I am so incredibly angry right now, I don't know what to do with this rage.
There's something really interesting about a massive, jagged scar being ripped open 90 days after a mass shooting at your high school due to another mass shooting at another high school. It leaves this festering, gaping mess of tears and rage mixed together. Since February 14th 2018, I think I've been too busy fighting for change to properly grieve. And it seems that I cannot and will not have that opportunity until something drastically changes.
10 more dead in a mass shooting at a high school. Santa Fe High School in Texas. No big deal. Nothing to see here.
Let's start with the ideas and concepts that everyone can agree on.
We all want to live in a country that provides opportunities for the next generation.
We all want to do normal, every-day activities without fearing for our lives.
We want to leave this world better than we found it (okay, I realize I'm giving people a huge benefit of the doubt here, but I can't help but believe this).
Why does ridiculously easy access to guns trump these three ideas? Why, even with almost 100% national support, do we still not have universal background checks? HOW can people see children being mowed down under a torrent of bullets on national television and think that this means we need MORE guns? As if more guns have ever solved anything, as if more guns in their home means their children will be safe in school, as if more guns means they are better protected, as if more guns means its LESS likely that their child will die at home, as if more guns is the magical solution to all of the guns causing massive damage in this world?
It's not just guns that are the problem, we all know that, there are LAYERS of issues at hand. But you CAN NOT RAPIDLY KILL PEOPLE WITH A KNIFE.
But fine, let's discuss the other issues. It's a mental health problem! Great! Let's gut the financial backbone of the ACA and make sure that premiums skyrocket so that everyone has affordable access to healthcare (...wait, what?). No, it's not mental health, it's got something to do with school safety. Great! Let's make sure to keep teachers wages low, provide minimal funding to schools for supplies, and have regular active shooter drills as the band-aid, it's definitely working and schools totally have enough funding to up their secuirty game (.... wait, what?). No, it's not school safety that's the issue, people just aren't treating these sad, angry boys well enough, if only people would smile at them! That's a great point, I'll make sure to smile at them as they grab my pussy as the president has made it perfectly clear is acceptable (.... hmmmmm, something seems wrong here).
We NEED better mental health care and affordable ways to access it, we need to support and fund schools in all of their efforts, and we need to fight this toxic masculinity that is just as bad for men as it is for women.
But we also need to make it HARDER TO GET A GUN. Why is it easier to get a gun as an 18-year-old than it is to get a beer? Why is it easier to get a gun than get into college? Why is it easier to get a gun than get a mental health check-up for a reasonable price? Why is it so. damn. easy. to get a gun?
I feel like so many of us have dedicated ourselves non-stop to making changes but THIS, THIS is what we're left with. FUCK THE NRA. FUCK OUR GUN-LOVING CULTURE. FUCK SHITTY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. FUCK TOXIC MASCULINITY. FUCK YOU TO THOSE THAT SEE THIS BIT OF NEWS AND CLUTCH THEIR GUNS EVEN CLOSER BECAUSE THEIR GUNS ARE THEIR TRUE CHILDREN.
We cannot provide opportunities to the next generation if they are dead. We cannot fearlessly do everyday activities because, frankly, we might be shot. We are not leaving this world better than we found it.
Sante Fe High School - MSD stands with you. We are here for you. Welcome to the growing community of people that have been affected by mass shootings. Our numbers grow almost daily.
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