Something needs to change

Last week, my son finished the 2nd grade. We counted down the days with him until school was finished. On Wednesday morning, I hugged my son a little tighter while we were waiting for the bus.

Last week, 21 lives in Uvalde, Texas were snuffed out with just two days left in their school year. Nineteen young children—all of them in 4th grade—and two teachers were murdered. All of them were in the same classroom. Seventeen others were injured before the shooter, an 18-year-old high school student, was killed. That night, parents of students stood in line at the local civic center where officials conducted DNA tests to determine whether or not their children were among the dead.

As the week continued, the news coming out of Texas became worse. The official timeline of events from the Uvalde Police Department kept changing. Parents who had arrived at Robb Elementary School and repeatedly asked the officers to do something were detained and even Tased. It appears the Texas Rangers will be officially investigating the response by the Uvalde Police Department to the shooting.

The school district had spent $450,000 on school security which included four of its own officers, fences and a buzz-in door system. Yet, the shooter was able to walk into the school undeterred and lock himself in a single classroom. The response from some elected and public officials has been that teachers—the same teachers which couldn’t be trusted with curriculum according to several state legislatures—should be armed.

I was a 12-year-old child when the Columbine High School shooting took place. I remember going to school in Bairoil and watching the live television feeds from the Denver news channels. At the time, it was one of the deadliest school shootings in history with 12 students and one teacher murdered. I was 26 years old when 20 children and six school staff were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Then, I was 31 years old when 17 people were murdered at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

According to a March 2021 infographic from Reuters, there have been 2,000 people killed or injured in mass shootings since Columbine. That number has, unfortunately, increased since then. Since the Columbine High School shooting, there have been 554 victims of school shootings composed of students, teachers and staff according to a recent article from The Insider. According to a 2018 article from the Washington Post—again, dated—more than 300,000 students have experienced gun violence at schools since 1999.

Following every single mass shooting, a certain segment of politicians and talking heads are quick to say “we shouldn’t politicize this”. Thoughts and prayers are offered, we’re told evil can’t be legislated away and are reminded that AR stands for ArmaLite and not Assault Rifle. We’re told the issue isn’t the gun itself but the people behind it, with no solutions on how to keep those types of people from obtaining a gun.

Mental illness is often cited as a contributing factor to all mass shootings, with no resolution offered. Even if mental illness were the issue—people with a mental illness are actually more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators—little has been offered to increase mental healthcare in the United States. 

Other times, we’re told it’s an issue of faith. Nevermind that 65 percent of Americans identified as Christian in 2020. But, if it were an issue of faith, why have some mass shootings occurred in houses of worship? The shooting of innocent school children is by far the worst thing to happen, but certainly being shot while in your church, mosque or synagogue has to be a close second. 

Schools aren’t safe. Houses of worship aren’t safe. Shopping malls and grocery stores aren’t safe, either. For a country where we proudly boast about how many freedoms we have, isn’t it painfully ironic we cannot go anywhere free from the fear of ending up the victim of a mass shooting? 

Where are all the parents who protested the introduction of masks during the pandemic because of its “negative impacts” on their children? Where are the parents who were so vocal against the teaching of Critical Race Theory and Social Emotional Learning? If wearing masks in schools has a negative impact, certainly going through active shooter drills and dealing with the fear of school shootings has a negative impact.

When I first began writing this column, I told myself I shouldn’t get emotional. Often, when these shootings happen, we’re told legislation shouldn’t be done out of emotion. If we can’t get emotional about this—about our children, about our own lives and the lives of our loved ones—then what can we get emotional about? Why should we work so hard to “protect the unborn” if we won’t protect the living?

The time to have this conversation was in 1999. It was in 2012. It was in 2018. It is now.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” As of right now, it’s hard not to think the quote should be rewritten to say “The tree of liberty must be refreshed on a regular basis with the blood of innocent children.”