Let's talk guns

So… gun control. In my opinion, it’s a major problem at the moment and no matter what I do I cannot manage to stop thinking about it recently. All over the news I see school shootings, mass shootings, and terrorist bombings but legally nothing is changing. Instead while millions of people marching for their lives, the government and NRA are not taking anything seriously. There needs to be better gun control, and there are many problems with the arguments against gun control.
Let me start by saying the United States has the 31st highest rate of gun violence in the world. As of 2016 there were about 3.85 deaths per 100,000 people, which doesn’t seem like much but that’s more than 38,000 deaths due to gun violence in one year alone. What’s worse is these numbers keep rising, and nothing is being changed. In comparison to other first world countries, the United States is the worst when it comes to gun violence, but we are also worse than the majority of second and third world countries.
The citizens of the United States love their second amendment, and it’s obvious when looking through any type of mass media. One of the main problems in my opinion about the second amendment is that it was written in 1791, which is over 200 years ago. As time has passed amendments have been added, altered, etc., but “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” has not. This was before machine guns, landmines, dirty bombs, flame-throwers, tanks, biological & chemical weapons, and when there could be ⅗ of a person! Over 200 years, and there is still no change.
Evolving as a country and society can be difficult, but there are countries all over the world that have made a change for the better. My favorite comparison is with Japan because Japan has almost completely eliminated gun deaths. While culture is a major factor, their gun control is a major factor as well. Their gun control set up is amazing as there are many classes, tests, background check, and evaluations that one must go through to obtain a license to own either a shotgun or air-rifle. Not only does one have to retake classes every three years, but there are yearly exams by officials to check on the people and their guns. This has allowed people to still have the right to their weapon, but it has brought their gun violence down to a point where there are only about 10 deaths a year from gun violence.
America needs to change, and there are countries we can look up to for change. Our gun problem is horrifying, and every day I wait for our country to get out of our old ways and evolve. So government officials, if you’re reading this, please for the love of our people do something.

Blog 4: Being Latino

I read an article by HuffPost discussing school walkouts and how we are still fighting for latino students. There are many problems with hate and segregation in America but there is a severe problem with hispanic discrimination, and there has never been a real movement for this.

In this article the author, Sanchez, discusses her life as a teacher in Los Angeles and looking back at the last 50 years since the East L.A. school walkouts. In 1968 there were school walkouts due to “unequal conditions of their schools, high push-out rates, racist and discriminatory attitudes or practices of school staff, not being reflected in the school curriculum, and being tracked into vocational and special education classes” (Sanchez). She then discusses how the walkouts paved the way for many students to follow what they did, but there are still tons of problems with education and segregation for hispanic students. A study by Civil Rights Project at the University of California shows that schools are more segregated now than there was in the 1970’s, meaning that Latinx’s are being forced into schools that are under resourced and limit the opportunities for education out of high school.

Personally I’ve been very privileged in my education and I am the first in my family to have ever graduated from High School or gone to college. My family members were not so lucky and this is because they have had the same chance their peers did. The education system is skewed and especially in Texas, as they don’t teach Hispanic history in depth (or at all) and the schools are heavily segregated due to gentrification.

This article uses real facts that can actually be fact checked and it’s by a hispanic author! Irene Sanchez has a diverse educational background and works with the hispanic community in California, so I believe she is trustworthy. I personally agreed with this article in many ways even though it was a reflection. I highly recommend reading this article, because it’s important to remember that there’s more than one disadvantaged minority in America.