With the election less than 40 days away, young voters are upset about the decrease in conversation about gun control despite the continuous mass shootings across the country.
According to a poll from the Pew Research Center, 56% of registered voters consider “gun policy” to be an important issue, a lower percentage than the economy, healthcare, and Supreme Court appointments. In another poll from the Southern Provost Law Center, younger generations aged 14-30, 74% believe that gun violence is a problem in America.
Although the national political conversations surrounding gun control have diminished, it continues to be on some young voters’ minds with 408 mass shootings happening just this year, including the recent mass shooting of a Georgia high school that left four individuals dead and nine injured.
“I feel like a lot of young people, especially in the media, have become really desensitized to these types of incidents,” Ruby Belt, a freshman studying political science, said. “We shouldn’t have to live in a world where this is normal.”
Belt was a member of Students Demand Action while in high school and said she’s disheartened by politicians not recognizing the root of mass shootings being guns. She first got involved in politics when she was in sixth grade following the Parkland high school shooting. Ever since Parkland, there have been many highly covered mass shootings, including the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“I think the reaction to that was a lot bigger than [other] recent school shootings,” she said. “[Uvalde] was refreshing to hear people talk about it as much as they did given the fact that other incidents aren’t really talked about as much.”
Elijah Ikem, a sophomore studying psychology, said that the Uvalde shooting is still a pervasive topic in his home state of Texas.
“It was like shots heard around the state,” Ikem said.
However, Ikem believes that the media cares more about getting clicks than spreading awareness about mass shootings, especially in light of the recent shooting in Birmingham, Alabama that left 4 people dead and 17 injured. Ikem said that he believes the Birmingham shooting “should be covered” in the same way as the Uvalde shooting as both were “tragic situations.”
Dakota Driemeyer, a junior studying law, history, and culture, emphasizes further on this point, saying “the ones with the higher casualties are the ones who are portrayed [more] in the media.”
Eloise Dumas, a freshman studying film and TV production, lived in Germany for a few years and said that even when she was abroad, she was aware of gun problems in the U.S.
“I was always just kind of upset by how preventable it all was,” Dumas said. “I feel like it would be so easy for there to be legislation to prevent this. At what point can you not call it like a surprising tragedy anymore?”
Germany, like most other developed countries, doesn’t give its citizens the right to bear arms, unlike in the United States which enshrined that right in the second amendment.
On September 26, the Biden administration announced two executive orders to combat gun violence. One of the orders addresses the threat of ghost guns while another is committed to improving active shooter drills in schools. Despite this, some students believe that other policy changes should also be taken to increase measures to prevent mass shootings.
“I feel like an assault weapons ban is the next logical step given that [they are] the weapon most commonly used in [mass shootings],” Belt said. “However, obviously, there’s a gun lobby, and they’re making sure that that doesn’t happen.”
Driemeyer said he thinks the media should focus more on America’s mental health crisis than on firearms.
“I think we immediately start blaming the firearm and not the maniac behind it,” Driemeyer said.
He continues by saying that he wants there to be more availability for mental health services and for schools to have more resource officers to prevent violence from ensuing.
Dumas said that regardless of the number of casualties or injuries from a mass shooting, the incident is always tragic.
“I was just kind of saddened that this is the state of our country,” Dumas said. “Yeah, I feel like I’m giving up a little bit which is very upsetting.”