Early in the morning, I review news from the evening/day before. Today, as I do most days, I googled “school shooting,” further drilling down by “sorted by recent date,” here is a sampling of results, there are pages and pages:
Seven mass shootings in California spotlight gun violence once more
Teen shot outside Miami Norland Senior High School in Miami Gardens
Shooting Occurs During High School Basketball Game in Delaware
2 teens injured in shooting that possibly stemmed from after school fight in Brooklyn
13-year-old student brings gun to Evanston middle school, police say
Coast to coast, story after story, every single day, this is what we have come to accept. I know I am not alone is not accepting violence, especially school violence. as a never normal scenario. We must do better to protect our children, but we also need to understand the root causes of the propensity for violence. Access to unlocked and loaded weapons, makes that revenge-seeking lethal.
Remember we do not have to live this way, we can focus on problem solving. This begins with promoting the safe storage of weapons that are often taken from home. Our kids know every nook and cranny of our homes, they know where we hide presents, keys, money and guns. Don’t fool yourself, unintentional shootings or family fire happens at least 8 times a day according to Everytown. Language matters, there is nothing accidental about a shooting where a child/teen has access to an unlocked and loaded gun. That is why the term unintentional more aptly describes this preventable tragedy that repeats itself every day.
I will never stop talking, writing, reading, or searching for answers to keeping our children/teens safe in schools and communities. I do it for professional and personal reasons. Living in the aftermath of gun violence travels from generation to generation. An ER doc friend of mine said that the most courageous thing they do every day is put their children on the school bus. Let’s work together to change that scenario. We need to reclaim our sense of safety, without it, what do we really have?
