I was born in 1986. My earliest memories of school in the early 1990s are full of fire-drill bells and neat lines in hallways—never the dread of bullets.
Today, as I approach 40, I watch children as young as kindergartners practice active-shooter drills, ducking under desks, freezing in dark corners, pretending this horror is part of their regular school day. According to Everytown, in the 2015-2016 school year, 95% of U.S. public schools drilled students on lockdown procedures in the event of a shooting.
That same nation where fire drills once meant possibility now counts gunfire among children’s top killers. Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions’ latest report confirms that firearms have been the leading cause of death among children and teens (between the ages of 1 and 17) since 2020.
From Columbine to Uvalde: Names We Must Never Forget
Over the last four decades, mass school shootings have seared names into our national memory.
Columbine High (1999): Twelve students and a teacher were murdered. Their names—including Rachel Scott, Daniel Mauser and others—are part of the painful catalog of young lives that ended.
Sandy Hook Elementary (2012): Twenty first-graders and six educators were killed, 5 and 6-year-olds who should have been learning to read, play and dream.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (Parkland, 2018): Seventeen students and staff lost to violence. Teens who wanted to go to prom, to college and to build lives.
Robb Elementary (Uvalde, 2022): Nineteen children between the ages of 9 and 11 died, along with two teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, who died while protecting their students.
And in August, Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. During a school mass, a gunman opened fire, murdering two children, ages 8 and 10, and wounding 17 others. The horror unfolded in the first week of school, as stained-glass windows shattered and exits were barricaded.
These are not isolated tragedies. They are too regular. And with each, just after, the same promises, the same tears and the same pause before the next one.
A Nation Hardened by Routine
Data from USAFacts show that between the 2000-2001 and 2021-2022 school years, 1,375 shootings occurred on K-12 school grounds, resulting in 515 deaths and 1,161 injuries. In that same period, nearly 71% of those shootings resulted in either death or injury.
Schools that once were safe harbors are now sites of risk.
And nearly half of all active shooter casualties in elementary and secondary schools since 2018 have occurred in just those recent years. The pace is accelerating. NCES data on active shooter incidents show 328 casualties (131 killed, 197 wounded) in elementary/secondary schools from 2000 through 2022 in active-shooter incidents.
Heroes in Blood and Silence
I think of the children who died trying to protect others.
Jesse Lewis, 6, urged classmates to run when the Sandy Hook gunman arrived. He died saving others.
Amerie Jo Garza, 10, called 911 on her birthday phone during the Uvalde attack, begging for help. She was shot down.
Peter Wang, 15, held open a door at Parkland so others could escape. He died shielding his peers.
And teachers—Irma Garcia, Eva Mireles in Uvalde; Victoria Soto at Sandy Hook—gave their lives protecting children. They became human shields.
Let the Nation See
In 1955, Mamie Till-Mobley made a decision that broke the silence: She insisted on an open casket for her son Emmett. She said, “Let the people see what they did to my boy.” Photos of Emmett Till’s battered body woke America.
Today I ask: Should grieving parents show the world the aftermath of bullets—children’s bodies, chaos in classrooms, blood on floors? Because words are not enough.
“After Nashville, we’re not going to fix it.” That was a congressman’s response following a shooting in 2023 where three 9-year-olds and three adults were killed at The Covenant School.
If our leaders cannot or will not act, then parents must rise. Pastors must name this what it is—sin, moral failing, crisis of values. Let the loss of Jesse, Amerie and Peter be more than a memory. Let it be fuel.
Lawmakers must pass common-sense reforms now: universal background checks, safe storage laws, minimum age restrictions, and bans on military-style weapons in schools.
Not One More
I ache that children now know how to barricade doors, that teachers carry more than lesson plans, that parents drop off sons and daughters with bullets in the back of their minds.
This is not normal. This is not inevitable. Other countries have ended school shootings. So can we.
For the memory of those we’ve lost—and for the children still here—let the world see, and let us act. Not one more child. Not one more teacher. Not one more school turned into a battlefield.
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