My name is Lucia Gutierrez and for my birthday gift, I want a birthday gift for the entire nation but I will start with Florida. After the senseless massacre, it's 100% clear that change is necessary, and I'm proposing a common sense solution where, regardless of gun control, should be implemented in order to regain the confidence of parents when they send their children off to learn.

It is a sad day in the history of our country and schools, I hope that as a community, family, and nation we can come together in mourning and remembrance first and foremost (regardless of political beliefs). I am sick and tired of debates and only talking about solutions that seem like wishful dreams. I desire to have a family of my own, I can imagine for a minute what it must feel like for the students who watched their classmates get slaughtered in front of them, the classmates who were scared to hide under their desks and counting their blessings not knowing if they would be able to count their survival as one, the parents who will never see their children again and those who will always remember their friends. In order to prevent an atrocity like this from happening again, and to prevent moms, dads, kids, cousins, friends, and loved ones from having to experience the sadness of losing someone they know, we must make a change. 

 

This, however, does not mean that we need 'common sense' gun control laws nor do we need to ban 'assault weapons'. The cold truth is, gun control laws will only hurt our society in more ways than help it and won't ensure safety in our schools (think abortion laws). Although I do believe many lawmakers skew public perception at a time when many are vulnerable and emotional in order to try and advance an agenda, I also believe that parents should have a sense of security when sending their children off to school everyday.

The answer I'm proposing to our representatives is to push is more armed security in our school. Yes, it is very sad that society has to resort to this in order to protect children and teens attending school, but it is 100% necessary. We defend our president with guns, we defend our Congressmen with guns, we defend our Governors with guns, we defend our celebrities with guns, we defend our sporting events with guns, we defend our jewlery stores with guns, we defend our banks with guns, we defend office buildings with guns, we defend our factories with guns, we defend our courts with guns, we defend our children with...... a sign that reads: "This is a gun free zone.".. and then only call someone with a gun if there's an emergency..... then we must wait for the help.

 

Even if gun control laws are implemented every school would still run a big risk of mass shootings considering how, according to the FBI, over 98% of mass shootings occur on gun-free zones and it's a certainty that more than 300 million guns could not be confiscated successfully or peacefully (mental health/background check reform is another solution that could prevent people like Cruz from accessing these weapons, but it doesn't mean armed security still isn't necessary).

 

Instead of putting up a sign that says 'Gun-free zone' in front of our school, we need one that tells any potential killer that if they try to harm any student, teacher, or administrator on campus they will be stopped by ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

 

Where these guards would come from is up to the representatives, whether they be off-duty police, ex-military, etc. With all the money that our government puts to waste, this would be an investment that could save lives and put a sense of security in parents and school goers where they can confidently say: I am safe.

 

****Included are the following ideas to implement:

Owning a gun is just like owning a driver's license, except it will be with a granted psychological evaluation - to assess skills in the mental health realm. The agencies testing would be government certified BUT independent to help prevent corruption. The age to get a gun would be at 21. Teachers would be compensated for being skillfully trained at concealed carry in order to be part of the protection in schools. 

 

I wish to start in Florida, but to expand this to the entire nation.