Columbine Shooting and its effects

Columbine High School, April 20, 1999, 13 students were killed and 20 injured by 2 teenage shooters. Eye witnesses described the event as horrific, depicting the shooters as even having fun as they shot up the school. Following up the event, schools ramped up their securities greatly. Schools have been employing "zero tolerance" philosophies. A 10th-grader at Surry County High School in Virginia was removed from school from dying his hair blue with a fear of him being an anti-social. A 7 year old is suspended for having a nail clipper, fearing it could be used as a knife. Here clearly our freedoms have been limited. We can't even dye our hair blue. But why has this happened? Just because a few kids abused the rights of having guns? This is a very clear example of freedom with responsibility. One cannot exist without the other. Do we want a society where we have no freedom like in dictatorships, or do we want a society where kids roam free with pistols and grenades and shoot innocent people? Neither works, and a balance must be acheived, but as always, a balance is difficult. This event has sparked major issues on gun control, allowing freedom, or cutting it off? We as U.S citizens have the right to bear arms,but at the same time, no one wants the horrific events at columbine to happen again. Sophomore Bryon Kirland said, "There was a girl crouched beneath a desk, and the guy came over and said, 'Peekaboo!' and shot her in the neck." Do we want this to happen to us? No, but we can not blindly take away guns to prevent this. Somewhere in the mess of the debate, lies a compromise that will protect us, but won't take away our rights such as kicking us from school for dying our hair blue. But as always, the freedom is only kept if the people uphold the responsibility. Even if we have a perfect law, what happens if a student decides to disobey the rules and goes shoot a school? What is preventing him from doing that? No law can prevent that from happening. Only chains bolting him to a wall can prevent that. That's why, only if these massacres stop, we can live with our freedoms, otherwise, these freedoms will be restricted as they have been in order to protect the safety of the people. No student wants to see their best friend dead with a bullet in their head.