less than 24 hours -- carissa song

On March 15, Brenton Harrison Tarrant opened fire at 2 different mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during prayer. This killed 50 people of different ages, genders, and races. Prior, he had written a 74-page manifesto about his twisted belief that immigrants were "invading" New Zealand and made the claim that there was currently a "white genocide" taking place. He taped the whole thing on a Facebook live video, which had up to 4,000 viewers and wasn't even reported to Facebook until 12 minutes in.

New Zealand's last mass shooting took place in 1990, where 14 people were killed. After that, New Zealand government amended gun control laws and made it harder to obtain semi-automatic weapons, with a license to own one expiring every 10 years. Less than 24 hours after this recent shooting, New Zealand has promised to ban semi-automatic weapons from public ownership. There was a government cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss further gun reform in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the United States has had 142 mass shootings since 1990. One hundred and forty two, with the highest death toll being 58 people. And while some congresspeople are trying to push gun control legislature through, others are supported by gun lobbyists, and others still are desperate to hold onto their antiquated second amendment.

The truth is, while the Second Amendment should be upheld, there is absolutely no reason for a common citizen to own a semi-automatic weapon. And while New Zealand only has about 2% of the population of the United States, it cannot be refuted that stricter gun control in New Zealand had prevented mass shootings for almost 30 years.

Children shouldn't be afraid to go to school. Teachers shouldn't have to carry around guns or arm schools with guards that do. People shouldn't be lucky to escape with their lives when they go to their place of worship and pray. Having to live in fear because of the leniency of easily changeable gun laws is absolutely disgusting and needs to be fixed.