How Can Restorative Justice Address Gun Violence In The U.S.?

Photo Courtesy of CNN

By Jackie Bueno

See link to CNN’s “Gunman confessed to Florida high school shooting, police say” for more context on the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-high-school-shooting/index.html

The recent tragedy that occurred in Parkland, Florida is a devastating reality that unfortunately persists in America: repeated gun violence. However, how have politicians and the rest of American society reacted in response?

Just recently, Trump undid legislation Obama pushed that made it harder for mentally ill people to register for a gun. It’s horrifying knowing that people in vast positions of power, such as our own U.S. President, is ill-equipped to respond to issues like this with less restrictions.

Furthermore, we have a nation, for the most part, deeply rooted in maintaining its second amendment, to have guns present and accessible within our daily spaces, but why aren’t we having more restorative conservations around the fact that having access to guns only perpetuates a culture rampant with fear and mistrust?

This recent incident begs the question: How Can Restorative Justice Address Gun Violence in the U.S.?

Is it time to give up our guns, and start exercising our right to have a society free of violence?
When will words of love and support replace headlines filled with words such as shooting and [x] dead?

The time is now, America. The time is now.

To read about Trump’s recent decision to restrict gun access, see this link:

http://fortune.com/2018/02/15/trump-shooting-mental-illness/

Jackie Bueno is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Sociology. For further inquiries or if you would like to be featured, please contact her at jacquelinebueno@berkeley.edu.