Miah Cerillo was 11 years old when she survived the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 27th, 2022. Before the tragedy, Miah had been having an ordinary day. The most unusual thing that happened was that her mom took her out of school that morning for a doctor's appointment; she had an earache. After her appointment, her mother had even offered to let her stay home for the rest of the day; it was one of the last days before summer break, and they were just going to watch movies at school. Miah chose to go back to school, to see her friends. She always enjoyed going to school; she loved learning, and most importantly, spending time with her friends. When Miah and her classmates were watching Lilo and Stitch, the shooter …show more content…
Miah, who was once a light to her family and friends, is now sad, timid, and too traumatized to sleep (Neus). An appalling tragedy. Students and teachers shouldn’t have to go through such gruesome experiences, but they do, all of the time: “There have been 394 school shootings since 1999” (Cox). While some people believe that stricter gun control laws would infringe upon their Second Amendment rights, guns are too easily accessible to school shooters; therefore, the U.S. government should put these stricter laws into place: raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21-years-old, make the background checks stricter, require safe storage of weapons in homes, and ban the commercial selling of assault rifles. If those laws had been in place, 35 mass shootings that resulted in 446 deaths could’ve been prevented. Still, the problem with school shootings unfortunately goes far deeper than just the lives lost. Mental health and educational issues both play a role in the outcomes of school shootings: “Several studies demonstrate that school shootings have detrimental effects on the mental health and educational outcomes of surviving youth”