It’s Time to Take a Stand QUICK FACTS

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

SINCE 1970

2,332 VICTIMS KILLED SINCE 1970

724 MOST SCHOOL SHOOTING EVENTS IN ONE YEAR 2022

303 PROJECTIONS FOR 2023

400+ MONEY SPENT ON ELECTIONS BY NRA SINCE 2000

$155,995,970

by The Northmen’s Log Staff

Being a high schooler in 2023 is dangerous. More than ever, school can feel like a hostile environment. School shootings are more prevalent than ever and lawmakers don’t have our interests at heart. This is not okay. Change won’t happen on its own. It’s time for our generation to take a stand.

In less than a decade, the idea of being affected by a shooting at school has changed from a farfetched fantasy to a grim reality. According to the K-12 Shooting database last year had the most school shooting incidents ever at 303. Projections show that in 2023, we could exceed that record. Year over year, the problem is only getting worse, and our lawmakers are doing next to nothing to help.

To bring about real change, we need laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. That means universal background checks, concealed carry licenses and strengthened laws on how people secure their guns at home. However, in the last decade, Congress has only passed a single law restricting the purchase of firearms.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 is a step in the direction of gun control, but on its path to being passed, it made many concessions to pro-gun legislators, severely limiting its impact. Our legislators need to do more to pass gun laws, it seems like our lawmakers just don’t care enough to make the change.

In fact, politicians are paid to not care. The National Rifle Association has been lining government officials’ pockets with money from lobbying for years. Since 2000, the NRA has spent over $150 million on swaying elections in favor of pro-gun candidates, and over $24 million to direct campaign contributions. The NRA and other groups like it have politicians under their thumb. In this status quo, change isn’t possible. Students have to step up and be part of the solution.

One goal of student activism is to bring awareness to an issue, and recently by working together, many schools have been successful at this goal. After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., schools across the nation held marches and walkouts in protest. It brought renewed media attention to the issue of school shootings and added to the national outrage that had been building since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.

Despite all the attention, very little real change came from the mass student activism. That’s because those walkouts were only a half measure. Even though they were spread across the United States, they weren’t enough to pressure lawmakers into making changes.

To produce the climate needed for real change, it will take an effort from all students, from every school, to make legislators understand the stress we go through every day. If we aren’t able to commit to that level of dedication to the cause, we just have to get used to the way things are now.

by Copy Editor Tatem Petet

cross the country there has been a noticeable increase of hateful rhetoric and fear mongering in regards to LGBTQ+ issues. This spring, there have been 417 transphobic and homophobic bills proposed by state legislatures, according to CNN. Not only are these bills misguided, but they pose an active threat to LGBTQ+ youth that could result in irreversible damages. CNN reported that this number doubles all of 2022 bill proposals on this topic.

Missouri is not the first, nor the only state to propose harmful legislation of this nature. In March 2022, Florida passed a law that bans the teaching of diverse sexual orientations to children under third grade. This reignited the nation’s conversation surrounding queer identities and created an example 19 states would soon follow, according to NBC.

Missouri State Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern said, “Between social media and cable news a lot of the same legislation is pushed more easily across the nation simultaneously.”

Traditionalists across the country are under the impression that exposure to diverse identities and sexualities will create confusion in young people’s minds.

In a video posted to his personal YouTube channel, State Sen. Mike Moon clarified his overarching goal, “My number one priority has been to protect children from the radical gender confusion plaguing our nation.”

Moon claimed he proposed this bill to protect children but for someone who seems to be so passionate, I am confused why he chose to not speak with a journalist. He ignored multiple phone calls, emails and failed to meet with me in a scheduled interview.

In reality, the traditionalists’ refusal to acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ+ identities only promotes the probability for bigoted and ignorant adults.

On the flip side of the coin, if children are never exposed to queer identities, as a normal occurrence in society, they may experience a large amount of inner turmoil if and when they are coming to terms with their queerness. When we constantly portray queerness as something immoral and deviant, we cultivate a culture of self-hatred for the next generation of queer people.

Possibly the most enraging and disappointing aspect of this wave is the mandatory reporting.

“As it currently exists, Senate Bill 134 will require parents to be notified within 24 hours if a student expresses confusion about their gender identity or requests to use pronouns that differ from their registered sex,” Missouri State Sen. Lauren Arthur said.

This bill could cause a catastrophic amount of harm. For a large number of teens, school can serve as a safe place to test the waters with diverse gender identity and/or diverse pronouns before having to face the monumental task of coming out to their family and community.

If this bill is passed the reality of living life as a queer teen would become even harder. When you take away someone’s rights to come out on their own terms, not only can it cause extreme harm to their mental health but it may even spiral into something much darker.

“Legislation of this extreme has serious consequences, particularly for LGBTQ youth, resulting in homelessness, poor mental health, self-harm, and harassment,” Arthur said.

Lawmakers have clearly con- vinced themselves that the solution to queer children in our education system is to first pretend that we don’t exist and later put our well-being at risk in order for parents to do damage control.

I can assure you the solution to our issues is not silencing queer people by pretending they don’t exist and that taking their autonomy away is not the answer.

Living as a queer teenager in this country today is a horrible mix of terrifying and infuriating. It feels as though every day when I wake up there is a new law trying to invalidate my rights to just simply exist in peace.

Something must be done. I believe it all starts with individuals coming together to express their opinions to lawmakers. It can be easy to feel powerless in these situations but this is one thing we can do to hopefully better our situation.