Texas mass shooting: Schools in US becoming a killing field for children

Sabika Sheikh would never have imagined reaching her end like this. 

Thoughts of making countless memories during her stay in the United States might have filled the beaming, aspiring teenage student from Pakistan’s mind when she had learnt of making it to America via an exchange program.

Never would she have, in her wildest imagination, anticipated the catastrophe, the tragedy that she was to become an unfortunate part of. 

Studying in the US might be her biggest dream, and sadly the last one too.

The ambitious little Sabika Sheikh was among ten people who lost their lives as a result of yet another mass shooting incident in Santa Fe High School, Texas on Friday.

The deadly school shooting incident, in which an attacker, identified as 17-year-old junior Dimitrios Pagourtzis, opened fire using a revolver and shotgun, is not the first one. 

Unfortunately, it echoes a similar high school massacre that occurred just a few months ago, on Feb 14, in Parkland, Florida, that claimed lives of 17 people.

But the question that we all need to be asking is: how many more lives will it take for the US to implement drastic changes in its gun sales’ policy and what more will it cost for enforcement of tighter gun laws? How many more such incidents before anything changes?

These mass shooting incidents that emerge in the US from time to time have made the country’s schools entirely unsafe. 

Who would have thought the US, a country with one of the biggest and most powerful armies in the world, would fail to provide adequate security to its children.

And it doesn’t end here. Incidences like such are a nightmare for those who survive too. 

Haunting their memories, exposing them to greater psychological disorders, making them not to go to school ever again, it might just be an equally painful experience, or far more, for the survivors.

You see, condolences, thoughts and prayers are not enough; they will not do any good unless the country’s policy-makers take notice of the recent surge in these attacks and do something about it.

 Had it introduced stricter gun laws after the Parkland shooting, the Texas one might not have happened at all.

“You deserve more than Thoughts and Prayers, and after supporting us by walking out we will be there to support you by raising up your voices,” Emma Gonzalez, one of the survivors of the Parkland incident posted on Twitter.

Gonzalez had staged a walkout in April to protest the government’s inaction after Parkland massacre.

Another student Delaney Tarr wrote: “I should be celebrating my last day of high school, but instead my heart is broken to hear of the tragedy at Santa Fe. We cannot let this continue to be the norm. We cannot.”

With students coming to the forefront to draw congressional attention towards an issue that has plagued their security to a very frightening extent, one may hope to see prompt action being taken before it’s too, too late.