Anna Peacock

6.21.2020

Gun Laws and Counseling: a Combined Effort Toward Success and Safety

On February 14th, 2018, a 19-year-old former student named Nikolas Cruz had

committed the deadliest school shooting incident recorded in the United States. He had opened

fire at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, murdering 17 people and

wounded 17 others. Cruz had legally purchased an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and had used

this weapon to shower his peers with bullets. The infamous Parkland Shooting had shocked the

entire country, leaving many Americans fearing for their children and themselves. A lot of

serious questions had been sparked by the heinous act: why did Cruz do it? What went wrong?

What should be considered at fault; the disturbed individual or the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle?

Even two years later, to the present day, gun laws are heavily debated. Some suggest a

complete gun ban, others suggest educators should be armed with weapons themselves. As a

country, it has been difficult to come up with a solution, because everybody has a different

opinion about guns. While opinions are important, facts are essential. It’s not fair to suggest

that only guns are the issue, or that only mental health is the issue. What we need to focus on

is the fact that the only way to eliminate school-shootings is to put efforts into appropriate gun

control while also putting the same efforts into helping our potential school-shooters and their

mental health.

Aaron Stark, a former student at North High in Colorado and Ted-Talk speaker, had

made a bold statement shortly after the Parkland shooting. “I was almost a school shooter,”

Stark had written to Denver’s station 9 news. “I am not a school shooter because I didn’t have

access to guns.” Stark further explains that he grew up in an abusive household, suffered severe
mental health issues, and had the mindset that he had nothing to lose. Because of this deadly

combination, Stark had had homicidal and suicidal tendencies in 1996. He goes on to explain

that there could have been one thing that made it all different: love. Stark elaborates that

because of the lack of love in his difficult life, he had become blind to the importance of human

lives, including his own. While love is a major component to any person’s success in life, Stark

also says that because he didn’t have a gun, he never pulled the trigger in the first place. “But

the thing about my post was, it’s more than just guns,” Stark comments. “It’s a multifaceted

issue. And if you focus on just the guns, then you’ll ignore the rest – but if you focus on just the

mental health, then you’ll have missed the gun part.” Stark is exactly right; it takes a

combination of solutions for such a complicated issue.

As with any political topic, there will be several people who will disagree with each

other. With a more conservative approach to gun control, the National Rifle Association of

America have no hesitation in promoting gun use. The NRA’s Wayne Lapierre had given a

speech titled What Should America Do about Gun Violence, specifically referring to the shooting

in Newton, Connecticut. Lapierre had insisted that teaching safe and responsible gun ownership

was effective and the best solution. Not only was this his first choice for change, but proposing

more gun control laws seems to be his last. “Proposing more gun control laws – while failing to

enforce the thousands we already have – is not a serious solution to reducing crime,” Lapierre

stated. He brings up a good point; why would the people who already abuse gun control laws

follow new ones? It’s very unlikely they would. With so many gun laws, and the specificity of

each State in the United States, it’s hard to come to the generalization that the laws are being

ignored, but it is a fair point that should be considered. Lapierre goes on to say that citizens
who legally own and carry guns are taking the blame for those who abuse those rights. “Law-

abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals. Nor do

we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our

families,” Lapierre proclaims. It is completely valid to want protection within our households.

It’s not, however, valid to be excessive with firearms. It’s not at all necessary to have an AR-15

when having a pistol or standard rifle is plenty enough for means of protection. Lapierre goes

on to say that a study from the Clinton Justice Department had “proved” that a temporary ban

of semi-automatic firearms had no impact on lower crime rates. While this might be true, who’s

to say it didn’t lower the amount of deaths in the context of gun crimes? Criminals will find a

way to participate in gun violence, and that is a fact that is hard to face. This is not, however, an

excuse to give up on finding a way to decrease the number of victims who have lost their lives

to gun violence.

While the actual weapons involved in shootings are considered a main focus, the

stability of the individual firing the weapon is another topic we need to consider. When

comparing the lives of Nikolas Cruz and Aaron Stark, we see a strong similarity; both were

severely mentally ill. It’s fair to say that anyone who has homicidal or suicidal tendencies suffer

from mental illness. Robert Ross, author of Mental Health Services a Defense against School

Violence, and pharmacist, writes about how prevention is worth a pound of cure. He claims that

it’s more effective to cut off the head of the snake as soon as possible, which means to aid the

teenagers who are outcasted immediately. Ross states the steps to recognize the students who

slip through the cracks, saying “the key to prevention is understanding the source: who are

these disengaged, disconnected, and frequently mentally ill young people who are involved in
so much violence in our schools and neighborhoods?” The difficult part about helping mentally

ill students in the United States is that mental illness does not just go away once addressed.

Working with people who suffer from these illnesses takes time, and it takes personalization.

With junior high schools and high schools only assigned with so many counselors, it’s easy for

students to hide in the shadows. School counselors have a much bigger role than we think they

do; these people could potentially save the life of several students if the job is done right. While

being with students one-on-one, and conjuring up a plan for their wellbeing is essential to the

United States education system, gun laws need to start being taken seriously.

As citizens of the United States become more and more separated by their ideas of what

they think is right, we can all agree that we want our families and children to be safe. Nobody

wants their child to be part of a school shooting, especially if their child is the shooter. While

the Parkland shooting and the Sandy Hook shooting have devastated many, it sparked a

revolution in gun safety. Moving forward, it is best to provide a more accessible counselor that

is able to attend to a student’s personal needs. Our morals are backwards if being helped by a

counselor is harder than purchasing a firearm. With that being said, it is important to enforce

our gun laws and monitor those it effects. While it is essential and a right to own a weapon to

protect our households, it simply isn’t necessary to own extravagant firearms. The concept of

using both gun laws and proactive counseling is very similar to those who attend therapy for

mental illness; while medication helps and going to therapy helps, it is a lot more effective

when both are used consistently together. If we can achieve this concept, we might see a

shortage of Nikolas Cruzes and Aaron Starks, which is all we can hope for when it comes to the

safety of our students.

 WORKS CITED

 Gray, Sarah. “'I Was Almost a School Shooter': Aaron Stark Explains.” Time, Time, 20

Feb. 2018, time.com/5167365/i-was-almost-a-school-shooter-man-pens-heartfelt-letter-

about-mental-health-and-guns/.

 History.com Editors. “Teen Gunman Kills 17, Injures 17 at Parkland, Florida High

School.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 6 Feb. 2019, www.history.com/this-

day-in-history/parkland-marjory-stoneman-douglas-school-shooting.

 Lapierre, Wayne. “Chapter 21: Violence on Campus.” Elements of Argument, by Annette

T. Rottenberg, Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 2012, pp. 444–446.

 Ross, Robert. “Chapter 21: Violence on Campus.” ELEMENTS OF ARGUMENT, by

ANNETTE T. ROTTENBERG, BEDFORD BKS ST MARTIN'S, 2012, pp. 447–448.