Another shooting. Little kids again. I’m feeling like there’s not much more to say on the topic. Not because it’s isn’t worth fighting for change, but just because we JUST. KEEP. SAYING. THE SAME. THINGS. Every time, over and over. The arguments have been made. It’s time for our elected leaders to act and do what we’ve elected them to do. The majority of the country is FOR common sense gun control. That must include a great many responsible gun owners who must also fear for their children’s lives, no?
We’ll be discussing it on this week’s episode, clearly, but…I am sure a lot of you are feeling angry or sad or disgusted or hopeless or any number of feelings today. I wanted to make a place where we could be “together” and talk, so I’m starting this thread where we can do that.
I'm in Australia like a few of y'all, and it dominates our news and our socials. We moved back from Texas in 2020 after 5 years - I am sad and terrified and furious for our friends back in the US and their children and all the children that are being traumatised over and over...
My daughter as a 2.5yo did active shooter drills in her preschool when we were there. There was a hidden door between the school and the church. It's so heartbreaking. 2.5yo!
I was terrified all the time, every movie theatre, every trip to Target I was checking where the exits were and looking for places to hide. I didn't even realise how much my behaviour had changed til we got back and I could reflect. And this was all pre-covid before the world's mental health took a huge beating.
I know of a few families who got out of Texas, one who moved to New Zealand. Obviously not everyone has that option. I'm just completely heartbroken.
This is the first time I know someone who was there. He’s a pastor who teaches religion at the school. He’s ok but obviously everyone is traumatized. He’s always posting funny stories about his adorable students and he’s such a cool person with a great family. It’s makes me sad to think about those kids living through this. How will he explain what happened to his students?
What I TRULY LOVE about this show is that Busy expresses exactly how I feel about the world, even when people around me act surprised or confused when I try to express the same in my life. It is truly validating. And I signed up with Moms demand action. Even though I’m not a mom!
Hello- i’m a community organizer here’s some things we can collectively do:
1. Withdraw your membership from the Democratic Party. Write your reps ( go to house.gov to find yours & their contact info.) let them know their inaction to do anything has led you to devote your time/energy/voting power to finding a progressive candidate in your area. Unless you are lucky enough to live in one of our few progressives districts ( in that case you should write to ask how you can volunteer.)
2. Join your local school board or library oversight committee. This is the place where if you see something you say something. This is where the decision to purchase the “safe rooms” (MADE BY RAYTHEON) are made. Make your voice heard. Attend every stupid boring monthly meeting, bring your crochet and a tea mug and keep your ears peeled.
3. Invest in solar panels or generators for your home. Start gardening with your neighbours- google “potluck gardening.” This allows two things- community building to make sure your neighbors are properly informed and not just guzzling the MSM pipeline AND it allows you the self sufficiency to be able to support LOCAL WORKERS STRIKES (see 4)
4. Local Workers WILL START STRIKING and they are going to target services like garbage, power, and delivery services. You, as a most likely suburban white person reading this need to SUPPORT THIS and not take your life being inconvenienced personally. Life WILL BE DISRUPTED so you and your neighbors need to be prepared to support workers doing this.
If you’re a union worker, and your union isn’t talking about a general strike- be the person who adds the talking point to the meeting minutes.
5. Calmly remind your parents and friends who “don’t want to talk about this bc what is the point nothing will ever change” that their apathy is the point- apathy allows the wheel to grind on. A workers strike stops that wheel and allows the rest of us to climb on the machine and DISMANTLE IT.
You do not need to hoard, you do not need to buy guns, you need to be OKAY WITH CONFLICT and talking about the ways in which we are the same and our inconvenience and perhaps some credit card bills that go unpaid is a short term price to pay for a restructuring of the systems that are required for capitalism to thrive unchecked.
Our govt exists bc we ALLOW IT TO.
We know where they live, we know where their staffers live, we know who their neighbors are.
We are going to let their milk spoil and their garbage pile up until THEY START DOING THEIR JOBS.
The job of us white women is to not get in the way bc our lives will be inconvenienced. Money will be lost. Air conditioning might not work. But our children will see us fighting for THEM.
The kids are watching you do nothing. They will remember that.
I am pissed and tired. This should be a no Brainerd. It is our children!!! Unfortunately, my children are in high school now, so homeschooling isn't an option. Especially, since they are way smarter than me and both skipped a grade. I would ruin their chance at a good college, so that I could feel safe. What are we doing to this world? The world is just getting worse and worse. It breaks my heart.
Just now, in Pittsburgh, Central Catholic H.S. here was subject of a hoax about an active shooter. The University of Pittsburgh campus was locked down and the town was thrown into panic. My husband is a high school teacher and every single day I worry that he will be killed while teaching. Both my kids are finally in college, where I feel they are safer than they were trapped in an elementary or high school building. It's horrible and who in their right mind would call in a HOAX about something so traumatizing?
After reading the comments, and agreeing with you all about our collective sadness, frustration and anger, I have this one thing to add: it all comes down to gerrymandering. Republicans know they don’t have the numbers to legitimately win elections, but through gerrymandering they carve up places (especially cities) to weaken democratic opposition. You might already know about All On the Line. But if not, it’s an organization that President Obama and former AG Eric Holder started to combat gerrymandering and advocate for fair maps. https://www.allontheline.org -- Perhaps add that organization to Everytown for Gun Safety in our community’s fight to end the madness and violence. At the very least, please call your representatives and tell them you support reinstating the assault rifle ban. Thanks, Besties, for this platform. We are in this together! Keep doing your best! Hug your babies! 💜
Another day of frustration, anger, sorrow and devastation. Watching the insanity ( doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result) is infuriating. Seeing solutions - like arming teachers, adding bulletproof proof rooms into classrooms and other wild ideas is so hard to understand. As a Canadian these stories make our headlines as quick as they do in the US. Every time I cry. Every time I have hope it will be a different outcome. Every time the answer seems so simple. Every time is the same. I am sorry. I don’t have other words, other than know others want change for you.
My daughter is starting back at her job on Monday at the student union welcome desk in the building where a mass shooting took place last month. She already has an appointment scheduled after her shift with her counselor. So, that is her life, our life. I feel my rage physically in my chest, skin temperature, my throat.
I am thankful for you people, this place to tell someone about this and for our state's legislature who actually did something for once. But even still, 53 of our counties have adopted resolutions declaring themselves "second amendment sanctuaries" casting doubts about whether any gun laws will be enforced locally. I have had it.
“When a condition or a problem becomes too great, humans have the protection of not thinking about it. But it goes inward and minces up with a lot of other things already there and what comes out is discontent and uneasiness, guilt and a compulsion to get something-anything-before it is all gone”
-John Steinbeck from The Winter of Our Discontent
I worry about what hearing/witnessing these events over and over is doing to each of us internally. There have been 129 mass shootings in 2023. We’re only hearing about a handful of them. What will become of us?
I don't even know what to do or what to say anymore. As a mom of 3 kids (2 high schooler and a 4th grader), I'm worried when they go off to school every day. My oldest is going to college in the fall to become a teacher and I'm very proud of her career decision but at the same time so frightened.
What if we moms literally all refused to send our kids to school until someone does something? I know this seems radical & not feasible (high school kids gotta take tests, graduate etc...)....but I feel like it is our only chance at this point. SHUT IT THE FUCK DOWN!! Who's with me?!
Hiya, my thought is we need to move faster. We are making changes and things are happening but with the number of these events happening so often, it can come soon enough. Soon enough to vote people out, some enough to vote in people with agendas that a line with saving innocent victims. Soon enough to make a lot of small changes that can equal a big change.
I did notice this school shooting was different. Only in that 75% of influencers on Instagram now live in Nashville (and surrounding areas) I FINALLY heard more people caring and saying something needs to be done. Alot of them are the Conservatives that never say anything,but NOW it is affecting them. Let's see if this finally changes something. Probably not.
Feeling hopeless. So incredibly frustrating. I have 3 kids and everyday I think this could happen. I don’t know what I can do. Hoping it won’t happen again never works. What assholes have all the power?
It’s heartbreaking and fucking frustrating. Why do we keep accepting this? I know why, but why!! I work as a teaching asst and we literally just talked about this last week at work. We are constantly on high alert. We have insane amounts of work on our plates, and throwing this in the mix makes it really hard on us. I’m tired of seeing thoughts and prayers. Our kids deserve safe learning spaces.
We were up most of the night and early morning dealing with the worst storm we have had in years, with sirens and all going off. I finally got to sleep around 4am and woke up to the news of this shooting. It’s hard to describe the desperate hopelessness I felt in that moment and the absolute pain for the families effected. I feel angry and numb at the same time.
No more thoughts and prayers but let’s keep pointing to Scotland and Australia where changes to laws have had a positive effect. Maybe one day common sense will prevail? Not hopeful but holding on to hope for the long time.
I live in Nashville and the gaslighting I experience every time I brought up access to guns today was mind numbing. The transphobia jumped out everywhere too. Even the coverage was biased. I never saw the headline “Heterosexual Dylann Roof shoots up Church.” It is maddening!
TN, my home state, is devastated. I'm all the emotions at once and the biggest one is LIVID that we are here again. Other countries think we are insane to let this happen when there are solutions to resolve it. Kids outside the US don't have active shooter drills.
I'm also heartbroken. I reached out to friends in Nashville to ask if they are ok. They are not. I'm sure all parents who are sending their kids to school today are decidedly NOT OK. I have friends in Nashville who feel guilty that they are happy their kids came home yesterday when there are kids that didn't.
Lastly, I'm resolved. This is one of those lace up your boots, start donating money, and be prepared to dig in for the long fight. This one will not be easy. Most elected officials have the NRA as donors and won't vote against that. We have legislation ready for a national ban on assault weapons (similar to the pervious one) but there are not enough reps in Congress who support it. We are being held hostage by the gun lobby and the very loud fringe who will not hear about sensible gun control. We have to be louder and better funded. If you are ready to take action, find your local Moms Demand Action group and sign up. They have been in this fight and making slow but steady progress. We need to follow their lead. This is a national crisis and sadly we will have more deaths due to mass shootings before there are changes to policy.
Adding in a plug here to VOTE and encourage everyone you know to do the same. We need to vote in reps who are not funded by the NRA and are clear on how they will vote on gun control legislation.
I'm livid, heartbroken, and resolved and my personality style is to make a plan in times of chaos. Make a plan of your own then work your plan. We can't become numb to this.
I got a call to pick my 5th grader up early due to illness today. When I got to the elementary school, the doors were wide open for kindergarten registration. This terrified me! Usually the school is locked up tight. It’s awful to live in a country where open school doors is scary. I live in a very red area, so I can’t even bring up the topic of gun control in public or social situations. The gun huggers get livid when you mention it. I feel totally helpless.
For the first time, this happened near where I live. Recently my youngest transferred to home school, I have had mixed feeling about that. Today, I am relieved to not have to worry about my child going through this. That said, I can’t stop crying about yet another tragic day at another place where we send our kids to learn. They are learning to be afraid of something like this happening and knowing that nothing is changing.
In this capitalistic AF society, I feel like the only thing people understand is money. So I want homeowners’ insurance to be higher for gun owners the way it is for trampoline owners and pool owners and dog owners. And when a child gets a hold of the family weapon and uses it? That insurance company drops you like a hot potato and your mortgage company forecloses on you because you don’t have insurance.
In the meantime, my social media follow is Nelba Marquez-Greene, mother of Ana Grace, who died at Sandy Hook, and Isiah, who survived. She’s also a licensed therapist and uses her platform to remind people to center victims, survivors, and their families when talking about these events, when choosing where to send your dollars, etc. And she also talks about how white supremacy is the root of all the things that lead to events like yesterday’s. I’d recommend following and just reading and learning for a while before commenting.
And please god don’t ever suggest to anyone that what people need to see to put an end to this is dead children’s bodies. They don’t and it won’t, and it’s gross AF to suggest that and put the burden of saying no on the families.
Friends, until enough of us choose to stop participating in the national systems of oppression that feed violence in its many forms - white supremacy, poverty, unaffordable/non-existent health care, and militarized policing - we are fucked. Cassie, The Rev William Barber II would be a great guest for the pod. People need directions to FIND hope at this point. Sending everyone love.
My daughter will be 9 soon, so this one hit me extra hard. She saw the headlines. She knows what happened. This morning, when I dropped her off, she looked at me and told me she loved me and it gutted me. Because she doesn't always - mornings aren't always the smoothest - but she knew. She knew what could happen. She knew it could be the last thing she ever said to me. In a way, I hate it. Because eventually I'll yell again and she'll get moody and she'll slam the door and storm off. And that could be the day...
i watched the columbine shooting footage live at home with my first child 24 yrs ago. nothing other than the date has changed. i'm so tired of hearing the myriad ways that everyone is trying to protect 'the children' from things drag and pronouns, when guns are the #1 cause of child death in this country. the gun lobby shouldn't be allowed to buy politicians. some of these assholes wear ar lapel pins on the congress floor! i am filled with grief and rage for all of us.
I don’t know what to say; like the words aren’t there, I watch on as it seems every few months from afar in Australia and just don’t get it. Why are their semi automatic assault rifles available over the bloody counter.
Like it leads our news stories, it’s already been shown this morning 3 times, it’s just astounding but what will change it? If sandy hook wasn’t the line in the sand moment.
Mostly i am just so sad and sorry for American people who live this stuff daily
My 11 year old asks me if she is safe at her school and I always reassure her and tell her yes, she is safe, but honestly— I can’t protect her when she’s there and I’m not with her. I want to shove her back in my womb. Melt all of the f*ing guns! Our children’s lives are more important than anyone’s second amendment rights.
Each morning when my husband takes our kids to school I can't help but worry. Could this be the last good-bye to my sweet babies? Civilians should not have assault weapons!!!
It was so hard to send my first grader and kindergartner off to school today. So hard. Seriously considering quitting my job and home school. Neither of which is a good option. I love my job and would be a terrible teacher.
I feel so bad for the teachers and the kids that know what’s going on. My kids are still oblivious.
I watched the police bodycam videos of the Nashville shooting and it is terrifying. Gunshots, sirens, lights flashing. Why are we letting our kids be traumatized in this way? I’m just angry and sick over this again and again.
At this point I’m trying to hang in here until I reach the minimum years for Public Service Loan Forgiveness but it’s exhausting on so many levels. I love my kiddos and creating beautiful, meaningful artwork but it seems like it’s only a matter of time until something like this happens in every district including our own.
I have a daughter that will be in kindergarten in a year, and this one has seemed to affect me even more than all the others. How are parents sending their kids to school everyday without extreme fear? Where can I send my child and feel like she’ll be safe? It’s so disappointing and disheartening that the options seem to dwindle every week with these horrible shootings. I agree with everyone who has said that the answer is so clear and politicians refuse to act. Exhausted and scared.
Another reason teachers continue to leave their positions. Education is crumbling for so many reasons and it doesn’t seem like there’s being any action taken to fix it. Fuck the NRA too. Politicians shouldn’t be able to take money from them. It’s mind blowing that we still allow congresspeople to be bribed to make laws that favor corporations. It’s all disheartening. Let’s all follow Birdie to Sweden
I didn’t want to talk authentic shooting at work, but of course it came up. My youngest is a trans girl, so I was hyper aware of comments about the shooter being trans. No one was disrespectful, but a lot of mis information (I.e. maybe it was the testosterone). I was able to educate people about my experience with my daughter, but all of this is so exhausting.
Forgive me for not verifying the stats myself but, according to my husband’s Australian friend: Australia’s numbers of attempted murder/violence vs our attempted murder/murder/mass slaying are consistent, but of course the difference being that Australia’s mentally unwell people who attempt to harm don’t have access to the guns and especially the assault weapons. As my husband succinctly put, ‘it’s very difficult to attempt a mass slaying armed with just a knife.’
I know this isn’t news, but to pretend that somehow the US just has more mentally unwell people and therefore gun restrictions won’t help is just moronic. But I know, they know this and simply don’t care. They care about money and power. And that’s it.
I live in Canada but we get all of your news and know everything that's going on. To say that I'm sickened by yet another shooting, would be an understatement! But, I'm also complacent. Of course there's been another death. Why wouldn't there be? But, in addition to being complacent and sickened, I'm incensed and appalled. I think that your laws are ridiculous and I don't understand how legal gun ownership is not only permitted but an constitutional right. A constitutional right to own weapons of death?!!!!! It literally makes no sense!!!!!
I’m so tired of this happening over and over again. I’m tired of being scared this could happen to one of my kids or my husband who is an educator. I’m so tired of seeing kids and parents heartbroken when WE SO CLEARLY KNOW THE SOLUTION. and also the second amendment worshipers putting guns over human lives. i’m just so tired mentally, emotionally all of it.
I'm set to graduate with my master's in Early Childhood Education and Development in June, and at this point, I don’t even know if I wanna be a teacher anymore 😭😭😭
We can’t give up. They are making schools dangerous to encourage privatizing education so they can enforce a white supremacist curriculum/doctrine. They are creating a culture of fear do people will keep buying guns to “protect themselves” while handing power to authoritarian bullies. We need to elect better Senators so we can get federal action. We can’t go state by state.
Every time I get an alert that this has happened I see the pain in people's eyes and know that legislators and lawmakers being so frivolous have never actually experienced pain at this level. More proof thay few of the people elected to office understand the perils of everyday human life. They are living different lives than their constituents. So while I encourage people to run for office and support groups that help people run for office, I also suggest 2 things might put pressure on those voting for loose gun laws and doing nothing to make children safe. Boycotting and ignoring businesses and brands that support the NRA via membership or even sell guns and ammunition will make business owners understand that the safety of the entire community is also part of their moral obligation as a commercial entity in the 21st century. Beyond that it is critical that no 1 let local politicians talk about anything but the safety of the community and the children in it. It council meetings, lunches, fundraisers, and media appearances need to become forums for truth and not marketing.
I’m British and live in the UK and am so sad this has happened again. It seems so simple as an outsider looking in, we don’t have mass school shootings here because you can’t buy guns. I really feel for all of you that are desperate for changes in gun laws in the USA and I really hope that positive change can happen. My heart goes out to all the families affected by this complete tragedy. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to send my son to school with the risk of this happening. I have no comprehension of how anyone could shoot innocent children dead or how it could be argued guns protect you. This is completely heartbreaking :( x
I got between feeling helpless, angry and terrified. Why is my first instinct when I’m in a new public place to think about where I could hide if something happened? I don’t feel safe anywhere anymore.
I live in Nashville and have been here for 12 years. In Tennessee we have the most firearms plants of any state. In 2021 Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that makes permitless open carry legal and in 2022 Nashville International Airport was #1 in firearms confiscations by the TSA per capita. We have no safe storage laws in the state of Tennessee. The Governor recently appointed a man who homeschools his kids and whose former company sold “school shooter” ammunition and ammo to the Aurora killer to the TN State Board of Education. Currently the TN GOP supermajority is trying to pass a law to LOWER the age of purchasing assault rifles from 21 to 18 and is trying to pass permitless concealed carry for all types of guns. What has the Governor signed into law recently? A total abortion ban (worst in the country - no exceptions for ANYTHING including rape, incest, or life of the mother) and a drag ban. It fucking sucks here.
I just feel hollow and numb to the lack of action taken. It’s gross. If you ever experienced neglect and or abuse as a child, you know it changes you fundamentally. Well, this is what we have done to all the kids that go to schools in America. We teach them they aren’t allowed to feel safe and their feelings don’t matter.
Re the pod discussion on Falling Down - I took 25 friends to that movie for my 18th bday - and amazingly it read for us as a comedy
I'm in Australia like a few of y'all, and it dominates our news and our socials. We moved back from Texas in 2020 after 5 years - I am sad and terrified and furious for our friends back in the US and their children and all the children that are being traumatised over and over...
My daughter as a 2.5yo did active shooter drills in her preschool when we were there. There was a hidden door between the school and the church. It's so heartbreaking. 2.5yo!
I was terrified all the time, every movie theatre, every trip to Target I was checking where the exits were and looking for places to hide. I didn't even realise how much my behaviour had changed til we got back and I could reflect. And this was all pre-covid before the world's mental health took a huge beating.
I know of a few families who got out of Texas, one who moved to New Zealand. Obviously not everyone has that option. I'm just completely heartbroken.
This is the first time I know someone who was there. He’s a pastor who teaches religion at the school. He’s ok but obviously everyone is traumatized. He’s always posting funny stories about his adorable students and he’s such a cool person with a great family. It’s makes me sad to think about those kids living through this. How will he explain what happened to his students?
What I TRULY LOVE about this show is that Busy expresses exactly how I feel about the world, even when people around me act surprised or confused when I try to express the same in my life. It is truly validating. And I signed up with Moms demand action. Even though I’m not a mom!
Hello- i’m a community organizer here’s some things we can collectively do:
1. Withdraw your membership from the Democratic Party. Write your reps ( go to house.gov to find yours & their contact info.) let them know their inaction to do anything has led you to devote your time/energy/voting power to finding a progressive candidate in your area. Unless you are lucky enough to live in one of our few progressives districts ( in that case you should write to ask how you can volunteer.)
2. Join your local school board or library oversight committee. This is the place where if you see something you say something. This is where the decision to purchase the “safe rooms” (MADE BY RAYTHEON) are made. Make your voice heard. Attend every stupid boring monthly meeting, bring your crochet and a tea mug and keep your ears peeled.
3. Invest in solar panels or generators for your home. Start gardening with your neighbours- google “potluck gardening.” This allows two things- community building to make sure your neighbors are properly informed and not just guzzling the MSM pipeline AND it allows you the self sufficiency to be able to support LOCAL WORKERS STRIKES (see 4)
4. Local Workers WILL START STRIKING and they are going to target services like garbage, power, and delivery services. You, as a most likely suburban white person reading this need to SUPPORT THIS and not take your life being inconvenienced personally. Life WILL BE DISRUPTED so you and your neighbors need to be prepared to support workers doing this.
If you’re a union worker, and your union isn’t talking about a general strike- be the person who adds the talking point to the meeting minutes.
5. Calmly remind your parents and friends who “don’t want to talk about this bc what is the point nothing will ever change” that their apathy is the point- apathy allows the wheel to grind on. A workers strike stops that wheel and allows the rest of us to climb on the machine and DISMANTLE IT.
You do not need to hoard, you do not need to buy guns, you need to be OKAY WITH CONFLICT and talking about the ways in which we are the same and our inconvenience and perhaps some credit card bills that go unpaid is a short term price to pay for a restructuring of the systems that are required for capitalism to thrive unchecked.
Our govt exists bc we ALLOW IT TO.
We know where they live, we know where their staffers live, we know who their neighbors are.
We are going to let their milk spoil and their garbage pile up until THEY START DOING THEIR JOBS.
The job of us white women is to not get in the way bc our lives will be inconvenienced. Money will be lost. Air conditioning might not work. But our children will see us fighting for THEM.
The kids are watching you do nothing. They will remember that.
Time to be brave y’all. Fuck your credit score.
I am pissed and tired. This should be a no Brainerd. It is our children!!! Unfortunately, my children are in high school now, so homeschooling isn't an option. Especially, since they are way smarter than me and both skipped a grade. I would ruin their chance at a good college, so that I could feel safe. What are we doing to this world? The world is just getting worse and worse. It breaks my heart.
Just now, in Pittsburgh, Central Catholic H.S. here was subject of a hoax about an active shooter. The University of Pittsburgh campus was locked down and the town was thrown into panic. My husband is a high school teacher and every single day I worry that he will be killed while teaching. Both my kids are finally in college, where I feel they are safer than they were trapped in an elementary or high school building. It's horrible and who in their right mind would call in a HOAX about something so traumatizing?
After reading the comments, and agreeing with you all about our collective sadness, frustration and anger, I have this one thing to add: it all comes down to gerrymandering. Republicans know they don’t have the numbers to legitimately win elections, but through gerrymandering they carve up places (especially cities) to weaken democratic opposition. You might already know about All On the Line. But if not, it’s an organization that President Obama and former AG Eric Holder started to combat gerrymandering and advocate for fair maps. https://www.allontheline.org -- Perhaps add that organization to Everytown for Gun Safety in our community’s fight to end the madness and violence. At the very least, please call your representatives and tell them you support reinstating the assault rifle ban. Thanks, Besties, for this platform. We are in this together! Keep doing your best! Hug your babies! 💜
Another day of frustration, anger, sorrow and devastation. Watching the insanity ( doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result) is infuriating. Seeing solutions - like arming teachers, adding bulletproof proof rooms into classrooms and other wild ideas is so hard to understand. As a Canadian these stories make our headlines as quick as they do in the US. Every time I cry. Every time I have hope it will be a different outcome. Every time the answer seems so simple. Every time is the same. I am sorry. I don’t have other words, other than know others want change for you.
My daughter is starting back at her job on Monday at the student union welcome desk in the building where a mass shooting took place last month. She already has an appointment scheduled after her shift with her counselor. So, that is her life, our life. I feel my rage physically in my chest, skin temperature, my throat.
I am thankful for you people, this place to tell someone about this and for our state's legislature who actually did something for once. But even still, 53 of our counties have adopted resolutions declaring themselves "second amendment sanctuaries" casting doubts about whether any gun laws will be enforced locally. I have had it.
“When a condition or a problem becomes too great, humans have the protection of not thinking about it. But it goes inward and minces up with a lot of other things already there and what comes out is discontent and uneasiness, guilt and a compulsion to get something-anything-before it is all gone”
-John Steinbeck from The Winter of Our Discontent
I worry about what hearing/witnessing these events over and over is doing to each of us internally. There have been 129 mass shootings in 2023. We’re only hearing about a handful of them. What will become of us?
I don't even know what to do or what to say anymore. As a mom of 3 kids (2 high schooler and a 4th grader), I'm worried when they go off to school every day. My oldest is going to college in the fall to become a teacher and I'm very proud of her career decision but at the same time so frightened.
What if we moms literally all refused to send our kids to school until someone does something? I know this seems radical & not feasible (high school kids gotta take tests, graduate etc...)....but I feel like it is our only chance at this point. SHUT IT THE FUCK DOWN!! Who's with me?!
Hiya, my thought is we need to move faster. We are making changes and things are happening but with the number of these events happening so often, it can come soon enough. Soon enough to vote people out, some enough to vote in people with agendas that a line with saving innocent victims. Soon enough to make a lot of small changes that can equal a big change.
I did notice this school shooting was different. Only in that 75% of influencers on Instagram now live in Nashville (and surrounding areas) I FINALLY heard more people caring and saying something needs to be done. Alot of them are the Conservatives that never say anything,but NOW it is affecting them. Let's see if this finally changes something. Probably not.
Feeling hopeless. So incredibly frustrating. I have 3 kids and everyday I think this could happen. I don’t know what I can do. Hoping it won’t happen again never works. What assholes have all the power?
It’s heartbreaking and fucking frustrating. Why do we keep accepting this? I know why, but why!! I work as a teaching asst and we literally just talked about this last week at work. We are constantly on high alert. We have insane amounts of work on our plates, and throwing this in the mix makes it really hard on us. I’m tired of seeing thoughts and prayers. Our kids deserve safe learning spaces.
We were up most of the night and early morning dealing with the worst storm we have had in years, with sirens and all going off. I finally got to sleep around 4am and woke up to the news of this shooting. It’s hard to describe the desperate hopelessness I felt in that moment and the absolute pain for the families effected. I feel angry and numb at the same time.
No more thoughts and prayers but let’s keep pointing to Scotland and Australia where changes to laws have had a positive effect. Maybe one day common sense will prevail? Not hopeful but holding on to hope for the long time.
I live in Nashville and the gaslighting I experience every time I brought up access to guns today was mind numbing. The transphobia jumped out everywhere too. Even the coverage was biased. I never saw the headline “Heterosexual Dylann Roof shoots up Church.” It is maddening!
TN, my home state, is devastated. I'm all the emotions at once and the biggest one is LIVID that we are here again. Other countries think we are insane to let this happen when there are solutions to resolve it. Kids outside the US don't have active shooter drills.
I'm also heartbroken. I reached out to friends in Nashville to ask if they are ok. They are not. I'm sure all parents who are sending their kids to school today are decidedly NOT OK. I have friends in Nashville who feel guilty that they are happy their kids came home yesterday when there are kids that didn't.
Lastly, I'm resolved. This is one of those lace up your boots, start donating money, and be prepared to dig in for the long fight. This one will not be easy. Most elected officials have the NRA as donors and won't vote against that. We have legislation ready for a national ban on assault weapons (similar to the pervious one) but there are not enough reps in Congress who support it. We are being held hostage by the gun lobby and the very loud fringe who will not hear about sensible gun control. We have to be louder and better funded. If you are ready to take action, find your local Moms Demand Action group and sign up. They have been in this fight and making slow but steady progress. We need to follow their lead. This is a national crisis and sadly we will have more deaths due to mass shootings before there are changes to policy.
Adding in a plug here to VOTE and encourage everyone you know to do the same. We need to vote in reps who are not funded by the NRA and are clear on how they will vote on gun control legislation.
I'm livid, heartbroken, and resolved and my personality style is to make a plan in times of chaos. Make a plan of your own then work your plan. We can't become numb to this.
I got a call to pick my 5th grader up early due to illness today. When I got to the elementary school, the doors were wide open for kindergarten registration. This terrified me! Usually the school is locked up tight. It’s awful to live in a country where open school doors is scary. I live in a very red area, so I can’t even bring up the topic of gun control in public or social situations. The gun huggers get livid when you mention it. I feel totally helpless.
For the first time, this happened near where I live. Recently my youngest transferred to home school, I have had mixed feeling about that. Today, I am relieved to not have to worry about my child going through this. That said, I can’t stop crying about yet another tragic day at another place where we send our kids to learn. They are learning to be afraid of something like this happening and knowing that nothing is changing.
In this capitalistic AF society, I feel like the only thing people understand is money. So I want homeowners’ insurance to be higher for gun owners the way it is for trampoline owners and pool owners and dog owners. And when a child gets a hold of the family weapon and uses it? That insurance company drops you like a hot potato and your mortgage company forecloses on you because you don’t have insurance.
In the meantime, my social media follow is Nelba Marquez-Greene, mother of Ana Grace, who died at Sandy Hook, and Isiah, who survived. She’s also a licensed therapist and uses her platform to remind people to center victims, survivors, and their families when talking about these events, when choosing where to send your dollars, etc. And she also talks about how white supremacy is the root of all the things that lead to events like yesterday’s. I’d recommend following and just reading and learning for a while before commenting.
And please god don’t ever suggest to anyone that what people need to see to put an end to this is dead children’s bodies. They don’t and it won’t, and it’s gross AF to suggest that and put the burden of saying no on the families.
Sorry for my misspelling
Caissie!
Friends, until enough of us choose to stop participating in the national systems of oppression that feed violence in its many forms - white supremacy, poverty, unaffordable/non-existent health care, and militarized policing - we are fucked. Cassie, The Rev William Barber II would be a great guest for the pod. People need directions to FIND hope at this point. Sending everyone love.
My daughter will be 9 soon, so this one hit me extra hard. She saw the headlines. She knows what happened. This morning, when I dropped her off, she looked at me and told me she loved me and it gutted me. Because she doesn't always - mornings aren't always the smoothest - but she knew. She knew what could happen. She knew it could be the last thing she ever said to me. In a way, I hate it. Because eventually I'll yell again and she'll get moody and she'll slam the door and storm off. And that could be the day...
i watched the columbine shooting footage live at home with my first child 24 yrs ago. nothing other than the date has changed. i'm so tired of hearing the myriad ways that everyone is trying to protect 'the children' from things drag and pronouns, when guns are the #1 cause of child death in this country. the gun lobby shouldn't be allowed to buy politicians. some of these assholes wear ar lapel pins on the congress floor! i am filled with grief and rage for all of us.
I don’t know what to say; like the words aren’t there, I watch on as it seems every few months from afar in Australia and just don’t get it. Why are their semi automatic assault rifles available over the bloody counter.
Like it leads our news stories, it’s already been shown this morning 3 times, it’s just astounding but what will change it? If sandy hook wasn’t the line in the sand moment.
Mostly i am just so sad and sorry for American people who live this stuff daily
My 11 year old asks me if she is safe at her school and I always reassure her and tell her yes, she is safe, but honestly— I can’t protect her when she’s there and I’m not with her. I want to shove her back in my womb. Melt all of the f*ing guns! Our children’s lives are more important than anyone’s second amendment rights.
Each morning when my husband takes our kids to school I can't help but worry. Could this be the last good-bye to my sweet babies? Civilians should not have assault weapons!!!
It was so hard to send my first grader and kindergartner off to school today. So hard. Seriously considering quitting my job and home school. Neither of which is a good option. I love my job and would be a terrible teacher.
I feel so bad for the teachers and the kids that know what’s going on. My kids are still oblivious.
I watched the police bodycam videos of the Nashville shooting and it is terrifying. Gunshots, sirens, lights flashing. Why are we letting our kids be traumatized in this way? I’m just angry and sick over this again and again.
At this point I’m trying to hang in here until I reach the minimum years for Public Service Loan Forgiveness but it’s exhausting on so many levels. I love my kiddos and creating beautiful, meaningful artwork but it seems like it’s only a matter of time until something like this happens in every district including our own.
I’m fucking tired.
I have a daughter that will be in kindergarten in a year, and this one has seemed to affect me even more than all the others. How are parents sending their kids to school everyday without extreme fear? Where can I send my child and feel like she’ll be safe? It’s so disappointing and disheartening that the options seem to dwindle every week with these horrible shootings. I agree with everyone who has said that the answer is so clear and politicians refuse to act. Exhausted and scared.
Another reason teachers continue to leave their positions. Education is crumbling for so many reasons and it doesn’t seem like there’s being any action taken to fix it. Fuck the NRA too. Politicians shouldn’t be able to take money from them. It’s mind blowing that we still allow congresspeople to be bribed to make laws that favor corporations. It’s all disheartening. Let’s all follow Birdie to Sweden
I’m a teacher and I just keep wondering if our school is next...
I didn’t want to talk authentic shooting at work, but of course it came up. My youngest is a trans girl, so I was hyper aware of comments about the shooter being trans. No one was disrespectful, but a lot of mis information (I.e. maybe it was the testosterone). I was able to educate people about my experience with my daughter, but all of this is so exhausting.
Forgive me for not verifying the stats myself but, according to my husband’s Australian friend: Australia’s numbers of attempted murder/violence vs our attempted murder/murder/mass slaying are consistent, but of course the difference being that Australia’s mentally unwell people who attempt to harm don’t have access to the guns and especially the assault weapons. As my husband succinctly put, ‘it’s very difficult to attempt a mass slaying armed with just a knife.’
I know this isn’t news, but to pretend that somehow the US just has more mentally unwell people and therefore gun restrictions won’t help is just moronic. But I know, they know this and simply don’t care. They care about money and power. And that’s it.
I live in Canada but we get all of your news and know everything that's going on. To say that I'm sickened by yet another shooting, would be an understatement! But, I'm also complacent. Of course there's been another death. Why wouldn't there be? But, in addition to being complacent and sickened, I'm incensed and appalled. I think that your laws are ridiculous and I don't understand how legal gun ownership is not only permitted but an constitutional right. A constitutional right to own weapons of death?!!!!! It literally makes no sense!!!!!
I’m so tired of this happening over and over again. I’m tired of being scared this could happen to one of my kids or my husband who is an educator. I’m so tired of seeing kids and parents heartbroken when WE SO CLEARLY KNOW THE SOLUTION. and also the second amendment worshipers putting guns over human lives. i’m just so tired mentally, emotionally all of it.
I'm set to graduate with my master's in Early Childhood Education and Development in June, and at this point, I don’t even know if I wanna be a teacher anymore 😭😭😭
We can’t give up. They are making schools dangerous to encourage privatizing education so they can enforce a white supremacist curriculum/doctrine. They are creating a culture of fear do people will keep buying guns to “protect themselves” while handing power to authoritarian bullies. We need to elect better Senators so we can get federal action. We can’t go state by state.
Every time I get an alert that this has happened I see the pain in people's eyes and know that legislators and lawmakers being so frivolous have never actually experienced pain at this level. More proof thay few of the people elected to office understand the perils of everyday human life. They are living different lives than their constituents. So while I encourage people to run for office and support groups that help people run for office, I also suggest 2 things might put pressure on those voting for loose gun laws and doing nothing to make children safe. Boycotting and ignoring businesses and brands that support the NRA via membership or even sell guns and ammunition will make business owners understand that the safety of the entire community is also part of their moral obligation as a commercial entity in the 21st century. Beyond that it is critical that no 1 let local politicians talk about anything but the safety of the community and the children in it. It council meetings, lunches, fundraisers, and media appearances need to become forums for truth and not marketing.
I’m British and live in the UK and am so sad this has happened again. It seems so simple as an outsider looking in, we don’t have mass school shootings here because you can’t buy guns. I really feel for all of you that are desperate for changes in gun laws in the USA and I really hope that positive change can happen. My heart goes out to all the families affected by this complete tragedy. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to send my son to school with the risk of this happening. I have no comprehension of how anyone could shoot innocent children dead or how it could be argued guns protect you. This is completely heartbreaking :( x
I got between feeling helpless, angry and terrified. Why is my first instinct when I’m in a new public place to think about where I could hide if something happened? I don’t feel safe anywhere anymore.
I feel so angry.
I live in Nashville and have been here for 12 years. In Tennessee we have the most firearms plants of any state. In 2021 Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that makes permitless open carry legal and in 2022 Nashville International Airport was #1 in firearms confiscations by the TSA per capita. We have no safe storage laws in the state of Tennessee. The Governor recently appointed a man who homeschools his kids and whose former company sold “school shooter” ammunition and ammo to the Aurora killer to the TN State Board of Education. Currently the TN GOP supermajority is trying to pass a law to LOWER the age of purchasing assault rifles from 21 to 18 and is trying to pass permitless concealed carry for all types of guns. What has the Governor signed into law recently? A total abortion ban (worst in the country - no exceptions for ANYTHING including rape, incest, or life of the mother) and a drag ban. It fucking sucks here.
I just feel hollow and numb to the lack of action taken. It’s gross. If you ever experienced neglect and or abuse as a child, you know it changes you fundamentally. Well, this is what we have done to all the kids that go to schools in America. We teach them they aren’t allowed to feel safe and their feelings don’t matter.