Parenting in the Time of Guns
Yesterday, March 27, 2023, marked the 131st mass shooting of the year in the United States.
This time it was at a private, Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Seven lives (including the assailant’s) were lost — three of them 9-year-old children.
But rather than a ban on assault weapons, we have legislators proposing anti-trans and anti-drag bills instead.
Embracing who one is and acknowledging the spectrum that is humanity apparently poses more danger to children than assault weapons do.
It is deplorable.
Unconscionable.
And terrifying.
How is one supposed to parent amidst the constant threat of gun violence?
One of the key components to parenting is letting go of our children — metaphorically and literally.
But the morning after every mass shooting, my heart is in my throat as I watch my son leave for school.
This morning he walked on his own to school, and I felt sheer terror despite it being less than a two block distance.
We are able to see our son’s school from our home, and despite the short distance, despite knowing our son is 12 and quite capable (he walks home on his own every day), my husband watched him until our son turned to wave before entering the school building.
I know that is fear and anxiety produced by yesterday’s mass shooting.
My husband and I, and so many others, are parenting in the time of guns.
And there is no justification for it.
How can we let go of our son knowing that at any moment, he could be the victim of a mass shooting?
How can he roam and explore the world around him knowing the threat of gun violence looms?
As has been the case with every mass shooting, particularly at schools, my mind goes to the lives cut short — the children who had gotten ready for school as they had every morning.
The parents who had prepared their breakfasts and lunches, and kissed their children, having no idea that this would be their last morning together.
This society has much soul-searching and reckoning to do.
None of us know what the day unfolding before us will hold, but there is no justification for knowing that gun violence could potentially be a part of it.
The assailant in Tennessee bought the assault weapons legally — of course.
My heart aches for the lives lost yesterday — even the assailant’s because there has to be a deep disturbance within for a 28-year-old to make the choice the assailant did.
We are tired of the constant threat of gun violence.
We are tired of how much easier it is to access an assault weapon than it is to access adequate healthcare.
We are tired of legislators more interested in banning knowledge and bodily autonomy than in banning instruments of war.
We are tired of thoughts and prayers.
We are tired of parenting in the time of guns.
It is time for policy and change.
