Applying Gandhi to the Florida School Shooting

“Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill. This is civilization.” Gandhi uses this example as part of his critique about civilization. It is an example that strikes close to home for all of the United States right now as we mourn yet another mass shooting.

What makes this time different in the headlines? The faces leading the #neveragain movement are the ones who witnessed the shooting first hand. Survivors from Stoneman Douglas are the ones protesting and asking our representatives the tough questions face to face. How do we stop this from happening again?

To quote Gandhi again, “So long as a man is contented with his present lot, so long is it difficult to persuade him to come out of it. Therefore it is that every reform must be preceded by discontent. We throw away things we have, only when we cease to like them.” It is obvious that people are discontent with our current gun laws so we have to assume, we have to hope, that this discontent will lead to reform.

Currently, we are seeing more representatives agree there needs to be a change but we have yet to see this change implemented. Many are still rejecting a ban on assault weapons but Senator Mark Rubio and President Trump have both expressed support of raising the age limit to buy a gun from 18 to 21. Another suggested change is to arm teachers so they can defend themselves against school shooters. Haven’t enough people lost their lives from situations like these that we can do more than defer their actions a couple more years or add yet more guns to the issue of gun violence? When is the leadership of our nation going to start listening to the young voices crying out for protection in their schools?

The answer to this issue is complicated, that is certain, but it must stem from our values and if we truly value the lives of innocent citizens, of children in our schools, I believe we will see greater reform come out of the discontent of Americans we see being expressed today.