This morning there were cops outside our school so that kids and parents would feel safer separating at drop off. I think I’m still in a place where I believe it couldn’t happen to our community. I mean, how else do you send your kids to school if you let yourself believe otherwise? The fear would be paralyzing.
I agree. If the republicans want to cling to the words of our forefather’s so much then they can have the right to bear muskets and nothing else because that’s what they were talking about! You can go ahead and take your musket and horse and protect yourself while the other weapons are banned.
I am sickened over this. I have 2 kindergarteners and there hasn't been a day I haven't thought of Sandy Hook. I happen to be driving past that part of CT the day that it had happened. I do not understand why people place more worth on guns than our own children. We need stricter gun control laws YEARS ago. What is it going to take to make change? How many more children will need to die? I happen to be a mostly pro life Democrat. I do not understand how a pro life Republican can argue to protect life in the womb and then not give a literal shit about the child once it is born.
It’s scary. My son is 6 and hates school. I’m worried if he ever found out about school shootings, he would never go back. He has anxiety and this would destroy him. One day I will have to discuss it but not yet. Also, How is it that the age to buy a gun is lower than the drinking age?
I was numb yesterday. Angry maybe, but couldn't cry, couldn't feel the sadness. Just numb. Then this morning on the way to drop off my 10th grader she says, "19 mother screams..." and that did it. That scream. We all know it. 19 mothers let that awful guttural scream out when told their child had died. I want to record one of those for each mother and father that has lost a child to a mass shooting, to gun violence, and play it for every state congress and at the U.S. capitol. They need to hear it. We are dying. Our babies are dying and no one does anything, no one with the power to do something seems to care. We are imploding and no one seems to be able to do anything to stop. God help us. That's it. That's all I can say.
This is so well put. I hate guns, on May 27 1997, when I was 13, my mom died because my step dad decided to shoot her. Yesterday, when I heard about what happening, my heart stopped, my sister is a teacher at an elementary school... her school is 1 mile away from where the shooting happened. If this man decided to go a mile down the road, I could have lost my sister last night. As a Texas, I often feel like I'm one of the only ones who wants more gun control, and this is why, there is no reason my sister's community should be burying 20 people in the coming days, a majority of them being children. This world is evil, I'm not a parent, and I don't ever want to bring a child into the world we live in.
I am a complete mess today. I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND how we continue to allow this to happen. How we prioritize guns over children. And yet half the comments I'm reading (not here) start out, WELL IF TEACHERS WERE ARMED... It's infuriating. First of all, it's f'ing Texas, so by state law, those teachers *could* be armed, and second of all, I have talked to ZERO teachers who want a gun in their classroom on the regular. And I know a lot of teachers. Also, as Buffalo proved (AGAIN), "good guys with guns" don't help/prevent/deter anything. I'm sad. I'm enraged. I've been voting for candidates for YEARS who support sensible gun regulations (like you, I'd ban them all, but I'd be happy to just get background checks, continuing education requirements, licensing, and insurance/liability passed) but our political system is so jacked up and gerrymandered that many of our elected officials don't actually represent the majority of their constituents.
I just don't know what to do, it's horrific and I feel so powerless. Back when my oldest was in second grade, he came home and told me about the ALICE drill they did at school, and how his teacher gave everyone a buddy, and how he was paired up with a smaller kid because my child was tall and could reach the windows to open them without help so they could escape if they needed to. My youngest was in K that year, and chimed in that his teacher had told him that he was such a fast runner and she was giving him permission to run ahead of everyone to the meeting point instead of staying with the group like she normally asked of him. I cried so hard that night.
As a Canadian - who has no idea where to even buy a gun in my city - I'll never forget the first time I visited a US Walmart and turned the corner to see a rack of rifles for sale. It was shocking!
And disturbing - I'd never even seen a gun in real life. The ease of access is astonishing. Some small restrictions could make such a huge difference.
Thank you for this beautifully written piece. I am likewise heartbroken and angry. The one thing I would say as feedback is let's not give these people who are anti-abortion the term "pro-life" -- they clearly are not. It's "anti-choice" (if they don't want an abortion, don't have one). Life is not their priority, as we have seen time and time again.
My comment is probably going to get lost but I will try anyways because I cringed hard when you mentioned fetuses.
I believe fetuses are babies. I believe they deserve to live. I also 3 guns in my home that are for hunting and self protection, there are no assault rifles in my home.
I want you to know that as a gun owner, and pro life Christian, I have voted 100% democrat ever since 2008 when I helped turn Virginia blue and put Obama in office.
I have no problems voting Democrat because I believe there are better ways to end abortions than legislation and I wish so hard that the Democratic Party would acknowledge that their policies actually give women a ground to stand on so that they feel empowered to give birth. I love the mission of Groups like New Wave Feminists who are doing hands on hard work for women and babies. And yet when they go to Washington they are mocked and ridiculed for calling themselves both pro-life And feminist. That’s not how we make progress people. We need to be willing to accept that people with different beliefs can have the same missions and goals. I’m willing to bet if we banded together to care for born children across the board we would see a decline in abortions.
But here is where Republicans get blinded. The all or nothing attitude of this party is so crazy to me, and please don’t even get me started on Donald Trump. My point is there a a lot of pro-life people choice-accepting people voting Democrat and I think the party would be stronger for acknowledging that. God gave us free will for a reason, it’s up to us to make life the better choice. That includes better health care, more supports for the poor and overburdened, cleaner healthier world…. and for pity’s sake no one needs an assault riffle. No one.
My 14 year old daughter said every time this happens she wonders what picture we would put of her on the “lost too soon” photo grid. Seriously. What. The. Fuck. Those thoughts should NEVER go through our children’s minds. Never.
I have a 3rd grader that I was pregnant with when Sandy Hook happened. I have been crying since yesterday just thinking about “what if she never came home from school?”. These families are going through a nightmare they can never wake up from. And Ted Cruz condemned a democrat who interrupted a press conference today for “making this tragedy political”. But I ask how is this not political? The answer is right in front of us but the damn stubborn selfish republicans are determined to get what they want and prevent solutions from being put in place. Also, how is it fathomable that it’s OK to take women’s bodily rights away from her to save an unborn child but god forbid we take rights away from gun owners to save living children and people? I am so angry today I can’t even see straight.
I will preface my remarks with the fact that I would be ok if no one had guns. But I do understand the desire for protection, so we do have a handgun in our house. It is stored, unloaded, in a completely different place from the bullets. And my husband has, on very rare occasions, brought it out and loaded it when something was going on in our neighborhood that we weren’t sure about, the most recent being last summer when we found out our neighbor sent his wife a picture of a gun in his lap in their garage and the police surrounded the house but left without ever going in. (I live in an upper middle class neighborhood.) But I firmly believe in gun control. I don’t think any weapon designed to kill large amounts of people in a minimum amount of time should be legal in any way. I think that ammunition should be tracked just like fertilizer and Sudafed are. If the FBI investigated ammo stockpiles like they did unusual amounts of fertilizer, then maybe 1 October wouldn’t have happened in my city. I think that red flag laws are a must. I think you shouldn’t be able to buy a weapon if you’re on the no fly list. I think you should have to register your gun and pass a background check, a psychological test and usage test ANNUALLY. I think that the owner should have to pay for insurance, like a car, where they pay for injuries caused by their weapon.
But I also strongly believe that we can’t hide from this. I see so many posts about homeschooling their kids or keeping their kids home and I get that we can’t control our fear. But if we stay home from every place there’s been a shooting, we’d be hermits - no church, no grocery store, no movie theater, etc. My son had his final day of school today. Like, his final day of high school. I had no qualms about letting him go. My daughter’s high school was in a disadvantaged neighborhood. She was a senior when Parkland happened and she participated in the walk-out, which their school fully supported. We used to “joke” about her having her yearly lockdown….not drill, actual lockdown, usually because something was going on in the neighborhood, which was sketchy as all get out. But I never once had a visceral, actual fear for her safety, even the year where the threat was that a kid with a gun, who had an altercation outside of the school ran into the school to hide. I refuse to let the fear run my life. I have enough anxiety about everything else. If I gave into the fear, I’d be catatonic and hiding in my bed.
But I do remember thinking last night, “Thank God my kids are both adults now….” (As if that will protect them….)
Is this shareable or only for subscribers? I want to share cause it expresses how I feel.
I am pissed off that I had to talk about this with my kids. I am pissed that my kids even know what a lockdown drill is. I’m pissed that it’s been 10/11 years since Sandy Hook and we’ve not made ANY meaningful change. What the actual fuck.
I'm in the UK. I want to puke every time I hear about another school shooting in the US. I did grad school in the US and used to dream about staying and raising my family there. Ultimately my visa meant I couldn't, plus not staying with my guy anyway..... now I think I don't know how I would have coped with what you all do. I just do not understand.... how bad does it have to be for there to be gun control?
I agree. If the republicans want to cling to the words of our forefather’s so much then they can have the right to bear muskets and nothing else because that’s what they were talking about! You can go ahead and take your musket and horse and protect yourself while the other weapons are banned.
I am sickened over this. I have 2 kindergarteners and there hasn't been a day I haven't thought of Sandy Hook. I happen to be driving past that part of CT the day that it had happened. I do not understand why people place more worth on guns than our own children. We need stricter gun control laws YEARS ago. What is it going to take to make change? How many more children will need to die? I happen to be a mostly pro life Democrat. I do not understand how a pro life Republican can argue to protect life in the womb and then not give a literal shit about the child once it is born.
Look at what the UK government did post Dunblane. How can the U.S be so behind?
It’s scary. My son is 6 and hates school. I’m worried if he ever found out about school shootings, he would never go back. He has anxiety and this would destroy him. One day I will have to discuss it but not yet. Also, How is it that the age to buy a gun is lower than the drinking age?
I was numb yesterday. Angry maybe, but couldn't cry, couldn't feel the sadness. Just numb. Then this morning on the way to drop off my 10th grader she says, "19 mother screams..." and that did it. That scream. We all know it. 19 mothers let that awful guttural scream out when told their child had died. I want to record one of those for each mother and father that has lost a child to a mass shooting, to gun violence, and play it for every state congress and at the U.S. capitol. They need to hear it. We are dying. Our babies are dying and no one does anything, no one with the power to do something seems to care. We are imploding and no one seems to be able to do anything to stop. God help us. That's it. That's all I can say.
This is so well put. I hate guns, on May 27 1997, when I was 13, my mom died because my step dad decided to shoot her. Yesterday, when I heard about what happening, my heart stopped, my sister is a teacher at an elementary school... her school is 1 mile away from where the shooting happened. If this man decided to go a mile down the road, I could have lost my sister last night. As a Texas, I often feel like I'm one of the only ones who wants more gun control, and this is why, there is no reason my sister's community should be burying 20 people in the coming days, a majority of them being children. This world is evil, I'm not a parent, and I don't ever want to bring a child into the world we live in.
I am a complete mess today. I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND how we continue to allow this to happen. How we prioritize guns over children. And yet half the comments I'm reading (not here) start out, WELL IF TEACHERS WERE ARMED... It's infuriating. First of all, it's f'ing Texas, so by state law, those teachers *could* be armed, and second of all, I have talked to ZERO teachers who want a gun in their classroom on the regular. And I know a lot of teachers. Also, as Buffalo proved (AGAIN), "good guys with guns" don't help/prevent/deter anything. I'm sad. I'm enraged. I've been voting for candidates for YEARS who support sensible gun regulations (like you, I'd ban them all, but I'd be happy to just get background checks, continuing education requirements, licensing, and insurance/liability passed) but our political system is so jacked up and gerrymandered that many of our elected officials don't actually represent the majority of their constituents.
I just don't know what to do, it's horrific and I feel so powerless. Back when my oldest was in second grade, he came home and told me about the ALICE drill they did at school, and how his teacher gave everyone a buddy, and how he was paired up with a smaller kid because my child was tall and could reach the windows to open them without help so they could escape if they needed to. My youngest was in K that year, and chimed in that his teacher had told him that he was such a fast runner and she was giving him permission to run ahead of everyone to the meeting point instead of staying with the group like she normally asked of him. I cried so hard that night.
As a Canadian - who has no idea where to even buy a gun in my city - I'll never forget the first time I visited a US Walmart and turned the corner to see a rack of rifles for sale. It was shocking!
And disturbing - I'd never even seen a gun in real life. The ease of access is astonishing. Some small restrictions could make such a huge difference.
Thank you for this beautifully written piece. I am likewise heartbroken and angry. The one thing I would say as feedback is let's not give these people who are anti-abortion the term "pro-life" -- they clearly are not. It's "anti-choice" (if they don't want an abortion, don't have one). Life is not their priority, as we have seen time and time again.
How do I tell my children that school is a safe place when 19 children believed the same thing and were so wrong? 😥💔
My comment is probably going to get lost but I will try anyways because I cringed hard when you mentioned fetuses.
I believe fetuses are babies. I believe they deserve to live. I also 3 guns in my home that are for hunting and self protection, there are no assault rifles in my home.
I want you to know that as a gun owner, and pro life Christian, I have voted 100% democrat ever since 2008 when I helped turn Virginia blue and put Obama in office.
I have no problems voting Democrat because I believe there are better ways to end abortions than legislation and I wish so hard that the Democratic Party would acknowledge that their policies actually give women a ground to stand on so that they feel empowered to give birth. I love the mission of Groups like New Wave Feminists who are doing hands on hard work for women and babies. And yet when they go to Washington they are mocked and ridiculed for calling themselves both pro-life And feminist. That’s not how we make progress people. We need to be willing to accept that people with different beliefs can have the same missions and goals. I’m willing to bet if we banded together to care for born children across the board we would see a decline in abortions.
But here is where Republicans get blinded. The all or nothing attitude of this party is so crazy to me, and please don’t even get me started on Donald Trump. My point is there a a lot of pro-life people choice-accepting people voting Democrat and I think the party would be stronger for acknowledging that. God gave us free will for a reason, it’s up to us to make life the better choice. That includes better health care, more supports for the poor and overburdened, cleaner healthier world…. and for pity’s sake no one needs an assault riffle. No one.
My 14 year old daughter said every time this happens she wonders what picture we would put of her on the “lost too soon” photo grid. Seriously. What. The. Fuck. Those thoughts should NEVER go through our children’s minds. Never.
I have a 3rd grader that I was pregnant with when Sandy Hook happened. I have been crying since yesterday just thinking about “what if she never came home from school?”. These families are going through a nightmare they can never wake up from. And Ted Cruz condemned a democrat who interrupted a press conference today for “making this tragedy political”. But I ask how is this not political? The answer is right in front of us but the damn stubborn selfish republicans are determined to get what they want and prevent solutions from being put in place. Also, how is it fathomable that it’s OK to take women’s bodily rights away from her to save an unborn child but god forbid we take rights away from gun owners to save living children and people? I am so angry today I can’t even see straight.
I will preface my remarks with the fact that I would be ok if no one had guns. But I do understand the desire for protection, so we do have a handgun in our house. It is stored, unloaded, in a completely different place from the bullets. And my husband has, on very rare occasions, brought it out and loaded it when something was going on in our neighborhood that we weren’t sure about, the most recent being last summer when we found out our neighbor sent his wife a picture of a gun in his lap in their garage and the police surrounded the house but left without ever going in. (I live in an upper middle class neighborhood.) But I firmly believe in gun control. I don’t think any weapon designed to kill large amounts of people in a minimum amount of time should be legal in any way. I think that ammunition should be tracked just like fertilizer and Sudafed are. If the FBI investigated ammo stockpiles like they did unusual amounts of fertilizer, then maybe 1 October wouldn’t have happened in my city. I think that red flag laws are a must. I think you shouldn’t be able to buy a weapon if you’re on the no fly list. I think you should have to register your gun and pass a background check, a psychological test and usage test ANNUALLY. I think that the owner should have to pay for insurance, like a car, where they pay for injuries caused by their weapon.
But I also strongly believe that we can’t hide from this. I see so many posts about homeschooling their kids or keeping their kids home and I get that we can’t control our fear. But if we stay home from every place there’s been a shooting, we’d be hermits - no church, no grocery store, no movie theater, etc. My son had his final day of school today. Like, his final day of high school. I had no qualms about letting him go. My daughter’s high school was in a disadvantaged neighborhood. She was a senior when Parkland happened and she participated in the walk-out, which their school fully supported. We used to “joke” about her having her yearly lockdown….not drill, actual lockdown, usually because something was going on in the neighborhood, which was sketchy as all get out. But I never once had a visceral, actual fear for her safety, even the year where the threat was that a kid with a gun, who had an altercation outside of the school ran into the school to hide. I refuse to let the fear run my life. I have enough anxiety about everything else. If I gave into the fear, I’d be catatonic and hiding in my bed.
But I do remember thinking last night, “Thank God my kids are both adults now….” (As if that will protect them….)
Is this shareable or only for subscribers? I want to share cause it expresses how I feel.
I am pissed off that I had to talk about this with my kids. I am pissed that my kids even know what a lockdown drill is. I’m pissed that it’s been 10/11 years since Sandy Hook and we’ve not made ANY meaningful change. What the actual fuck.
I'm in the UK. I want to puke every time I hear about another school shooting in the US. I did grad school in the US and used to dream about staying and raising my family there. Ultimately my visa meant I couldn't, plus not staying with my guy anyway..... now I think I don't know how I would have coped with what you all do. I just do not understand.... how bad does it have to be for there to be gun control?