Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was the latest target of a mass shooting in the United States. According to the Texas Depertment of Public Safety, the suspect had shot his grandmother in the face before driving to the school with the intent to, “[shoot] every single person that was in front of him.” The grandmother is reportedly at the hospital in critical condition. Two fourth-grade teachers died trying to protect their students, and 19 children aged nine to eleven years old died. About a dozen more people were injured.
The 18-year-old suspect possessed the firearm legally. He had posted on social media beforehand of his intentions to kill his grandmother and attack a school.
Police forces stood outside of the classroom for an hour deliberating on what to do. Many of the children did not die upon being shot, but rather bled out in the time it took for law enforcement to enter the room.
This is the second most deadly school shooting in US history, with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida being third, and the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut being first.
On December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School suffered the most deadly school shooting in United States history, where 20 children and 7 adults were murdered. In the near decade since Sandy Hook took place, school shootings have only managed to grow more common in the Unitied States, with 948 schools being targeted since the 2012 tragedy.
In the United States, gun violence is the most common cause of death among adolescents, with 1 out of every 10 gun-related deaths happening among people under 19. After the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, around 300,000 students have been on-campus during an active school shooting.
It is an utter embarrassment as a country, that no substantial preventative action has been taken to reduce the risk of a firearm ever entering the premises of an educational facility.
Our country is stuck in a perpetual cycle, where we fight over gun control and/or restrictions with no attempt to compromise or brainstorm ideas together that would keep this from happening to our children, then we forget about the issue a week later until another tragedy strikes.
If your egos are really worth more than the safety of our most precious citizens, then you should take a long look in the mirror and ask why. If you do not want to face gun control/restrictions, give alternative solutions to fix the problem, rather than simply block all action on the matter while giving out your empty thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We need real change, now.
Here are some resources if you want to learn more about this issue, or if you wish to help the victims of this tragedy:
this was bouncing around in my head after the s2 finale, so i had to doodle it out. :) i’ll draw it properly once some of my art jobs are done, but i figured i’d share it as is for now.
