As our country processes yet another devastating school shooting, I came across this rather shocking statistic from the Washington Post - there have been more students killed in 2018 than U.S. Service members. As my mind reeled about the continued inability for Congress to do something - anything - in response to an accelerating crisis, I realized our problems are so much deeper than just tightening access to guns (which still needs to happen). Unlike the Parkland shooting, in this instance the killer used a shotgun and a .38 revolver that he obtained from his father.
I can imagine folks who oppose sensible gun control measures will point to this tragedy as a continued reason to do nothing - after all, an assault weapons ban and background checks would likely not have been a factor in preventing this terrible incident. That's a little like saying requiring seat belts don't prevent all deaths so why bother to have seat belts at all. Let's not forget an AR-15 was used at Parkland. And if "smart" technology were required on guns (i.e., a gun only can fire when it recognizes the biometrics of its registered owner), then it's possible the shooter may not have been able to carry out his plan with his father's weapons. It's possible that none of that may have helped. But we need to try.
My point is not just to say we need sensible action on guns - we do - but we need to change our national dialogue to recognize the humanity in each other. Our response needs to not just come from Congress and statehouses, but our national consciousness. How does a 17 year old high school student become a killer anyway? What happened along the way that detached him so much from those around him? If we only focus on guns than we are missing the deeper strains on how we support our children and each other. Lack of investment in education, health care, economic growth and labor make it easier for hate and blame to seep its way into our being. Easier for adults to dehumanize and berate people who are not quite like them. These threads of thought and the broader deterioration of civility make their way to our children, and not necessarily from parents. I will say however having unlocked guns in the house implicates a lack of gravity and understanding - or even sympathy - about what these weapons can do to our fellow human beings.
As these tragedies increase, the absence of leadership across the spectrum in declaring that the United States is in crisis leads to an acceptance that this is the new "normal".
We can blame Donald Trump for exacerbating and normalizing it through the power of the White House, and that much is true. But this has been going on for a long time. Sandy Hook happened in 2012. Columbine happened in 1999. Since Columbine, 141 children have been killed and 284 have been injured. Over 200,000 kids have been exposed to school shootings. This is the 16th school shooting in 2018. Let's also not forget the 400 people that have been shot and killed so far by police in 2018. Why is there not uniform and sustained outrage? How is this now normal?
I will say it. The United States is in an existential crisis. I can think of a gazillion things that might be helpful in terms of public policy. And we should do some of them. But the first step in all of this is we must recognize that we are all human, and we all need each other. The values we hold with each other are the values that we pass to our children. We need to start here.
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