TW @: Uvalde School Shooting 5/24/22

[basilosaurus]

May 25, 2022 10:37:59 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I told my 12 year old and honestly it was depressing how normal it was to her.

I can only imagine it was something like "mom, it's cool. I've been doing these drills since I was 5." 

Even worse, I can imagine there are kids for whom gunshots are part of normal life at home (that was me for a short time as an adult), and that's also horrifying. Get it together, "greatest nation on earth" because the rest of nations are judging hard.

[lilac05]

I wanted my kids to hear it from me. I listened to a podcast and a discussion from Dr Becky Kennedy and Sharon McMahon, and that helped me find what I needed to have the conversation.

My kids are 8 and 11. They’re very compassionate and caring kids. Their reaction broke my heart and infuriated me. Not because they were so upset, terrified, etc…but because they weren’t really. I certainly don’t want them to feel that way, but this situation certainly warrants all kinds of big emotions. Their response was more or less, “Thanks for telling us. We know that happens in schools sometimes. I’m sad for those kids. We have drills and know our schools will keep us as safe as they can, and that’s really all we can do.”

This is their normal. They’ve never known a life without school shootings. It’s basically par for the course for them to know that they could be murdered at school.

My older son did have a few questions later, and maybe younger will, too. I’m just livid that I have to have these conversations…and that we’ve had them often enough that my kids aren’t even surprised by them.

[picksthemusic]

I talked about it with my mom while I was driving to an appointment yesterday, and we both just became despondent and angry.

We talked about it with the kids too, but I'm sure it was woefully inadequate. They knew it happened, and kind of just acted like it was NBD. Which breaks my heart since we expressed how sad we were, and they did too, but they were able to act like normal after talking about it.

All I know is that I have no fucks left to give to anyone that entertains the idea that gun control isn't a solution to this sickness we have in this country.

[mbcdefg]

May 25, 2022 9:15:13 GMT -5 cville said:

I'm just I don't even know. The high intensity rage and sadness are leaving me feeling numb and limp and defeated.

Why won't people in power fucking do something!? I know why, but WHY?

Mass shootings keep people scared.

People in power want to keep Americans scared, sick, poor, and uneducated. Simple as that.

ETA: following up on the money comment, that’s the only way I can think of to stop all this. Something to do with money. Mass boycotts, billionaires throwing money at someone/something (fuck, pay a few specific politics to step down, are we at that point?), none of which is going to happen.

[wildrice]

May 25, 2022 10:43:42 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

May 25, 2022 10:13:52 GMT -5 sakura said:

sdlaura any comment?

I noticed you bringing this up in the post on ML as well, and I'm not sure why you're harping on sdlaura's comment.

This is a tragedy of the utmost. I want to do everything in my power to prevent it from happening again.

But I still sent my kids to school today. It is still a low base rate. Is it too high? Yes! It should be zero! It is so high I wouldn't send my children to school? No. As evidenced by my kids being in school today.

Agreed, and keeping perspective on all of this is how we cope. People would never leave their houses if we all felt that the chances of being shot on a daily basis were high. They are higher than basically anywhere else in the world, but we have to remind ourselves that our individual chances of actually being murdered today are statistically low. Even 1 person being killed by gun violence is too many - but we still have to live. I would not choose to move to the US right now, but in reality 300 million+ people already live here and can't all just leave so... whatever we need to do to get through each day is what we need to do.

It is rare that I go anywhere with a bunch of people and don't think about the possibility that someone could open fire at any moment. When those thoughts cross my mind, I look for exit route and then I tell myself that it's unlikely to happen and it's likely that things will be fine. I think that's a normal way to cope and all sdlaura was trying to get at. 

[Michelle]

My kid went to a theater banquet Saturday and has been doing covid tests since because there wasn't much masking there. She tested negative yesterday morning, but positive last night. Twice. And has symptoms since Sunday night. She has to miss and retake 2 finals. We have to reschedule her travel to grandma's. She had a meltdown last night because for 2 years she has been doing everything right to stay safe from the virus and she got it now, and will miss end of year parties, has to retake finals, etc.

And after all of that emotion last night in trying to comfort her (with an N95 on, sigh), i learned about Uvalde. And I'm thankful she is home safe today, because these things are viral and inspire others to commit violence.



I can't imagine being a teacher right now. To those of you who are - this is so unnecessarily, unreasonably, unimaginably wrong that you have to worry about this when your job is hard enough.

I am seeing fellow Texans saying it's time to arm teachers. Yeah, let's put that burden on them on top of everything else.

And here in Texas, we will continue to see more efforts to ban books to "protect the children" but not guns. The NRA convention in Houston this week bans its attendees from coming with weapons. But we demand they be out and about willy nilly in society and want more of them in our schools!?!

I'm actually more moderate on gun ownership. With these crazy rednecks around here, I want my own gun to protect myself in my home. And if it is not under lock and key and someone uses it to hurt someone, i should go to jail. But open carry, CHLs, AR15s and weapons with high capacity for ammo - these are not needed!!!

[leshoequeen]

I can't even think straight today, I am so angry and heartbroken. I've called both of my senators, posted some contact info on social media, and just keep reading about these babies who have been so brutally taken from their families. This country is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. If no action were taken following Sandy Hook or any of the numerous school shootings to date, we are far, far too broken.

[neverfstop]

i was able to leave a message for one of my representative. but the website seems to be glitching on Ted Cruz and Cornyn...anybody else having problems leaving a message on the website?

[lea]

I live less than a mile from our elementary school and for the past 6 years that I’ve had children there, my heart races every single time I hear a siren go by because I’m so afraid something is happening at the school. I hate this.

[somersault72]

My oldest was in his last year of preschool when Sandy Hook happened. 8 months later I sent him to kindergarten. He's now finishing EIGHT FUCKING GRADE and nothing has changed. He has had ALICE drills his entire school career. I remember him coming home and trying to explain what they were doing and it made me so sad. I hate that we live in a place where enough people in power value guns over lives, even children's lives.

[ECB]

I was just "reading the comments" on our local newstation post. So now the new "argument" is that if we want to outlaw guns, we should go to Home Depot and Lowes and try to outlaw hammers and other home improvement equipment because of the number of deaths they cause every year.

Good lord. The false equivalencies! And the never ending "mental health" aspect of it. Yes - while that may be true. the fact is guns kill MULITPLE people at a time. Hammers, knives, ladders, etc do NOT. You can't "accidentally" shoot 20 people, you can't kill 20 people with a knife.

"These people" will grasp onto anything to defend their precious guns.

[breezy8407]

I can and can't believe its so soon that I am saying this again, but H, a teacher said he will quit on the spot the day teachers are required to be armed.

I am so sick of the false narrative that more guns will somehow solve the issue.

[macmars45]

breezy8407 me too. As soon as I hear news like that I'm quitting.

[wanderingback]

May 25, 2022 9:46:39 GMT -5 ECB said:

May 25, 2022 9:37:45 GMT -5 fernweh said:

H and I HAD a friend who after a previous shooting posted something on Facebook along the lines of “if my kids are every killed in a school shooting, please don’t let the libs use them as an excuse to take away our rights/guns”.
I don’t know how he reacted to this current one since he is obviously no longer a person we engage with but this blew my mind. You would literally rather sacrifice your own children to have guns. As a non-parent, I can absolutely not wrap my head around this.

This is the lie that pisses me off the most.  "Someone" (Probably fox news) said that the left wants to take away all guns, but if these people would actually stop, DO SOME RESEARCH and maybe actually TALK to some democrats, they'd find out that was most people want are controls and regulations in place - like we have with cars.    Yes, there are people that would love to get rid of all guns - I mean, really, I'm fine with that myself, but that isn't a driving force for me.  But basic, logical laws IS a driving force. 

I would like to find a middle ground at least to start.  But these fools are fed lie after lie after lie and just believe it and dig their heels in even further. 

I honestly don’t understand this. Why a middle ground? Why is it not ok to say yes I want to take away guns?

It’s ok for "them" to say lgbtq people are pedophiles so we can’t have books about those people in schools and that abortion is never ever ok and that masks are traumatizing our kids (and actually getting laws and policies against these things passed), yet we have to find a middle ground about people being murdered? (And that’s not even talking about all the accidental and deaths by suicide from guns as well).

[eddy]

I 100% want to take away all guns lol. Maybe I will allow one revolver per household. That is it.

[laladypoet]

May 25, 2022 12:02:08 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

May 25, 2022 9:46:39 GMT -5 ECB said:

This is the lie that pisses me off the most.  "Someone" (Probably fox news) said that the left wants to take away all guns, but if these people would actually stop, DO SOME RESEARCH and maybe actually TALK to some democrats, they'd find out that was most people want are controls and regulations in place - like we have with cars.    Yes, there are people that would love to get rid of all guns - I mean, really, I'm fine with that myself, but that isn't a driving force for me.  But basic, logical laws IS a driving force. 

I would like to find a middle ground at least to start.  But these fools are fed lie after lie after lie and just believe it and dig their heels in even further. 

I honestly don’t understand this. Why a middle ground? Why is it not ok to say yes I want to take away guns?

It’s ok for "them" to say lgbtq people are pedophiles so we can’t have books about those people in schools and that abortion is never ever ok and that masks are traumatizing our kids (and actually getting laws and policies against these things passed), yet we have to find a middle ground about people being murdered? (And that’s not even talking about all the accidental and deaths by suicide from guns as well).

because you have to start somewhere.

[redheadk]

May 25, 2022 11:59:01 GMT -5 breezy8407 said:

I can and can't believe its so soon that I am saying this again, but H, a teacher said he will quit on the spot the day teachers are required to be armed.

I am so sick of the false narrative that more guns will somehow solve the issue.

I will withdraw my child and homeschool if they allow teachers to be armed. I taught across the hall from a teacher that would have been armed if allowed and I would have been in immediate danger daily bc she is not a person who could be trusted to keep the gun locked away and to make careful, cautious decisions. No way, no how.

[1confused1]

May 25, 2022 10:37:59 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

I told my 12 year old and honestly it was depressing how normal it was to her.

Same in my house. I was crying and my 13 and 15 year old kids asked me what was wrong so I told them there was another school shooting. They hardly had a response because it has become so normal for them. This is not ok.

[jaylea]

May 25, 2022 8:32:02 GMT -5 erbear said:

Narratives we can say are categorically false:
1. This came out of nowhere (false: the gunman had posted photos of two rifles on his social media two days ago, and had texted them to friends)

2. Good guys with a gun could have saved everyone (false: three armed police officers engaged him outside the building and still he was able to get inside and kill 21 people)

3. He was mentally ill (maybe true: common sense gun control laws might have kept guns out of his hands. Also, if mental health is the issue, then stop taking money out of the organizations that are trying to combat the problem. You don't get to blame mental health, yet impede its solutions at every turn.)

4. These crimes are committed by people who obtain guns illegally (false: he bought these guns legally. At 18. Before he could legally buy beer).

The House has passed common sense gun control. 90% of the American people support background checks. Republicans in the Senate, who represent far fewer than 50% of the country, refuse to even bring it to a vote. This nation continues to be held hostage by a minority of shitty (largely white men) lawmakers whose thirst for power is more important than children's lives.

I have my classroom door closed and locked today. I never do either of those things.

This is so wonderfully succinct.

[missva]

DH is a teacher in SC, and the things we just can't get over is all the energy spent in red states on things that don't kill kids: trans athletes (a ban was just passed in SC, and there are literally 6 trans athletes in this state), book banning, critical race theory, etc etc etc. Ask teachers - these are not the things they are worried about.

[smock]

AR-15s don't have a long historical record of being recognized in this country. A strict reading of the Constitution means that only 18th-century muskets and rifles are legal. Americans must exchange all modern weapons for a bag of gunpowder and lead bullets.

/sarcasm

[timorousbeastie]

May 25, 2022 11:53:14 GMT -5 ECB said:

I was just "reading the comments" on our local newstation post. So now the new "argument" is that if we want to outlaw guns, we should go to Home Depot and Lowes and try to outlaw hammers and other home improvement equipment because of the number of deaths they cause every year.

Good lord. The false equivalencies! And the never ending "mental health" aspect of it. Yes - while that may be true. the fact is guns kill MULITPLE people at a time. Hammers, knives, ladders, etc do NOT. You can't "accidentally" shoot 20 people, you can't kill 20 people with a knife.

"These people" will grasp onto anything to defend their precious guns.

It makes total sense to outlaw hammers, because hammers most certainly are the leading cause of death of children… Oh, no, wait, that’s wrong. It’s guns. Fucking guns are the leading cause of death in children, but we can’t do a damn thing about it.

[Velar Fricative]

theonion.com

[abs]

Abbott today: “It could have been worse.”

Fuck. You.

Just what. It shouldn’t have happened at all!!!

[ECB]

May 25, 2022 12:06:01 GMT -5 laladypoet said:

May 25, 2022 12:02:08 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

I honestly don’t understand this. Why a middle ground? Why is it not ok to say yes I want to take away guns?

It’s ok for "them" to say lgbtq people are pedophiles so we can’t have books about those people in schools and that abortion is never ever ok and that masks are traumatizing our kids (and actually getting laws and policies against these things passed), yet we have to find a middle ground about people being murdered? (And that’s not even talking about all the accidental and deaths by suicide from guns as well).

because you have to start somewhere.

Basically, wanderingback, this.   The right already THINKS we want to take their guns, and see where that has gotten us?  Now- granted, that can go both ways.  If they already think that, then why not just follow up and go for that?  Other countries have done it! 

Of course, other countries don't have the 2A or the NRA turning this into something it wasn't ever supposed to be.   But I guess I just feel that as a basic talking point, trying to find some middle ground MIGHT get us just a little further.  Or maybe not.  I really don't know.  But both sides going in with their heels dug in and with their extreme side being the ONLY option to put on the table.... well, that really won't get us anywhere (unless we can vote our useless representatives out of office, of course).  

The NRA has fucked this country up.  

[Pom]

I cannot stand looking or listening to Greg fucking Abbott or Treason Weasel Ted Cruz or Criminal Ken Paxton. He wants us to know its "a mental health problem in the community". Geez. Thanks for the heads up. You trash GQPers and NRA whores won't DO a fucking thing about mental health or easy access to mass killing weapons. SHUT UP.

[meli554]

May 25, 2022 12:45:53 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

theonion.com

Man 🙁

[aliciabella]

May 25, 2022 12:51:32 GMT -5 abs said:

Abbott today: “It could have been worse.”

Fuck. You.

Just what. It shouldn’t have happened at all!!!

Right, not like 19 dead 10 year Olds is enough. Fuck you Abott. Fuck you.

[Deleted]

May 25, 2022 12:55:11 GMT -5 Pom said:

I cannot stand looking or listening to Greg fucking Abbott or Treason Weasel Ted Cruz or Criminal Ken Paxton. He wants us to know its "a mental health problem in the community". Geez. Thanks for the heads up. You trash GQPers and NRA whores won't DO a fucking thing about mental health or easy access to mass killing weapons. SHUT UP.

Other countries have mental illness, but don’t have mass shootings. Hmmm…what’s different? WE HAVE GUNS.

[kdubs923]

May 25, 2022 12:45:53 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

theonion.com

This has a similar feel. Kind of crazy it's from ::: checks article ::: 2019. And yet, still no change.

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/god-has-heard-your-thoughts-and-prayers-and-he-thinks-they-are-fucking-bullshit