The call no one wants to get at 1 am on Monday morning, “We are closing school because of a suspected threat.” On May 23^rd, this is the call I received. Then on Tuesday, May 24^th, 2022, a teenager opened fire on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. On Wednesday, May 25^th, I sobbed in my car as I drove home after dropping my kids off at school. Why is gun violence so rampant in our country? How can we take steps to make sure this never happens again? How do I keep my babies safe? These are the questions running through my head on repeat. The more I think, the more questions I have.

Time for Quick Fixes

I know this will seem extreme to many, but I am ready for a little extreme. Please put an armed, plain clothed security guard in my children’s school. We have security at banks, grocery stores, and home improvement centers. Why not schools? My children are far more precious to me than money or merchandise. Security on-site means if the unthinkable happens, we eliminate response time. Forget the 10-15 minutes it will take first responders to arrive on the scene. We start taking action immediately and first responders become the second wave of defense to protect our children.

Make It Harder to Purchase Guns

If people want to own a gun, then they need to be willing to jump through a few hoops to get it. Pass legislation increasing waiting periods and requiring instruction in proper use and storage of firearms. Raise the legal age to own a gun to 21 years old. A high school senior does not need the ability to purchase a firearm. Let them wait until they are more mature and have more life experience to make that purchase. Restrict magazine size. These are simple requirements that people should be able to agree with. No one is asking for the moon and the stars. All we want is simple, easy to follow restrictions.

Will First Responders Act?

Now that I’ve spit out the quick fixes, the questions come barreling in. What will first responders do? Reading the details of the Uvalde incident, the police were on the scene, but no one went in the building. Why? There is a complexity to this question, one that I never thought of before. I found a perspective on Twitter that caught me by surprise:

“Everyone SHOULD go home at the end of their shift, obviously. But when we drill this into the heads of the protectors, they lose the ability to keep moving forward – “I’m going home tonight” very appropriately stops the protective reflexes.” @SWalkerMedic

I absolutely desire every police officer, soldier, border patrol agent, and FBI agent to go home at the end of their shift. But I also rely on them to keep my family safe.

A Teenager’s Perspective

My teen goes to school in a small city. The high school, middle school, post office, city hall, and police station are all on the same geographic footprint. My teen told me—“The police are right there across the parking lot, mom. We don’t have to worry about them getting to us. They are right there.” These kids talk during active-shooter-drills about how the police are there. They are counting on them to keep them safe. Their presence increases the student’s sense of security. Are they right? Will the police rush in? I don’t know about procedures and regulations. It is my hope that they would act and act quickly to protect our kids. Looking at the events of Uvalde, my heart fills with a small amount of doubt. My teen is counting on the police and my heart has questions.

School Shootings are New

You’ve heard it before—this didn’t happen in my day. You’re right. It didn’t. People in the US owned guns. I am sure not everyone locked them up or kept them out of the hands of young people. Why now and not then? On Facebook, I found an interesting perspective from a US mother:

“School shootings didn’t happen when I was a kid. There are many speculative reasons why. My theory is – those troubled kids were in facilities where they were cared for according to their specific needs and offered every chance at improvement with every tool anyone could bring forward. Good thing we saved all that state and federal money closing those places…”

We talk about mental health like we have it all together, but we forget we took away a huge amount of mental health facilities in the mid-90s. Look at every school shooter. There were warning signs. People scream that the parents/families should have done more. But the help is not available.

First Hand Experience

The Facebook mother who wrote the eloquent post I quoted today has first-hand knowledge of life with a troubled child. She lived it. The resources are not available no matter how much you want them. The ones available require qualification and are often attached to huge dollar signs that can quickly bankrupt a family. Some people need more than outpatient therapy. There are individuals with issues that require long-term care in a facility. We took away those facilities and we wonder why violent behavior has sky rocketed.

To leave you with a final quote from her eloquent post:

“We can tighten gun laws or loosen gun laws. The bad guys will get hold of them either way. Until we fix the system necessary to help these disturbed minds before they go off the deep end, or at least to keep them held, monitored, and away from the ability to do harm, we all need to worry about our kids in schools and many other situations.”

The issue is bigger than owning a gun. Let us not forget that we have system issues that need to be addressed. If we don’t, we will always be one day away from another violent act.

More Questions than Answers

We have more questions than we do answers. Systems need to change. Laws need to change. Which ones is a complicated question. I wish there was a simple answer. For now, I grieve with the grieving. I hug my children a little tighter. Tomorrow comes with the potential for answers. I hope we find them.