EDITORIAL - Start with the gun laws

It has happened yet again; another school shooting in the US has claimed the lives of three students and injured seven others as well as one teacher.

Authorities said a 15-year-old student brought a semi-automatic handgun to the Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, last Tuesday afternoon, and then opened fire.

He did not resist arrest when the police came to respond to the alarm. Police said the gun used in the shootings belonged to his father, who bought it barely a week before the shooting.

"I think this is every parent's worst nightmare...My heart goes out to the families. This is an unimaginable tragedy. I hope we can all rise to the occasion and wrap our arms around the families, the affected children and school personnel and this community," said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who added that that school shootings are "a uniquely American problem that we need to address."

It is the 28th school shooting to occur this year alone.

Our hearts go out to the victims of this latest shooting; incidents like these are something we don’t want to happen anywhere in the world.

While it is easy to blame school shootings on lax gun laws alone, it has become even more complicated than that. Yes, part of the responsibility does goes to the government for making it easy for just anyone to get a gun, but in this case part of it is also shared by the suspect’s parents for not securing the gun well enough, or perhaps neglecting his needs to the point that he felt he had to lash out.

Even modern society shares part of the blame for making violence seem like it is an accepted part of everyday life.

Some of the causes for school shootings cannot easily be addressed, but the US government can start somewhere, and that is with gun laws.

Lax gun laws are something that the Biden administration has yet to address, among other hot-button issues like the immigration and the economy. It continues to be a touchy topic among Americans, many of whom continue to hold on to their right to bear arms even without any immediate threat to their lives.

And as far as US gun laws are, they are among the most “tolerant” in the world. Whereas some developed countries forbid civilians from owning any type of firearms whatsoever, in the US some people can own guns meant for military use only.

As long as the US makes it easy for people to access firearms, the chance of incidents like these happening will always remain. Too bad this wakeup call for the Biden administration had to come with three young deaths.