As someone who has lived in many countries around the world, I have never felt unsafe or scared to go to school until I came to America. Before I came to Miami, I lived in England for a year. In Great Britain, guns are banned for the police and civilians; the only way to get your hands on one is to have a license. To get a license you have to send in a copy of your passport and many other documents to the government and the chief officer of your local police department. The school that I attended in England had very little security and never did anyone at my school fear that someone would enter the school with a gun. Ever. The last school shooting and the most recent shooting in Great Britain was on March of 1996, in Scotland, after that guns were banned completely and there has not been a mass shooting since. Here, my mom is frightened to get mad at drivers as she fears that they will pull a gun out on her, in England she beeped at everyone and never did she worry that she would be shot. The U.S government could learn from England and prevent thousands of deaths. America has a gun epidemic and it needs to be solved now.

— Freshman Rachel Hooley