Parents like me send our most precious people off to school with an extra hug and silent prayer and hope that we never hear those sirens or get the worst call. That those quietly terrifying instructions taped by the door never have to be followed. That the worst part of the day is when the cafeteria is out of chocolate milk or a child is picked last for kickball.
It doesn't have to be that way.
The Washington Post reported
that other nations acted quickly after they experienced a single, tragic mass murder. A 28-year-old opened fire at two mosques in March 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand, and killed 51 Muslim worshipers with weapons that included an AR-15-style rifle. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country would change its gun laws less than 24 hours later. Parliament made the changes official in April. They included a gun buyback scheme and restrictions on AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons. The plans received overwhelming support from lawmakers and voters.
Australia and Britain acted similarly, swiftly passing popular legislation and revising formerly lax gun laws immediately following other violent incidents.
This could happen in America, too.
Reuters reports that nearly two-thirds of Americans support moderate or strong regulations of gun ownership, including 53% of Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 940 people conducted online just one day after the Uvalde shooting.
We used to be known for Michael Jordan (admittedly not a perfect role model) and Jazz (also had its issues), but at least it wasn't a notorious tax-evading gangster known for machine guns and murder.
I only hope that in the future we wake up in a country where we don't live in fear for our bodies and minds, where kids and teachers are safe at school, and gun violence is a rare exception rather than a repeated headline.
And I hope that country is America.
Gun Violence Archive data
Photo Credit Colin Lloyd