Author: VINAY SAKHRANI

Recently, three innocent students on the University of Virginia’s football team lost their lives to gun violence. While returning from a road game, the school bus full of student-athletes was shot at by another student.

The results? The world was left without the souls of Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry, and Lavel Davis.

Although these may just be names to us, these were men who unwillingly left behind friends, families, and bright futures at the expense of gun violence. My question is, when will all of this stop?

Throughout the last couple of years, the number of lives that have been lost to gun violence has increased. This is reflected by the recent events in St. Louis, Missouri, and Uvalde, Texas. We simply can not afford to keep losing innocent American lives at the hands of gun violence, which is why stricter gun control laws must be enforced. Although progress has occurred on a federal level with President Joe Biden implementing crisis intervention programs, stricter background checks, and a more complex gun registration process, more must be done. 

Biden has called for raising the legal age to purchase a gun to 21. Although this is a step in the right direction, why on earth should a 21-year-old be purchasing guns anyways? At 21, people should be learning a skill, figuring out what they want to do in life, or advancing their career paths. I am 21, and it is perplexing to me why owning a gun would even cross the mind of someone my age. Therefore, props to Biden for making gun laws stricter and raising the age to purchase to 21, but this is not enough. The age to purchase a gun needs to be higher. Much higher.