In response to Ben Godar’s claim that random acts of violence cannot be prevented altogether, he is fundamentally correct. This country, this state and Ames will never be perfect. This is indisputable.

But imagine this: Two teens in black trench coats enter the library and begin pounding on their classmates with their bare fists. School officials are notified, and the situation is broken up quickly. No deaths, a few injuries but none serious. The attackers are expelled, and the school goes on as normal.

A little unrealistic? Yes, yet this is the fundamental picture that cannot be eliminated.

The anger within disturbed children is often difficult to detect or treat, and the only people who can stop them from lashing out are themselves.

But notice something else about the above scenario. There is nothing different about it than what actually happened in Littleton, except that the tools of destruction were removed.

We went from over two dozen casualties to a minor incident that probably wouldn’t even make the local paper, much less national headlines. Even if knives are used, our imaginary attackers would be able to kill at most a few people before being brought down and disarmed.

But this is not what happened in Littleton. Instead, America gave them guns. Guns that gave them the power to turn away everyone in their path, large or small, elder or younger. Guns that are manufactured for the sole purpose of killing.

The true issue behind firearms is one of personal safety; they have created more criminals than they have turned away. This is part of the reason the U.S. is known around the world as the most crime-ridden country.

Now is the time for our country to open its eyes. If we even take one step toward restricting access to firearms, we will be that much closer to keeping tragedies like Littleton from happening again. Parental control and care, restrictions on sales and black market crackdown efforts need to work together to solve this problem. We’ve done a lot already, but we need to do more.

We CAN stop tragedies from happening, and even if they happen, we should be able to go on knowing that we are making progress rather than just accepting things the way they are.

I hope no one else gives up on this ideal of safety as Mr. Godar has.

Dan Heck

Senior

Chemistry and computer science