Are we, as parents, tired of watching other people’s children get shot in school? I know I am. It is absolutely gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, horrifying and unbearable. Yet, those words will never be strong enough for what we witness after a school shooting. Parents across the United States have children who have been murdered, severely injured and forever traumatized while attending school.   

School is supposed to be a safe place to learn, meet friends, thrive and grow. But some parents will never celebrate another Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthday or any other holiday for that matter, due to those who chose to take a firearm into a school and pull the trigger.   

On the night of February 13, 2023, a 43-year-old man went to Michigan State University’s campus in East Lansing, Mich., with a handgun and a mission to murder. The unloved loner had a motive, but we will never get to hear why he decided to murder three young people and injure at least five others because this witness to his own heinous crimes selfishly shot himself once police caught up to him. Described as “isolated,” he never seemed to get over the death of his mother and never wanted to interact with anyone after she passed away in 2020 (Tolan, Devine, & Bronstein, 2023).   

Why did this happen?   

Too often in our country, people of all ages decide it is within their constitutional right to take a firearm, point it at another human being and pull the trigger, despite the fact that murder is illegal. What we fail to realize is, this is not something new in our history; it has been happening for hundreds of years.   

One of the first mass murders the media covered happened on February 3, 1780. Barnett Davenport was a boarder with a family in rural Connecticut. A teenage Davenport served in the American army at Valley Forge and Fort Ticonderoga (History, 2009). According to History.com, “On February 3, apparently unprovoked, Davenport beat Caleb Mallory (husband and father) to death. He then beat Mallory’s seven-year-old grandchild with a rifle and killed his daughter-in-law. Davenport looted the home before setting it on fire, killing two others.”   

The way the press covered this mass murder changed the country’s perception of this type of crime; the media made Davenport seem more evil and alienated from society, and not just a recluse or a person who lost his way (History, 2009).   

According to Mother Jones, a website tracking mass shootings in the United States since 1982, at least 2,000 people have been murdered or injured due to gun violence (Follman, Aronsen, & Pan, 2023). One murder is too many, let alone 2,000. 

Why are we still tolerating this?   

“Thoughts and prayers” is always the moniker from lawmakers after this type of massacre. Sure, we will think about it, and sure, we will pray about it, but beyond that, our actions stop. We refuse to hold our elected officials accountable for not raising the legal age to own a gun, or enforce stricter universal background checks, or flat-out remove automatic weapons of war, such as the AR-15, off the streets after a plethora of mass shootings. Here’s the irony, automatic weapons are legal to own today (Leskin, 2017). However, the interpretation of existing gun laws is fuzzy (Lawyers.com, 2022).  

After the MSU massacre this week, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer echoed my sentiment on Twitter.   

“The time for only thoughts and prayers is over,” Whitmer stated. “We are in a unique position to take action and save lives. And that’s exactly what we are going to do in the weeks ahead. We’re going to get this done for Arielle, Alexandria, and Brian (the three victims in the MSU shooting). We’re going to get this done for Michigan.”   

“Too many of us scan rooms for exits when we enter,” she continued. “Many have gone through the grim exercise of figuring out who would be our last call. Last night, kids at MSU made those calls. They worried for their lives, their friends, their fellow Spartan. We can’t keep living like this. As parents, we tell our kids, ‘it’s going to be okay’ all the time. But the truth is, words are not good enough.”  

My first recollection of a mass shooting was at Columbine High School in 1999. An acquaintance recalled a school shooting much earlier than that; a peer of his, Chester Jackson, was murdered in cold blood in front of his friends and classmates in 1987 in Detroit (Albom, 1987). It was common back then for a teenager to pay someone for a gun and use it however they wanted.   

Why don’t we want it to stop?   

Gun-loving politicians refuse to give up their weapons and say we are infringing upon their Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms. My question is, how many lawmakers have had to bury one of their own?  

Yes, a chunk of our politicians will never want to lay their weapons down. Why? There is money floating to them directly from the National Rifle Association. Those legislators get paid cold hard cash to deliver votes to keep weapons on the street, keep the legal age to buy a firearm right where it is, and ensure that stricter background checks are not up for discussion.   

Are certain people fine with watching children die? Or even watching a 6-year-old shoot his own teacher? (Shapiro & Pereira, 2023). Because that is where we are as a nation, complacent and forgetful.    

Ready for change? I am.   

What can we as parents do to prevent another mass shooting? I am glad you asked.  

1. Write to your governor, senators, representatives and anyone who is a lawmaker to make your voice heard. Let’s get the laws changed as soon as possible.  
2. Donate to organizations founded after mass shootings who are fighting daily for no more mass shootings.  
   • Sandy Hook Promise, the non-profit organization started by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012.  
   • March for Our Lives, a youth-led organization founded after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018.   
3. Join a demonstration or protest to support anti-gun violence. 
4. Continue the conversation on all social media channels and make your friends/family aware of your opinion about school shootings. 
5. Get involved with one of your local chapters to prevent another school shooting.   
6. Write a blog about it and post it for your followers to read.
7. Vote for officials whom the NRA does not fund.   
8. Keep the conversation going about funding for more mental health treatment in the United States.   
9. Call 988 if you are in a crisis or need to talk to someone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 
10. Love more, hate less. Show kindness to strangers daily.   
11. Pray for change.  

Changing gun laws will not happen overnight, but if we all band together, we can make a difference. I honestly believed more would change after Columbine, but it did not. Now that I have children, it is a much bigger problem for me now than it was back then at the age of 22. I am deathly aware of how lawmakers have avoided these issues and voted against stronger gun laws and stricter universal background checks.    

It is time to see a change in our country. Our children are counting on us to save their lives together.   

Sources 

Albom, M. (April 25, 1987). A STAR IS KILLED DETROIT ATHLETE MOURNED BY FRIENDS. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1987/04/25/a-star-is-killed-detroit-athlete-mourned-by-friends/c9dc6eca-4aaf-43b2-9999-af46d66f21fe/ 

Brady. (2023). https://www.bradyunited.org/  

Canipe, C., & Hartman, T. (March 23, 2021). Gun Violence; A timeline of mass shootings in the U.S.; At least 2,000 people have been killed or injured in mass shootings since 1999. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-GUNS/MASS-SHOOTING/nmovardgrpa/ 

Crain, C. (Aug. 16, 2022). The Second Amendment: What Are the Limits on the Right to Own Guns? Most U.S. citizens have a Second Amendment right to own and carry firearms, but that doesn’t mean all gun control is unconstitutional. Lawyers.com.  https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/criminal/the-second-amendment-and-the-right-to-bear-arms.html

Follman, M., Aronsen, G., & Pan, D. (Updated Feb. 14, 2023). US Mass Shootings, 1982–2023: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/ 

History. (Nov. 13, 2009). THIS DAY IN HISTORY FEBRUARY 03, 1780; Early American mass murder changes common perceptions of crime. 
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/early-american-mass-murder-changes-common-perceptions-of-crime 

Leskin, P. (Oct. 2, 2017). Are Automatic Weapons Illegal or Legal in the U.S.? It’s Complicated. Yahoo! News. https://news.yahoo.com/automatic-weapons-illegal-legal-u-164300552.html 

March for Our Lives. (2023). Mission & Story. https://marchforourlives.com/mission-story/ 

Sandy Hook Promise. (2023). About Us. https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/who-we-are/about-us/ 

Shapiro, E., Pereira, I. (Jan. 19, 2023). Family of 6-year-old who shot teacher speaks out for 1st time; Abby Zwerner was released from the hospital early this week. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/family-6-year-shot-teacher-speaks-1st-time/story?id=96536112

Tolan, C., Devine, C., & Bronstein, S. (Feb. 14, 2023). What we know about the Michigan State University gunman. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/us/msu-suspect-gunman-anthony-dwayne-mcrae/index.html  

Whitmer, G. (Feb. 14 & 15, 2023). Twitter. https://twitter.com/GovWhitmer/