We have many problems going on in our world. But I would say the biggest one is gun violence. I have a strong belief that if your past isn’t good, or if you don’t know how to use a gun properly, you should not be able to have a gun. Gun deaths have increased 18 percent since 2015, til 2024. Most of this gun violence relates to teens, which makes the situation even worse. It sounds terrible because it is; there is no way to hide it. Our world is cold at some points or in some places.    

    I have a strong opinion on gun violence because I had a friend pass away due to gun violence, and it made me look at life from a different perspective. Nobody really understands how it feels to lose someone until you go through it yourself, which makes it 10 times scarier. Teens going through this is very hard, because most of us don’t know how to show our emotions. Because we are still emotionally immature.    

     My friend was a true happy soul; he was the life of the party. That is the best way to explain his personality; once you see him, he makes you laugh or smile. He loved his friends and family the most; he was there for everybody. My friend was Tae’Sean Bartkowiak. He was 17 years old and a junior at Northwest High School. Everybody knew Tae’Sean; he was always laughing in the halls with pretty much anyone. 

   He had a son at a young age, but still managed to come and be successful in school and work. 

   He played football for most of the time he has been at Northwest and kept up with his work.  He was a very understanding and loving person; you could come and talk to him about anything, and he would listen. I remember one day I came in crying because my mom and I were arguing about something, and she hurt my feelings, and he was right there asking if I was okay, and told me Don’t let it get to you, just ignore her.

   Tae’Sean was truly a happy person, and he passed away on Aug. 28, 2025, due to a gunshot wound to the head…  He did not deserve to die the way he did.  It was a very hard thing to go through because I remember just sitting in class laughing with him, or hanging out with him outside of school, and now I’ll have to accept that I’ll never see him again.  As somebody who personally knew him, it really did hurt because he was such a genuine and loving person.    

   At that moment, when I found out, I felt sick to my stomach. It will make you so sad to the point you feel nauseous. It’s hard to accept that you will not see the loved one that you’ve known for your whole life ever again. You won’t understand til you go through it. It will be out of nowhere when you least expect it, which makes it scary because you’ll never know when it’s going to happen. You can’t prepare for this; it’s going to hurt you, and you will feel a whole part of your heart in the spot they once had.

   I talked to my little sister when it first happened. She didn’t know what to say exactly, but she definitely kept me company and didn’t leave me alone for too long. When I told her all the feelings I was going through, I felt relieved; it was like I just got out of water after drowning for a long time. That’s the best way to explain it, because all your thoughts and emotions really will make you and your heart feel heavy. 

   Gun violence is getting worse and worse each day. I feel every time I blink an eye, somebody is dying, and it should not be like that. Ever since my friend passed due to gun violence, it reinforced my beliefs about guns, because when it takes somebody you love, the grief makes you never want to see a gun again. I’ve always felt that if you didn’t know how to use a gun or have a good past, you should not be able to have one. Because something can go from so good to so bad quickly, it is hard to hear, but it’s the truth.  When it first happened, I felt so heavy and lazy for the first couple of weeks; it made me feel like I had a piece of me missing.