Only a month into 2018 and there have been 11 school shootings. You may have heard about the mass shooting in Kentucky that happened on January 24th. A 15-year-old male student at Marshall County High School opened fire among his classmates just before morning classes would have started. 2 students died and 18 were injured. The suspect may be tried as an adult, as he should be. Thousands of students and family members who know those who are now deceased came together to mourn them with a candlelight vigil.

Not all of the shootings that have happened so far this year have resulted in death or injury, but we have to ask ourselves – why does this keep happening? Well, to start, let’s focus on the fact that our own president didn’t respond to the devastation until 24 hours later. Yet, the Canadian Prime Minister spoke to the governor of Kentucky the day the shooting occurred. If our leader cannot support us in times of need, how can we support ourselves?

Everyone at Santiago can only hope and pray that this type of horrific event will never happen to us. However, I’m sure most of you heard that two Corona High School students were arrested just this past Friday, January 26th. The two students were planning a mass shooting and officials became aware of their plans after there were rumors surfacing about it on social media. The Corona Police Department expressed concerns that social media rumors are not being taken seriously enough and should have been immediately reported. This high school is not far from us and could have easily affected us, especially if your friends go to that school.

Hopefully, this will not continue throughout the year, so we can come together as a country to stop gun violence.