Speak to me of resilience and possibility
In the aftermath of Apalachee
I’ve been watching the hummingbirds, juveniles I assume, dancing among the late summer flowers like iridescent acrobats. The adult males have already made their way to Central America, where they are establishing winter territories, females following soon after. The youngest depart last.
I’ve been clinging to the glimpses of joy, tenacious and fleeting, delivered by these miniature winged messengers. They speak to me of resilience and possibility. I need that more than ever right now.
Every time I think about the recent Apalachee High School shooting, I lose my bearings. Not again. Have mercy, not again. And every time I hear myself think those thoughts, a surge of something putrid makes its way through my gut, a mix of contrition and impotence. How long will it be before I stop feeling this way? Until I forget to feel this way? How many have already forgotten?
Not the individuals who were there. The ones who lived are now reliving how it felt to be there on September 4th. Not the 383,000 students who have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine, the staff, the parents. Each time this happens, they remember anew. They remember what they lost.
Many will be unable to do much. For a while, there might be an uptick in activity, new cadres of individuals joining Moms Demand Action and Sandy Hook Promise. Well-known writers and activists will share pointed arguments bolstered with statistics. Small town former school librarians (like Rita Ott Ramstad at Rootsie) will wrestle with harsh realities.
Some, like me, will pour over data and history, then write their hearts out in a futile attempt to make any of it make any sense at all.
It won’t ever make sense. The numbers are staggering, but we need to see them.
According to the provisional CDC data, 48,117 people died by guns in 2022, an average of one person every 11 minutes. Overall…gun deaths are up 21% since 2019. ~Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions
Among 65 high-income countries and territories, the United States stands out for its high levels of gun violence, [ranking seventh overall]. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, two US territories, rank first and fourth. Washington, DC has the highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the United States. ~Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
In 2020, the 10 states with the highest rates of gun deaths among children and teenagers ages 1–19 were Louisiana, Alaska, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Alabama. All of these states received an “F” grade for their weak gun laws. ~American Progress
Guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens. One out of 10 gun deaths are age 19 or younger. ~Sandy Hook Promise
Conservative estimates put the number of active school shooter incidents since the 1999 Columbine massacre at 131, with 222 fatalities and 351 injuries. (See screen recording below.) ~Security.org
The data amplify what we already know, but these aren’t just numbers. These are lives, children and adults with names, families, classmates and co-workers, pets, plans, stories that are forever changed because of guns and the people who pulled the triggers.
Still, remarkably—and because this is the only way I can generate the will to go on trying when I’ve been staring into the darkness—I can, just barely, make out a few pinpricks of light. I will offer, first, that I’m neither naive nor optimistic enough to think these are solutions unto themselves. As with all systemic issues, finding a way through the American gun morass will require profound cultural and regulatory shifts. But there may be a whisper of a signal, an aseismic shift, that is starting to take place.
In February, 2022, a settlement of $73 million was reached with Remington Arms for the families of nine victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Survivors of later shooting incidents, including those of the Uvalde school shooting, have launched more cases against gun makers and marketers.
Also in 2022, the bipartisan Safer Communities Act came through Congress. It was the first gun legislation passed in almost 30 years.
A 2023 Pew Research study determined that a majority of Americans (61%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country.
In April of this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old Ethan, who killed four people and injured seven at Michigan’s Oxford High School, were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. While ignoring signs of their son’s eroding mental health, the Crumbleys purchased him a 9mm semi-automatic handgun as an early Christmas gift, then failed to secure it in the household.
In June, 2024, the Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis.
Colt Gray, the 14-year-old Apalachee school shooter has been charged with four counts of murder. His father, Colin, has also been arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children because he, allegedly, purchased the AR-15-style rifle for his son.
That this kind of gun violence is NOT typical in other high-income countries tells us that the same is possible here. Despite the cries of 2nd Amendment loyalists who suggest that tightened gun regulations would result in a great gun roundup across the nation, proposed interventions are actually far more reasonable. Researchers like the co-founders of The Violence Project recommend “measures that help control firearm access for vulnerable individuals or people in crisis,” like age and permit restrictions, background checks, and safe storage campaigns.
Of course controls like these require bi-partisan legislative action which, heretofore, is where the majority public opinion gets lost. Which brings us to our elected officials and the critical need for more voters.
A third of eligible voters didn’t show up for the 2020 election. This group includes some who wanted to vote but couldn’t. It also includes those who don’t like their choices, those fed up with the two-party system, those who feel their vote won’t make a difference, and those who just don’t care one way or another. When these people opt out of the conversation, their voices are lost, giving politicians the signal to maintain business as usual.
Isaac Saul, who writes Tangle, a brilliantly balanced newsletter, puts it like this: “The politicians that you loathe and that duopoly system you are deriding — they depend on your apathy. They need it to succeed. They need you to believe what you believe in order to stay in power and to maintain the status quo. Quite literally, one of the only ways you can fight them—in a tangible way—is to vote.”
If saving lives really matters, it’s time to help encourage someone beyond ourselves to the polls. Canvassing, phone banking, postcard and yard sign campaigns all have purpose and potential. Haven’t we been asking for more than thoughts and prayers? Don’t these victims and their families deserve it? Don’t our communities deserve it?
Say what you will about the gun lobby and the futility of past efforts. You won’t be wrong. But nothing comes from nothing. A little over thirty years ago, we were still flying on smoke-filled aircraft and drinking in smoke-filled bars. Few people then foresaw the eventual tipping point for the powerful tobacco lobby. Some, driven by matters of principle and survival, pressed forward to success.
Toward the end of every summer, following a feeding frenzy that nearly doubles its body weight, the North American ruby-throated hummingbird sets off for Central America. Depending on its starting point, it may travel distances of more than 2,500 miles. When it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, it will fly close to 500 miles, an average of 20 hours, non-stop. It will achieve what seems impossible.
~Elizabeth
This is a hot-button topic about which I have much to learn. If there are aspects of this piece that warrant further clarification, I hope you’ll help me with those in the comments. Above all, be kind. Chicken Scratch is meant to be a safe space where we support one another and lean into civil discourse.
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I truly appreciate the points of light you have gathered here. Thank you. You are so correct, that nothing comes from nothing.
Thank you so much for writing this. I retired from teaching first grade in Frederick County the year of the Sandy Hook shooting. Shooter drills with 20+ little ones asking questions. Horrible. I’ve been a MOMS Demand Action member for a long time. My grandson once told me he had a dream about a shooter in his school, and he was trying to get in his locker. I’m also active with Be SMART which is a program about securing guns, keeping them away from children and others who shouldn’t have them. Progress is so slow, but we must never give up.