Echoes of latest school shootings draw notice to lack of legislative efficacy
Just days before West students began their school year, 23-year-old Robin Westman approached Annunciation Catholic Church while its school was holding morning mass, wielding three lawfully purchased firearms. Westman, a former student of the school, then opened fire through the stained glass window, killing two children and injuring 18 others. A journal belonging to Westman later revealed that the shooter had a lifelong obsession with school shootings, and that this attack had been planned for several months. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, this counts as one of 91 incidents of gunfire in schools that have occurred in America this year. Despite this fact, no major federal gun control laws or legislation that seeks to support mental health care reform have been passed in the last three years (both were addressed by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022.)
Without a doubt one of the most gun-friendly countries in the world, based on metrics of gun ownership and permissive weapons laws, America celebrates its weapons more than any other place across the world. To put it plainly, guns are a part of our culture. However, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that this uniquely American trait, along with its rabid devotees and supporters, have discouraged our lawmakers from making any real efforts to avoid these shootings. Data shows that America has been, and is continuing to take, the wrong approach to solving gun violence. Legislators and politicians have long danced around the issue, but a much more direct approach to gun violence is clearly necessary in order to make America’s schools and streets safer.
One look at America’s approach to solving school shootings proves this out. America seems to have adopted this “gun violence is inevitable” mindset, given the scope of its school-shooting defense industry. According to Omida Logistics, the school defense industry is now estimated at around $4 billion and consists of gear such as body armor, tasers, handguns, facial recognition systems, and even bulletproof whiteboards. What this means is that American society has accepted that it can’t stop anyone from bringing guns into schools. Instead, the best they can do is try to minimize the number of deaths (thus creating a lucrative side business for a booming industry). One of the most ridiculous examples of this philosophy are the calls many have made for school districts to start arming teachers. Not only does this increase the possibility of a school shooting by making weapons generally more accessible to people within a school, but it’s also fundamentally foolish. Teachers shouldn’t be expected to act as bodyguards for students by risking their own lives in the event of a shooter, especially when such a role is already fulfilled through people like School Resource Officers. All of this illustrates just how stuck America is in its belief that its gun violence situation cannot change, discouraging people from attempting any meaningful progress.
Another reason for these frequent mass shootings has been the inaction of lawmakers in properly addressing and preventing them. Legislators haven’t been too keen to pass much legislation in recent years that actually tackles gun violence, largely due to cries that it may violate the Second Amendment. However, this is ultimately a very weak argument as the Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller ruled in 2008 that the right to gun ownership was not absolute, and that it is entirely permissible for legislatures to ban certain kinds of dangerous weapons. For example, banning semi-automatic assault weapons would absolutely be within the grounds of constitutionality, though that obviously has yet to occur. One of the most tangible reasons why these more basic measures have been ignored has been the prevalence of gun lobbies like the National Rifle Association [NRA], which receives donations from arms manufacturers and spends millions of dollars yearly, over $12 million since 2020, in order to lobby for gun friendly Congresspeople and local politicians. While most NRA-supported members of Congress likely understand that Americans don’t need semi-automatic assault rifles, they would rather ignore this than give up the free money they get for ignoring that fact. For example, former senator Marco Rubio has received over $3.3 million from the NRA, according to a study done by the Brady Campaign, a nonprofit organization. All of this comes together to suggest that American politicians are more concerned with the interests of the NRA and its arms-producing donors than enacting laws designed to make schools and streets safer.
Our nation, the one that leads all other developed countries in school shootings and gun homicide, isn't the safest place on Earth, and a basic analysis of the facts places the blame on America’s obsession with weapons and firearms. Ireland, with a murder rate over seven times smaller than the U.S’s, does not accept the vague, unprovable concept of “self-defense” as a “good reason” on applications to purchase firearms, and gun owners must have some sort of evidence of a valid reason to own a gun, such as membership to a hunting club. Japan, a country with one of the lowest murder rates in the world of 0.23 per 100,000 people, allows their citizens, once heavily trained, to own only shotguns. Even in spite of these incredibly effective regulations, the citizens of both of these countries still have a right “to keep and bear arms.” America can brag about and champaign its freedom all it wants, but until it thinks more critically about the value of its obsession with gun liberties, it can only expect its problems to worsen. It must seriously ask itself: How many children’s lives are worth this American obsession? How many citizens does this country need to sacrifice to protect this “freedom”?
by Veronica Holladay
Published October 6, 2025
Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue I