#we had a lockdown drill for all 8 periods like one for each class (so youre prepared for every classroom)

[angelboybreakdowns]

im just. im really fucking mad. ok i get it ceramics was full. had sculpture as my second choice that was full too. but instead of giving me like a study hall or sth you put me in studio art for the second goddamn time after i took it in 9th grade (and i got a credit for it that time so it means im not getting a credit this year) and not only that but you put me in the class with a teacher who is a known ableist like to the point where other teachers gossip about how she never follows ieps or 504s WHEN I HAVE A FUCKING 504 like i just. and shes racist and shit too but thats not relevant to how bad a decision it was on the schools part bc im white (does make me angry tho but like. shes not targeting me so irrelevant). but like. now i have to spend half the year in a class i hate doing assignments i hate and im not even getting a credit for it but i still have to get good grades because junior year gpa is the most important and i just.

and again unrelated but she (teacher) is such a mean pushy fucking bitch. she has literally ruined one of my art projects (pulled off paper bits i was using to make silhouettes before the paint was dry, they ripped and stuck because they were SOAKED IN WET PAINT and WET PAPER RIPS DUMBASS and tbc she did this after i actively told her 4 times i was deliberately leaving them and I knew what i was doing she reached forward and pulled them off herself) she has pushed me into adding to an art project because it “wasnt balanced” (i deliberately put the whole thing in one half and left the rest of the page blank because i wanted to symbolize the feeling of having to make yourself small to be likeable as an autihd person) and im bad at sticking up for myself and she kept coming to me after class and “chatting” about it for a week until finally i said fine and filled the rest of the page and then a week later she said after hanging it up without my permission and i am quoting this verbatim “you know yours got a lot of compliments from other classes, i feel like i should take some of the credit because i convinced you to fix it and make it more balanced” she has said “oh i like your hand” (i draw + write song lyrics on my hand and arm to help me focus) and when i said thanks she REACHED OUT AND LITERALLY RUBBED MY HAND even when i tried to pull it away (my 504 literally has a thing about no unannounced physical touch) she has given me a low grade on a project because she “felt like it was depressing” like she is not even a good teacher i just. ugh.

#like im 80% sure i said in my fucking email with the class choices i knew it was on the late side of things so please put me in study hall #if my electives were full #but like. what is this bullshit. #the entire school is just horribly fucking run too #they changed the bell schedule 3 times in the first 2 weeks #we had a lockdown drill for all 8 periods like one for each class (so youre prepared for every classroom) #and the school neglected to plan them properly so we ended up doing 3 of them #god i hate this fucking school #and its not even the fucking district #my elementary school was run fine middle school was fine i have friends at the alternative school and its run great #just the one goddamn high school that sucks #like wtf #public school #american school system #cw rant

[illuxions-x]

A Little Death

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I’m not sure just a little story concept I came up with at 3 am and ran with. enjoy.

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Nothing this bad was supposed to happen here. Ever.

It wasn’t me who came up with the idea of writing everything down. I can’t remember who did, but as soon as it was mentioned everyone else seemed to like the idea too.

 I'm not sure what they expect me to write exactly, but I was voted the most capable to do so out of everyone, which of course I disagree with but I don’t really hate the idea of documenting this. So if no one else will I guess it can’t hurt to give it a crack.

Eva had to dig around her room for a couple minutes to find a journal, which she must have forgotten she had because there were no more than four small sketches we had to rip out for the book to be completely empty.

I tried sitting in the living room to write, I thought maybe being around everyone would give me more inspiration to write but all that happened was everyone decided to crowd around me, all staring at the blank paper in anticipation as though whatever I wrote would impact the universe forever. I couldn’t stand it, how do they expect me to write with them hovering over me like that.

There is a reason why I was the one chosen though, because even though I have the messiest handwriting that absolutely no one can read, I'm good with getting down the small things, like the feelings. 

But I want anyone reading this to know that this is me writing about my feelings and my feelings only, not Eva’s and not Noah’s. My feelings, my experiences. That's the only way this is going to work.

The only one out of all 9 of us that lived out of town was Eva, a sweet farm girl that likes to bake. We’re all lucky to be friends with her, I’m not sure if we would even be alive if we didn’t have a place out of town to stay. 

I’ll be forever grateful to Eva for that.

I found a spot on the balcony, kind of huddled up in the corner. I even brought a blanket to make sure I didn’t get cold.

It's a nice spot, the balcony is where I usually have a smoke in the morning, usually with  warm tea and a book every now and then. The deck squeaks wherever you step and the railings are slowly rotting away, someone will probably have to fix them soon before one of us ends up falling over the edge.

There isn’t much to do here though, everyone kind of just sits around when they’re not on watch. A few people have just finished building a garden on the roof but we need to make a small trip to a house to get seeds because I don’t think anyone thought we would even get this far ahead.

The view is nice here, the property has a bunch of gum trees surrounding it which gives us just a little bit more cover, but god do the kookaburras get loud in the morning, I honestly don’t think I’ve slept in past 7 or 8 am in months. 

There’s a creek a couple hundred meters from ‘the shack’. That’s what we’ve nicknamed Eva’s, it fits pretty well too. The house is pretty run down, been here a couple decades but I think it’s the perfect place to hideout.

I know I should be writing about other things, but I feel like I have to set the scene or maybe if you’re reading this you’ve already skipping my monologue and gotten to the actual beginning, which hasn’t been written yet but it’s probably there for you. 

Hopefully.

It’s been pretty boring here the last few weeks, and this has been the best idea anyone's had in a while. I feel a little guilty I have to admit, Noah seemed to really like the idea of writing everything down and I could tell he secretly wanted to be the one writing. He is a good writer too, he hasn’t said anything yet and I doubt he will.

He’s too nice to say anything, so it will probably eat away at him until he either decides to write his own version, or forget about it and do something else.

Noah is a sweetheart really, but he wasn't with us from the very beginning, he came a little bit later, so I guess it made sense that he wasn't the one chosen.

There's not much more to now than to get into the ‘story’, I’m not really sure how to do it so I’m going to start in the beginning and work my way from there to now, which should be fine if my memory is working fine.

I’m going to start in Psychology class, double period on a Friday, God it feels like a lifetime since I’ve been in a classroom and it's not like I ever hated school, it's just a bit of you don't know what you have until it's gone.

By the start of the second session an announcement was made over the loudspeaker, the principle calling a lockdown. This was odd for more than one reason.

The first being this is Australia, everyone doesn’t walk around with guns freely. The second is I haven’t had a real lockdown since grade 3 when some crackhead walked into school with a cricket bat trying to hit tiny fairies.

So we all just assumed it was a drill, even the teacher did. That was at least until Mrs Reece got an email.

I remember her asking the class who had gotten the COVID vaccine, at least half the class put their hands up, a couple of them being my friends, Ellie Newton, Emily Jackson, Jake Cross and Lucas Walker.

They were taken out of the class by some other teacher, I can't remember his name but he taught P.E which I didn’t do, obviously. He had a whole group of kids with him, saying anyone that was vaccinated had to go to the gym immediately, so when everyone left there weren't many people in the room-no more than 15 year 11’s.

But I never saw that group of people again.

It only took a couple minutes and the remaining people were moved to the second gym, the old one that we only used when the new one was being used for something else. I just remember it being full of students who were all crowded in small groups all as clueless as we were.

The remaining 500 or so people of all year levels were told to sit, they set up the projector and started playing the news. I remember saying something to Sarah next to me along the lines of, ‘wow all this for the queen finally dying’. It was funny at the time I promise.

But instead of showing the royal family the screen showed people running around the city in what I can only describe as anarchy, cars were on fire and there were just bodies laying there on the road like roadkill.

It didn’t take long for someone to say it though, we were waiting for someone to shout it.

‘Zombie Apocalypse!’

I still get shivers even now, thinking about how quickly everything changed.

The news broadcast explained that the only people that were infected currently were people who got the vaccine, and it only took a few moments for things to click in my brain.

Everyone else in my family got the vaccine except me, Mum and Mad got theirs so they could go back to work, and my younger sister had to get hers done to be accepted back at kindergarten.

Not to mention the vaccine wasn’t cheap, $40 per dose. So I decided I could live without it for an extra week to two to make sure we had enough money for bills and food.

Maybe my parents being broke was what saved my life.

Then the police came and told us we couldn’t leave, which only made me want to leave even more. I felt trapped while my family was at home turning into mindless brain eaters.

I guess that was where our plan began, none of us wanted to stay there in the old gym that smelled too much like sweaty socks. The plan wasn’t even that good, we only got out by dumb luck that 10 police officers couldn’t keep tabs on everyone.

So we all went to  the toilets a couple minutes apart from each other, climbing out of the small window. It was a miracle we all even fit.

I don’t know what happened to the kids that stayed in that gym, but I haven’t seen another kid from school since that day, well not alive at least.

[june-10th]

Reynolds High School - June 10th, 2014

I woke up that morning like any other school day. I threw myself out of bed at 5:30am and got dressed. I said bye to my mom and headed to the bus stop. My 45 minute bus ride consisted of my usual quiet morning naps and talking to my friends, as you do at the age of 15.

It was the first day of finals, which was a 3-day schedule to round out the last week of my first year of high school. When the bus got to school, we filed off to go to our usual morning meeting spot where all of my friends stood waiting for the bell to ring. First thing that morning, I headed to my Language Arts class for a final review, the last review of the year before testing periods started. My teacher was already trying to get everyone to pay attention as we entered during the first 5 minutes of class. We heard the intercom. At first, we thought that they might be giving morning announcements even though it was earlier than usual. Instead, we heard, “The school is in lockdown. This is not a drill!” It didn’t seem real and we didn’t know if they were being serious or it was just a drill. We whispered as we crammed into the corners of the classroom, away from the view of the door. The teacher locked the door after ushering in a few stragglers who hadn’t made it to their classes and then he slid up against one of the far walls, where he could see everyone. We heard people shouting, closing doors and some brief yelling, but people were getting out of the hallways. My teacher looked like he was trying to keep his cool but we could tell he was worried. We sat on our hands for nearly an hour in silence. My legs were asleep and I was bored. The lights were off and we weren’t supposed to make a sound. Nobody really knew what was happening. I was sitting next to a close friend who was anxious and freaking out, but I just handled that time with humor. It’s what I do when I’m tense I guess. I wouldn’t really start to comprehend what happened to me that day until much later. 

The rumors of what was happening ran rampant through everybody involved- someone with a gun got too close to the school, a kid committed suicide, someone called in a bomb threat to weasel out of a final, or whatever. I didn’t have a phone, and barely any way to contact my family to let them know what little I knew. I couldn’t tell them that I loved them or that I was just sitting on the gross classroom floor for what felt like an eternity. At the time I wasn’t really worried. Not near as worried as I should’ve been. Looking back, I can’t believe how little it affected me during the lockdown. I might’ve not made it home to say bye to my family that day. 

Over the next 40 or so minutes, the situation became clearer. There was an active shooter in the gym, on the opposite end of campus. I was lucky to be where I was. I wasn’t guaranteed to be safe but it was reassuring to hear more details. I was hoping my friends were okay. I was hoping I would be fortunate enough to go home. I sat under a desk that I barely fit under and shared memes with my friend. We tried to laugh silently instead of freaking out and panicking. Meanwhile, Police in tactical gear swept the halls. We heard dogs in the distance and then two armored men with assault rifles came into the classroom. We all stood up after hours of sitting in the dark, in a room that was far too small for all of us. We walked toward the door where the two police officers instructed us on how to exit the school. One of them had a K-9 and they both carried assault rifles that rested at my eye level. Every officer had a firearm. We were instructed to make our way down the hall to the center of the school and toward the front entrance. We walked in a single file line with our hands on the backs of our heads. The officers escorted us silently and slowly. We made our way out the front door and saw what seemed like every single police unit in the county parked wherever their cars would fit- hundreds of lights still flashing. They took us across the parking lot to the main road in front of the school. In the middle of the street, each of us took our turn getting patted down by one of the police officers. We then surrendered all of our backpacks to the officers for evidence checks. They deposited the bags in a huge pile on the front lawn of the school. If there was anything we needed in our bags, we would have to wait at least a day to get it at the pickup point at the middle school gym. I wasn’t sure if I’d see my stuff again. 

After our initial pat down, we were instructed to make our way to the parking lot of the church directly across the street from school. There, more police officers gave each student another pat down. It was almost embarrassing and felt absurd, but it was necessary, as intrusive as it might’ve seemed. After our second pat down, we were instructed to wait in the parking lot for further instructions. The city was sending public busses to transport kids to a grocery store parking lot about a mile and a half away to reunite with parents. People wanted to get out fast so they crowded the lines when the busses started showing up. I decided to stand back with my friends and let others ride the busses first. We stood around and made jokes for a long time to cope with the day. Volunteers handed out bottles of water and eventually set entire cases of bottled water down on the ground. One of my best friends and got into a competition to see how many bottles of water we could drink while we waited. I got up to 8 but he drank at least 9. We shared some good laughs and ran to the bathrooms way too often over the course of the next few hours. Still in the church parking lot, we noticed that the lines for the busses were starting to thin down a little bit. My friend and I got split up and rode on two different busses. Both were going to the grocery store, but they were crowded. From the bus window I saw my friend rush off of his bus with a police officer so he could go into the Carl’s Jr in the grocery store parking lot to pee. We still laugh about it sometimes. It’s what we like to remember. 

I didn’t know for sure if my parents would be there to pick me up. It hit me while I was on the bus that they hadn’t heard anything from me in over 4 hours. They didn’t know if I was okay because I had no way to contact them. We got off the bus and my dad was there waiting for me. I’ll never forget his face that day. He looked so relieved to see me. He was smiling but I could tell how exhausted he was. I was one of the very last off any bus that day. I rode home with my eyes shut only able to feel the wind on my face.

 I remember two kids didn’t make it off that bus. They were my age and in my grade. They were my classmates. I will always remember that two families didn’t get their sons back.

I don’t think I started to process that day until at least a year later. As more school shootings appeared in the news, I started to realize that I was a school-shooting survivor. I’m still processing it, and I will continue to do so daily. It’s not something I’ll be able to forget.

Over the past few years, I’ve continued to work through this experience. I’m not a big fan of guns, 4 years on. I always jump at the chance to tell my family that I love them. I struggle to leave the house without saying goodbye to my cat. 

Being involved in something like this changes you. I was lucky to live and some say that my community was lucky to have only lost two lives. But we lost two students that day. Two families lost a son and a brother. After wounding a teacher and killing a classmate, a student took his own life. I don’t think he understood the gravity of his actions until it was too late.

A classmate was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he’s gone now. He can’t come back. At my graduation ceremony, they laid aside a chair for Emilio Hoffman since he passed. On the chair were his signature red Chuck Taylors. Emilio’s mom created a foundation in his memory called Emilio Inc., which is dedicated to mental health awareness. Emilio was killed by a mentally-ill person who should not have had access to weapons. My community is still healing from wounds which some will never be able to recover. I have friends still going to counseling four years later. I have friends diagnosed with PTSD. My high school is on a list of fatal school shootings. Corpses can’t talk or fight for shit. We have to make sure our stories are heard, since they can’t tell them.

It’s surreal, you know? Nobody should ever have to suffer through this. It’s a burden and a horror. It’s true pain. The point is that it’s still hard. Writing this was hard. I haven’t tried to write about this day 4 years ago because I didn’t know if I could handle it.

It’s 4 years later. My name is Colin. I will never be the same and I will fight.

#high school #wear orange #reynolds #tw #school shooting #reynolds strong

[hoseimaru]

Colorado Springs students plan walkouts over gun violence | Bradenton Herald

Shortly after the Feb. 14 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, Deanna Cooper sat on the floor of a Coronado High School classroom with her back pressed against a wall.

The senior squeezed her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths.

The school was undergoing a "shelter in place" drill, an exercise intended to prepare students and staff for an active shooter in the building or some other threat, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported .

"I couldn’t help but think, ‘Are we going to be next?’"

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When she leaves class on Wednesday to participate in a national student walkout against school violence, Deanna said she intends to send this message: "We refuse to be the next school."

Hundreds of students across several school districts in the Pikes Peak region are planning to walk out of school on Wednesday, the one-month anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 staff and students dead.

The Women’s March Youth EMPOWER group, an offshoot of the progressive Women’s March, which advocates for rights of women, immigrants, health care users and others, issued the March 14 call to action.

At 10 a.m. in every time zone, organizers are encouraging students and other supporters to walk out for 17 minutes, symbolizing one minute for each person killed during the Florida mass shooting.

At least one local school district, Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8, in which up to 75 percent of students are connected to military families, is taking a different approach with sanctioned events about school safety and a chance for students to submit ideas about solving school violence.

The protest, according to organizers, is aimed at legislators and calls for gun-reform policies.

"Enough is enough. We want to make our voices heard," said Maya Berry, who’s organizing the event for students at Palmer High School in downtown Colorado Springs.

Some 200 students are expected to gather on the sidewalks around Palmer’s main school building at Nevada and Platte avenues.

"We hope to get the word out, to tell our government that we’re done being afraid in school," Maya said. "We’re walking out to show we’re tired of it."

During the demonstration, students will hold signs and be joined by other supporters, she said, such as parents, downtown workers, perhaps college students.

"I am proud of Maya’s dedication to change and making schools safe," said her dad, Chris Berry.

Going to school has been scary lately, Maya said. Many schools in the Colorado Springs area have received threats in the past month; three El Paso County teens are facing felony charges stemming from school threats.

Palmer High was placed on lockdown last week for what Colorado Springs School District 11 officials said was a possible threat.

"We were stuck in second period for about an hour," Maya said. "Most of us didn’t know what was going on. I was scared to think about how that could happen so quickly. Fortunately, they got it taken care of."

Some superintendents elsewhere, such as in Houston, have threatened to suspend students who walk out in observance.

Colorado Springs D-11 Superintendent Nicholas Gledich sent a message to parents, saying if a walkout occurs in D-11 schools, classes will continue on a normal schedule. Elementary and middle school students will need their parents to check out students if they plan on leaving the grounds.

Palmer High students potentially could receive a tardy mark, Maya said, unless they bring a note from a parent to excuse them.

Should a walkout occur, "Staff will be in attendance in a supervisory role to ensure student safety," Gledich’s message said.

"We are proud that some of our students want to exercise their First Amendment rights to express their views on this important topic," he wrote. "When students advocate for an issue they feel passionate about, it can be a powerful learning experience. We also recognize that some students may not want to participate in a walkout and would prefer to stay in class. We want to ensure that all students feel safe and respected, no matter what they choose to do."

Maya said she thought the letter was interesting.

"I’m glad they’re not going to actively try to stop us," she said. "But they’re preparing for it, too."

Under the First Amendment, students have the right to speak out, distribute fliers and petitions, and wear expressive clothing in school — as long as they don’t disrupt the functioning of the school or violate the school’s content-neutral policies, according to Josh Bell of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington.

What counts as "disruptive" varies, he said, but a school disagreeing with a position or thinking student speech is controversial or in "bad taste" is not enough to qualify.

Courts have upheld students’ rights to wear an anti-war armband, an armband opposing the right to get an abortion and a shirt supporting the LGBTQ community, he said.

A school can prohibit wearing hats — because that rule is not based on what the hats say — but it can’t prohibit wearing only pink pussycat hats or pro-NRA hats.

Schools can discipline students for walking out, Bell said, but not more harshly than normal because of the political nature behind the action.

Coronado’s walkout will be held on school grounds, in the courtyard, an outdoor area that connects buildings.

Alexa Huesgen Hobbs, who is organizing the walkout with Deanna Cooper, said she talked to the school principal, to make him aware of the plans.

"We didn’t ask for his permission but notified him, and he said there’s nothing we can do to stop you," she said. "Administration is not supporting us, but there isn’t any backlash either. We don’t think there will be any disciplinary action for participants."

An unexcused absence or tardy is possible, Deanna said.

During the event at Coronado, the names of the 17 students and staff killed in Florida last month will be read, and speakers are planned. Students will be offered signs, voter registration information and how to contact state and national legislators.

Students at Rampart High in Academy School District 20 and Cheyenne Mountain High in Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 also are planning walkouts.

Cheyenne Mountain D-12 Superintendent Walt Cooper said he’s met with student organizers about logistics.

He’s quick to point out that the district isn’t sponsoring or endorsing any facet of the event.

"But I do feel it is incumbent upon us to support our kids and their efforts, if they truly feel so strongly about something," Cooper said.

No students will face consequences for participation or declining participation, he added.

The action is unusual, Cooper said; nothing like it has occurred in his 17 years of working in D-12.

"But we are clearly experiencing vastly different times and circumstances than we ever have before," he said. "I am impressed by and appreciate the maturity, thought and planning that our kids have put into this event and their willingness to work with the administration to ensure a well-organized, safe and inclusive event.

"I believe our kids are going about this the right way, and because of this, I think this can be a good and authentic learning experience for them."

Reaction to the event has been mixed, say student organizers.

At Coronado, "A lot of people are passionate and super into it, and then we have the other side, people who aren’t enthusiastic and have gone out of their way to say they’re not going to do it," Deanna said.

Palmer students also are split on the issue, Maya said.

"We have armed security now — that’s fairly new, it happened last year," she said. "I personally don’t want to be around guns, but some kids are like, maybe we should arm some teachers.

"The main idea is it’s time to stand up and make a difference. We are the next generation of voters, and this is what matters now."

Some critics believe students are being used as political pawns in the controversial debate over gun laws and Second Amendment rights.

Falcon School District 49 parent Richard Winn told The Gazette that a recent letter he received from the Falcon Middle School principal, saying it would "honor the right of students" to protest, is misguided.

"These young students are not activists looking for a march," he said. "The school wants to use them as activists."

Fountain-Fort Carson D-8, which has several schools on Fort Carson, is avoiding political controversy by taking a different approach.

"We’re holding events and conversations around safety issues at the high schools and middle schools," said spokeswoman Christy McGee.

At Fountain-Fort Carson High, students will be able to submit ideas on addressing social, emotional and physical safety, and speakers will discuss proactive conflict management, dangerous behaviors, using the Safe2Tell hotline and creating a positive school climate.

"We want to give kids the opportunity to voice how they can make a difference for students," said Principal Patrick Krumholz.

Like other schools, Fountain-Fort Carson High has had a few threats of violence this semester, he said.

"They were hoaxes, and we were able to find out who did it and deal with it appropriately," Krumholz said.

School leaders will consider instituting some of the ideas students generate, he said.

Students also will be able to walk out onto the athletic fields as a show of solidarity and remembrance for those who lost their lives in the Florida school shooting, McGee said.

Fountain Middle School students will watch a video on how they can help ensure school safety and can sign a pledge to each do their part.

"It’s a joint effort with the understanding from the school and district perspective that we know nationally this date and time has risen up, and we went to the students and said how can we make this a more productive time for you?" McGee said. "The point is to get your voice heard on the issues, how can that actually happen."

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[sideeffectsofbeinghuman]

I want to say “Never Again” but...

I remember opening up the Twitter app on my phone on the afternoon of Valentine’s Day, 2018. I was upset, but not surprised to read the news of yet another school shooting in America, watching the headlines as the whole thing unfolded. I was sitting in my sociology lecture room, working on a group project after class. I felt safe. I felt calm. I have never known the fear of going to school, a place meant for education, and worrying that a gun would stand between me and my future.

Fortunately, I have only experienced one real, not-a-drill, lockdown in my life. It was the eleventh grade. I remember going into lockdown during lunch, which definitely meant this wasn’t a drill. I remember the door that allowed me to see my mom was closed and locked. I remember hearing feet running in the halls and immediately thinking back to the Columbine documentaries I had watched a few years before. Gun violence is rare in Canada, at least more rare than the US, but my first thought was that there must be an active shooter in the building. Of course, no shots were fired and the violence that occurred on that warm day in June ensued outside. Education is a right in our society. Shouldn’t safety be as well?

Columbine is no longer in the top 10 deadliest modern shootings in America. It’s number 11, with 13 fatalities (not including the shooters). Parkland is now number 9, with 14 fatalities. Parkland is also the 8th school shooting in the US in 2018 to result in a death or injury. We aren’t even a whole 2 months into 2018 and there have been 8 of these shootings. That’s about one every week. That’s ludicrous.

The United States of America is considered by many countries, including themselves, to be the greatest country in the world. It is by far considered to be one of the most advanced first world countries. But when it comes to guns and gun control they are stuck in a 1700′s mindset. Each time a mass shooting happens I see tons of people on social media calling for gun control. But when lawmakers are presented with the question of what they will do they respond with prayers. They act as though they do not know how to solve this problem. But the world has been and continues to spell it out for them.

During times like this many people encourage silence. They believe we should not discuss gun control after a mass shooting. That it is somehow disrespectful to the victims to “politicize” their deaths. But how long are we supposed to wait? Because at this rate, the grieving period will never end. As soon as the media moves on from these shootings another one happens. And another. And another. It never ends. It won’t end. Not until something is done, something substantial. Something concrete.

High school students, or any students, don’t need metal detectors. They don’t need more security guards. They don’t need police dogs. What they need is for their government to care more about young people’s lives than stuffing their pockets with money from the NRA. What they need is a law that makes it harder for young adults to get automatic weapons. What they need is a law that makes it harder for people with serious mental health issues to obtain lethal weapons. What they need is change.

I know I sound like a broken record. I wrote a long post after the Pulse shooting, I wrote a long post after the Vegas shooting, and I’m writing a similar one now. But I refuse to sit by silently, roll my eyes, say something like “those damn gun loving Americans...will they ever learn?” and continue on with my life as if 17 human beings, including CHILDREN as young as 14, haven’t lost their lives for something that could have, and should have ended with Columbine. I can’t vote in American elections, I can’t change their gun laws, and I can’t bring back innocent lives lost to gun violence. But I can continue to speak about these topics. I can continue to remind people that borders are man-made and you have no control over where you’re born. We are all human beings and we should care for each other. 

Back in grade 11, I read a book from my school’s library called “Give A Boy A Gun” by Todd Strasser and I wrote down a bunch of quotes that I really liked and they finally came in handy.

“Do you know what a semiautomatic is? It looks like a machine gun. Only it’s smaller and easier to hide. It sprays out lots of bullets very quickly. I’m told it has absolutely no use as a hunting weapon and hardly any accuracy, either. So it serves no purpose in target shooting. Then what is it for? Why is it made? What do the companies that make these guns think people are going to do with them?” –Beth Bender (Pg. 124-125)