On Friday Dec. 14 a tragedy occurred in Newton, Conn. that garnered the nation’s attention and tore the lives of families apart forever.
According to CNN, Adam Lanza was the gunman who entered Sandy Hook Elementary School armed with at least three legally purchased weapons. After killing his mother at home, where they lived together, he proceeded toward the school and opened fire on students and teachers. Out of the 27 victims, 20 were children between the ages of five and ten.
The shooting struck a chord among Palo Alto High School students, some of whom proposed stricter gun control laws.
“This incident, and the many recent incidents like it thoroughly exemplifies why guns should be outlawed,” said freshman Winston Rosati. “If guns were banned in the first place this wouldn’t have happened.”
Others voiced a less radical approach to curbing the widespread ownership of firearms across America.
“It’s tragic that in the twenty-first century we are still suffering from malicious acts as awful as this one,” said junior Kian McHugh. “It’s difficult to think that an individual in this day and age is capable of an act this horrific. I don’t think it is necessary that Paly tightens its security. If anything needs to be tightened it is the qualifications necessary to get a gun. If you need to pass multiple tests and get a license to drive, you should have to do the same to even think about getting your hands on a firearm.”
Senior Bret Pinsker suggested immediate precautions that Paly, as a school, can take against events like these.
“My first reaction is that this event was incredibly tragic, and while I’m not really sure what to do about gun control laws, I think that school’s should be fully aware of who is coming on and off campus at all times,” said Pinsker. “This could be done through cameras at Paly, but I’m not an expert on security by any means.”
Sophomore Kate Brendenberg echoed Pinsker’s opinion.
“The shooting was tragic and shocking,” said Bredenberg. “It makes me think about the security of our own school and I would feel safer if we had a few teacher volunteers get guns,” Bredenberg said.
The shooting was the second deadliest within a school in American history, next to the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting which took the lives of 32 students and teachers.
Sophomore Scott Andrews and junior J.J. Kadifa both lamented the loss of life.
“I don’t understand what brought this man to kill 20 innocent kids and 7 adults,” Andrews said. “There is no justification for that. I am praying for the families affected by this tragic event.”
Kadifa said, “I don’t fear death but I fear being cheated of life. I feel those children were cheated of life. My heart bleeds for them, their families and their friends.”