This Game Is Sponsored By American Lawmakers.
Gun-violence is ripping through American schools at record rates. So what are elected officials doing to stop it?
My daughter learned a new game this year.
It’s kind of like hide and seek with a twist. In this game, my daughter and her classmates get to hide, and their teacher gets to help.
They shut off all the lights to make the room as dark as possible. They close the blinds so nobody can see inside the room. They hide behind their desks, covering every inch of their body. And then, most importantly, every kid in the class has to be completely quiet. They can’t even whisper or squeak their shoes in case the seeker hears anything inside.
Oh, and here’s the best part. Everybody in the room gets to hide, but who gets to seek? Well, that’s the thing; it’s a mystery.
It could be a classmate who was out sick that day. It could be a former student visiting their campus. It could be a young adult who spends their free time being radicalized on the internet. It could be anyone.
My daughter calls this the “Be Quiet Game.” That’s because her teacher is a saint. What she doesn’t know is that it’s actually called an Active Shooter Drill, and her classmates play this game because their elected officials don’t give a fuck about them.
This is hardly hyperbole at this point. I was 12 years old when the Columbine shooting happened. For what seemed like weeks, this school shooting was all anyone could talk about. So what’s been done since?
Security.org states 304 fatal school shootings have occurred in K-12 schools since April 20, 1999, killing nearly 400 people and injuring another 1,100. That’s just the impact of those who’ve been hit by bullets.
For every one of those shootings, there are children who’ve witnessed their friends get murdered. There are children in other classes who’ve listened to the shots get louder and louder, wondering if their classroom is next. There are parents who’ve received goodbye texts from their children, anticipating their inevitable death.
There are neighbors, community members, and an entire nation of Americans who have dealt with varying degrees of traumatization because the people we entrust to build laws to protect their constituents have chosen to protect their bank accounts and personal interests over the lives of American children.
America’s obsession with guns is killing all of us. Who would have thought?
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Fifteen years ago, I could have had a rational debate on gun control. My stance would have been the same as it is now; nobody needs an assault rifle. I would have kept my cool, made my points, considered the opposition’s viewpoint, and walked away still thinking assault rifles are unnecessary but thankful for cordial discussion.
Those days are gone.
I just don’t love anything on this planet enough to watch it murder children. If somehow eating ice cream became the number one killer of children, I’d be first in line to demand we change every law imaginable, no matter how much I love ice cream. But, instead, we’ve got folks out here arguing that because of a sentence that somebody wrote 232 years ago, there is simply nothing we can do to prevent these murders.
Listen. I’ve heard the arguments. In 1791, ten articles were ratified in America’s Bill of Rights, including the second amendment, stating the following:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Now, in 1791, the most common firearms were handguns and long guns, which had to be reloaded after every single shot. A well-regulated Militia, in their words, was necessary for their security and freedom from a tyrannous government should it ever turn against its people. Cool. I get that. Though to get to the root of the second amendment, we must look at what well-regulated militias were in 1791.
A militia was meant to serve military purposes. Mostly comprised of everyday citizens ready to suppress potential insurrections or repel invasions. In theory, militias were designed to protect their communities. Though in the south, militias served a different purpose; they were slave patrols.
The thought of Free Blacks forming an uprising against their former owners terrified many. Slave owners wanted protection in the event that a Black-led revolution began in America, as they had seen in Haiti.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection of formerly enslaved Black people against their French rulers. About 100,000 Black people broke free, killing 4,000 white people before slave owners formed a militia to strike back, killing 15,000 Black people in return. This violent uprising began in August 1791, just four months before Congress ratified the second amendment language into the Bill of Rights.
“You can’t change the Bill of Rights!”
Oh, you can. The word amendment is “a change or addition to the terms of a contract or document. An amendment is often an addition or correction that leaves the original document substantially intact.” It’s baked into the phrase.
In addition, 17 changes to the Bill of Rights have occurred since 1791. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened. Not to mention, I found this little-known hack on senate.gov titled Amending the Constitution. It says:
Congress may propose amendments through a joint resolution passed by a two-thirds vote, or by a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures.
So you can change them. In fact, the additions to the original Bill of Rights are why I am not a slave right now. Pretty neat.
If you want to argue that the second amendment protects your freedom from a tyrannical government hellbent on stripping your rights, well, boy, I have news for you; they already have! One could argue that your rights have already been infringed upon because if “arms” consist of anything that puts you on equal grounds with the government, you’ve already lost your rights. You can’t own a tank, a military drone, an atomic bomb, etc. Bummer, huh?
I am no legal scholar, so it’s unlikely that my arguments would pass in front of the supreme court. But if your argument for continuing this assault against school-age children in the classroom is rooted in what the founding fathers envisioned for this country, I need you to understand this clearly; I don’t give a fuck what a bunch of slave owners thought about American life in 2023. Our founding fathers had no concept of assault rifles, the internet, 24-hour newsrooms, or much of anything that impacts our lives today. Gun violence is the number one cause of death among American children. This is solvable.
The concept of automatic weapons currently ripping through children in classrooms would spin James Madison’s dusty wig right off his head.
Assault weapons are weapons of war and serve no purpose in being purchased by civilians as young as 18. If these weapons somehow stayed in people’s homes or at gun ranges, I would still think they’re a massive waste of money but trust me, I wouldn’t care. If I had the money, I would spend it on hundreds of rare sneakers, most of which would never touch my feet. People can waste money however they like, so long as their purchases aren’t leading to mass casualties.
But people with no business touching a butter knife are gaining access to these weapons, making my daughter play the Be Quiet Game along with millions of American children because American politicians feel more comfortable offering up thoughts and prayers than doing the work they swore to do on the very bible that inspired their ChatGPT platitudes.
The Bible is filled with examples of doing the work and making choices. “It is finished” meant there was nothing else Christians needed to do to earn God’s love. Through the life and death of Jesus, it, being the forgiveness of sin, is finished. This doesn’t mean we sit on our hands in our pseudo country clubs on Sunday mornings, letting more and more schoolchildren die over our apathy.
We are called to love our neighbors, and scripture says that when we pray, we speak with God, bringing our worries, hopes, and lives to him.
Politicians have offered their prayers to school shooting victims for decades, and the likelihood of another shooting increases with every alleged prayer.
We’ve spoken to God. We’ve asked for help. I believe God is responding by telling politicians, “That’s what I gave you power for! You have the power to change this. Now call me when you’re serious, as I’m unusually busy welcoming more American children into heaven than I had planned, thanks to you.”
I don’t know what comes next. Cynicism is easy to come by in the face of seemingly insurmountable hurdles. But when I became a dad, I promised to build a better life for my family, and the most effective way to build a better life for them is to advocate for a better community around them.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have or the type of school you attend. Every American is at the mercy of politicians who, whether they believe it or not, have the power to dramatically reduce the uniquely American problem of school shootings.
It’s either the gun lobby and one sentence written in 1791 or children and their future.
Are you tired of senseless gun-violence? Support groups like Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Sandy Hook Promise, Brady Campaign, Giffords Law Center, or Students Demand Action.