September 10th, 2025, will be a day that is remembered for generations—Not as a day of triumph, or of success, but of utter and complete failure. It was a day of bloodshed, of bullets tearing through classrooms and political discourse. At Evergreen High School, in Evergreen, Colorado, multiple teenagers were shot at the very place where they were meant to be safe. The same afternoon, Charlie Kirk, a husband, father, and well-known right-wing political activist was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. These tragedies illustrated the same truth: no place in America, neither classrooms nor campuses, remains untouched by gun violence.
However, these tragedies are not isolated instances. They are examples of an unraveling nation, an America where political debates end in blood, where students fear for their lives at school, and where leaders continue to look away.
The attack at Evergreen High School marks the 46th shooting at a United States school in the year alone. Though the only casualty of the shooting was the gunman himself, the trauma among the students and their families will forever leave an ugly mark in their lives.
The shooter was apparently a student at the school, raising questions as to how a child could acquire a gun to perform these heinous acts. Charlie Long ‘26, a student at Bernards High School, said “there are far too many opportunities to get a hold of the weapons that take lives”.
Kirk’s assassination came on the first stop of his tour across the nation with “Turning Point USA”, the political activism group he cofounded in 2012. The 31-year-old sat under his tent, discussing different political perspectives with students, both supporters and protestors of his appearance on their campus. Moments later, regardless of beliefs and opinions, those supporters and protestors were running for their lives.
Earlier this year, two Democratic state legislators from Minnesota were shot in their homes, one of whom died from their wounds. Just last year, then-President Donald Trump was nearly killed at a rally in Butler Pennsylvania as a part of his election campaign. Both Kirk’s death and Trump’s near assassination carry eerie similarities to one another given a similar outdoor venue, and a shooter below the age of 23.
It is difficult to take the politics out of situations such as Kirk’s assassination, but as Americans, and as human beings, it is necessary to do so. Whether you agreed with his stances, or opposed them, it is necessary to take a step back and acknowledge the fact that he was murdered in the United States of America, simply for stating his opinion.
The United States leads the world in mass shootings, outpacing every other nation by a staggering margin. From 2000 to 2022, the United States experienced over five times as many mass shootings as the next highest nation. No other country comes even close.
To put it simply, something has to change. This issue is bigger than right vs left, liberal vs conservative, red vs blue. Human lives are at stake, and are being lost every day due to an issue that has seen no significant change in legislation.
Mrs. Snyder, an English teacher at Bernards High School said that she has a strong desire to understand why this country in particular can’t fix what is happening that seems to be a uniquely American problem.”
Political violence, and violence as a whole, holds no place in the United States. Kirk’s death and the events at Evergreen High School are simply more examples of the United States government failing to do its job and uphold the promises of democracy in protecting the lives of its citizens. Gun violence is truly a uniquely American problem- it is time the government starts treating it as such.
