As the end of my final semester at Johnson State College approaches, I wanted to go out with a bang, and talk about something that would spark some interest on campus, and maybe this will. However, I’m not sure how up to date people are on current events.

What I want to discuss is what the hell is going on with society in the United States?

So far in 2015, there have been more mass shootings in the states than there have been days, totalling about 351, the conflict in San Bernadino, California being the last of which I am aware of.

According to the FBI, a mass shooting is characterized by the killing or injuring of 4 or more people.

Now, many of these shootings we never heard about nationally, and many of the shooters were probably not affilliated with terrorists, but the San Bernadino crisis ran on every news broadcasting channel for hours, and it was determined this week that the shooters had been radicalized by ISIS.

So, my question is, are we not vetting people, American Citizen or not, when they return from Middle-Eastern countries?
Sayed Farook seemed like a quiet man to many, according to his brother-in-law, but apparently he changed after he traveled to Saudi Arabia two years ago, where he met and married his wife. The FBI says that he and his wife had been radicalized for “some time.” So, where did they slip through the cracks, and how many more like them are in this country?

What I also don’t get is why nobody on the Johnson State campus seems to be talking about this as well as why those presidential candidates on the campaign trail are only talking about barring Muslims from entering the country, and creating stricter gun laws.

I don’t think gun laws or Muslims are really the issue we should be discussing.

Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Pretty much the same thing could be said about Muslims. Not all Muslims are radicalized, and in fact, many don’t believe in killing people for Allah. We can’t take guns away from law-abiding citizens who have the right to bear arms, and we can’t persecute the entire religion for the faults of the few. Both would be unconstitutional.

What we do need is a better system of vetting people who enter the country, and we need a better mental health care system, so that these mass shootings don’t keep happening every day. We also need to start talking about the real issues here.

It seems sad to me that even in quiet, seemingly peaceful Vermont, we have also had a mass shooting this year. When will things change?
-Kayla Friedrich, Editor-in-Chief