Until they’re cowering in the darkness of a filled classroom waiting for the all clear to come over the announcement speaker...
Until they have to walk through a hallway spattered in their friend’s’ blood...
Until they have to be bombarded by newscasters the moment they step outside of the wreckage...
Until they have to painfully wait and see if one of their friends was among the lost...
Until they have to attempt to scrub the blood from underneath their fingernails after having tried and failed to save a classmate who fell victim to gun violence...
——
Until they see the fear in their child’s eyes when they’re reunited...
Until they have to lie and tell their children they’ll be okay, even when they have no real way of knowing...
——
Until they have no hope of sleeping because of the nightmares that play on repeat in their minds...
Until they’ve felt the repercussion of gun violence first hand...
...They will never understand the reason for making firearms less accessible.
