Trigger Warning: This article mentions violence and school shootings, which may be disturbing or triggering to some readers.

On November 30th, 2021, a shooting in Oxford, Michigan shook the entire nation. At 12:51 pm, authorities received several calls about the incident. It was revealed that the perpetrator was a 15-year- old sophomore named Ethan Crumbley.

Crumbley excused himself to go to the bathroom and came out with a gun. He immediately started firing in the hallway and shot 11 people within 5 minutes. The students and staff in their classrooms immediately scrambled for cover and barricaded the door. Dale Schmalenberg, 16, was in his calculus class when he heard a gunshot and was immediately forced into hiding, he states, “I was just kind of sitting there shaking. I didn’t really know how to respond.” 

Crumbley wandered the school and fired 30 times before surrendering to the police with no resistance. 

The next day, officials confirmed that there were 4 casualties and 8 injured, one of which was a teacher. The casualties were identified as Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Justin Shilling, 17, and Hana St. Juliana, 14. These students were daughters, sons, siblings, friends, family members, athletes, artists, coworkers, and kids whose lives ended prematurely that day. 

The injured students and teacher are currently recovering at McLaren Oakland Hospital. The entire nation has come together to honor the victims in many ways; Tate Myre’s heroic act of trying to stop the shooter and saving many of his peers resulted in the NFL honoring him with their Way to Play award. 

Furthermore, funds are being raised to support the victims and their families. The grief and anger that the community was facing pushed the authorities to investigate, which brought many pressing details to light. 

Crumbley was gifted a handgun on November 26th by his parents and posted about his early Christmas present on Instagram. Crumbley and his mother went to a shooting range for practice that weekend. After Thanksgiving break, a teacher caught Crumbley browsing the internet for ammunition and immediately alerted school officials. 

When the school officials reached out to Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley, they didn’t respond but they sent a text to their son telling him that they were not mad at him, and he should avoid getting caught. Officials also found physical evidence such as videos of Crumbley talking about shooting students and a journal filled with ruminations about his desire to kill and other thoughts. The morning of the shooting, Crumbley’s teacher found some of his drawings where he expressed his agony and internal struggle with his thoughts.

Alarmed, the teacher and school officials required the parents to put Crumbley in counseling within 48 hours, but the parents dropped their son at school again. The events of the shooting took place a few minutes after that. The perpetrator and the parents are all in Oakland County Jail, where the parents face charges of involuntary manslaughter, and the offender is charged with murder and terrorism. 

This is where the million-dollar question arises. Should the US enforce stricter laws for guns? 

The aftermath of this tragic incident has brought opinions from both sides to the surface. Senator Murphy vouched for the Enhanced Background Checks of 2021 Bill to be passed saying that “expanded background checks save lives, decrease gun violence, [and] decreases violent crime [because] all of those kids who fled that violence, all of those kids who now don’t think of school as a safe place, they are going through trauma and will go through trauma that will take a lifetime to address.” 

This was opposed by Senator Grassley who condemned the bill by saying it was “hostile towards lawful gun owners and lawful firearm transactions.” He proclaimed that “so-called universal background checks will not prevent crime and will turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.” 

Our nation is still debating over this issue, and it is unclear when a decision will be made, but we can rest assured that our nation will be united in times of strife and struggle.