We need to stop saying “thoughts and prayers” and actually start taking action against school shootings. No more “nothing will ever change.” No more “there is nothing we can do.” No more “it’s inevitable.”
As of 2019, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, gun violence has become a public health crisis, and as recent as 2019, gun injury became the leading cause of death for children, ages ranging from birth to 19 years old. No person, let alone a child who hasn’t even gotten to experience life yet, should have their life cut short because of someone else’s idiocy.
Unsurprisingly, “the United States has had 57 times as many school shootings as all other major industrialized nations combined,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. These major industrialized nations include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
This means that six major industrialized nations, other than the United States, are combined and still manage to have fewer school shootings than the U.S. While that may not seem that serious, considering it is perceived as a “small” number, it is a major concern.
This makes me wonder: if six other major industrialized countries, combined, can have fewer school shootings than the United States, only one major industrialized country, what are we doing that is making it possible for these tragedies to happen?
Are we not protecting our people enough? Or with each tragedy that happens, are we just saying “hopes and prayers”? As a matter of fact, it is just “hopes and prayers” when every year more than 4,400 children and teens are shot and killed, while also having over 17,000 more shot and wounded, as the Everytown Research & Policy organization reports.
With continually updated information from Everytown Research & Policy, there have now already been 19 deaths due to school shootings this year, as of April 29. There is no reason as to why, only five months into the year, the number of deaths due to school shootings has reached double digits. As if I could not be more exasperated, Everytown Research & Policy says an estimated 3 MILLION children in the U.S. are exposed to school shootings per year.
This makes it even more of an issue for children. If this kind of trauma is reaching an estimated 3 million children per year, it’s no wonder kids have so many mental health issues. I’m not saying that the reason children have mental health issues is all due to school shootings, but I am confident it plays a factor.
According to scientists Joseph Yaro Idi and Joan Nchat Patrick, “exposure to school shootings is associated with higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety among students. ”
This is something we should be worrying about with our soldiers, not our children. No child of any age should have the severity of PTSD they get from school shootings.
At the end of the day, this is something that no person should have to experience and carry the weight of. While many people’s attention goes towards the children, very often the effects of school shootings are overlooked when it comes to teachers. So much so that teachers formed a support group to help each other get through the rough times.
An article by Chalkbeat says that “close to 400,000 students have been exposed to gun violence during school hours, according to a data analysis from The Washington Post. There is no similar count for teachers who have witnessed or been injured by a school shooting.”
Many of the teachers feel alone, as if they have no one to go to, even though they too experienced the same trauma. Some teachers, I imagine, experience even worse trauma after seeing the children they love to teach drop dead.
One teacher in particular, known as Leyba, came right back to the classroom after experiencing their own school shooting. He shared his story with Chalkbeat:
“I was not equipped to deal with the trauma,” he said, describing his feelings of being blindsided. No one is told what to do, or how to handle a situation like this when it happens, so many are left astray trying to figure out how to cope, often with not very healthy tools.
Instead of letting this issue go on, some teachers have taken action and formed a support group for all teachers. The crisis team is a project of a larger gun violence advocacy organization called Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence.
Educators are able to relate with one another and have someone understand them on another level compared to people who are not educators themselves. The organization allows teachers to have access to a trauma-focused psychologist and other professional help. They can learn how to offer support to their fellow teachers and how to handle their own feelings.
Besides the children, the parents are the ones who suffer the most. They have the most at stake when it comes to preventing these tragedies. And in the very lamentable case of this mother, Francine Wheeler, she had to experience the pain of losing her 6-year-old son, Ben Wheeler, due to the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012.
With all the pain that Francine felt, she needed to find an outlet, and her outlet was advocacy. Francine and David Wheeler met with members of Congress to discuss the tragedy that happened to their 6-year-old son, Ben, and the need for tighter gun control measures. President Barack Obama himself even invited Francine to give his weekly address in his place.
But all hope was lost again when the U.S. Senate voted on new gun control laws in April 2013. Every single measure had failed, even the expanded background checks. This is where Francine had lost hope; she realized that she had thrown herself into advocacy to cover the grief.
This is a pattern that continues to be repeated, regardless of how many people protest or advocate for ending this violence. While many people’s voices are heard, that doesn’t mean that things are done about it. Congress has not passed any laws that fully address this problem. That is why it is so incredibly important to get involved. Advocacy in bigger numbers can and will make an impact.
As much of a cliché as this solution sounds, it is true. The more people advocate for safer gun laws, vote for the candidates on the right side of this issue, and involve themselves in the movement against school shootings, the more that things will change! By taking action, we together will be able to stop saying “thoughts and prayers” and actually be the hope that we so desperately need.
