On December 14th, 2012, 26 people lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Many of those killed were children.
As this horrible anniversary passes, it makes me think about the progress and lack of progress we’ve made as a nation towards keeping our children safe.
Ten years ago there was such momentum to pass stricter gun control laws that ultimately did not go as far as they should have. There are still loopholes in our system to get around background checks.
There are still people out there who believe the faulty rhetoric that “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” even as we witnessed this past May how an armed security officer fled the school during the Uvalde shooting and police officers stood on the sidelines as children were murdered inside of their classrooms.
The reality that school shootings, that mass shootings in general, are still occurring is a harsh one that makes me feel at times hypervigilant.
There is an annual Thanksgiving parade that happens outside of our apartment building each year. I told D there was no way we were going to take Jameson to it. Running through my head was the parade shooting that had happened in another state this past summer. What if that happened here, in our city?
It wasn’t until the morning of the parade, as I was walking to get coffee with Jameson, that I decided it was safe enough to go.
On our short walk I passed at least five bomb sniffing dogs, police blockades, along with FBI agents. Back into our building I had a brief chat with a neighbor who said he could see snipers from local law enforcement on the rooftops along the parade route. That is what it took for me to feel safe.
When I told my husband what I had seen and that now we could go down to the parade for a bit, he shook his head in disbelief. Not at me, but at the fact that a local parade now needed this much security for people to attend with their loved ones.
It is unrealistic to expect every community event and every school to be armed like this. We can’t live each day in constant fear but we also can’t live in ignorance either.
As just one person, the problem of gun violence can feel overwhelming and insurmountable. But at times like this I hug my son a little tighter and I try to find something productive to do with my worry. Today that looked like going onto the Sandy Hook Promise website and signing a petition for stronger laws regarding background checks.
It was a small thing, but it was something positive and empowering. I encourage anyone feeling overwhelmed by the issue of gun violence (or really anything in the news), to find something small they can do to contribute to being a part of the solution. After all, every little thing counts.
Paige is Parenting 