On April 10th, 2017, Cedric Anderson opened fire inside an elementary school classroom in San Bernardino, California, killing Karen Smith, whom he was separated from, and one of her young students before turning a revolver on himself. People took to Twitter to express their emotions, and most of them used #SanBernardino to enter into discussion about gun control and the highly debated Second Amendment – the people’s right to bear arms.
The majority of the Twitter users sent their thoughts, prayers and condolences to the families and victims in the shooting, but some also questioned the current restrictions on firearms and why the newly inaugurated president hadn’t mentioned the shooting with a word several hours after it was covered by the media.
#HappyNationalSiblingsDay: My brother was murdered by a criminal who was able to buy a gun. Things need to change. Now. #SanBernardino
— dylan (@dyllyp) April 10, 2017
People keep telling me it’s too soon to talk about gun control since the #SanBernardino shooting just happened. I say it’s too late. #Nra
— MATTY ICE (@FailGOP) April 10, 2017
It took Donald less than an hour to react to Nordstrom dropping his daughter’s line, so where’s his response to the #SanBernardino shooting?
— Shehzaib Rahim (@shehzaibbb) April 10, 2017
The discussion about whether or not it should be more difficult to obtain a weapon has been going on for years, divided between gun control activists and gun rights activists. This happened on Twitter too, where many users claimed that tighter restrictions on legal gun owners wouldn’t bring the number of mass shootings down, addressing the fact this specific shooting occurred in a gun free zone.
Over 98% of mass shootings in America since the 1950’s have occurred in gun free zones. Can’t politicians see the pattern? #SanBernardino
— Angelo R. Gomez (@realAngeloGomez) April 11, 2017
A gun-free zone with NO security guards or trained teachers is a welcome mat for criminals, who have no regard for laws. #SanBernardino
— Scott Presler (@ScottPresler) April 10, 2017
As seen above, some even argued that security guards and teachers should be trained to handle guns in order to protect students, other teachers and themselves. Among these were the Republican news channel, GOP News Brief.
Sorry liberals,
Hugs and #GunControl laws don’t save lives. Adults armed with training and a gun save lives. #SanBernardino— GOP News Brief 🇺🇸 (@GOPNewsBrief) April 10, 2017
It will certainly be interesting to see if this incident – which happened nine miles from the 2015 terrorist attack – will have any impact on the future gun politics in the United States.