Two years ago today, 10 people in my town were killed and 13 more injured while at school. Among them my neighbor and my friend's child.
One year ago today, five people in our neighborhood were hacked and two armed men stormed up and down the block claiming they new "the truth about our scam."
Today, we have to remember and mourn in private; waiting to see if we'll be threatened. People gather in public more armed than a soldier in order because. . .they don't like science? Our town should be supporting each other, but we are more divided than ever.
I teach at the college in the neighboring town; I have had survivors in my classes. They are still not ok. They are still suffering. The concealed campus carry laws are more than they can cope with; it's not a question of if there are guns, but how many on campus. I had a student drop my class because the glass walls offer no hiding spot. Another dropped out of college completely after getting a peak of someone's concealed gun in another class.
Their pain is real. Their pain matters. Their lives matter. The live that were lost matter. The lives we could save in the future matter.
What doesn't matter is your selfishness. What doesn't matter is your party affiliation or wierd need to own an arsenal (just because you can).
Gun violence, the pandemic, preventable deaths, these are not political issues, they are human issues.
