14 injured
Jan 23, Philadelphia: 4 injured
Jan 21, Orlando: 4 injured
Jan 21, Chicago: 4 injured
Jan 18, Washington: 1 dead, 3 injured
Jan 17, York: 1 dead, 4 injured
Jan 15, Alachua: 5 injured
Jan 14, Eutaw: 1 dead, 4 injured
Jan 14, Madison: 4 injured
Jan 12, Nashville: 3 dead, 2 injured
Jan 11, St Robert: 2 dead, 2 injured
Jan 8, nion Springs: 1 dead, 5 injured
Jan 7, Plantation: 4 injured
Jan 6, Hattiesburg: 6 injured
Jan 5, Brinkley: 1 dead, 3 injured
Jan 1, Highlands Ranch: 2 dead, 6 injured
Jan 1, Huntsville: 1 dead, 3 injured
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