September 27, 2024
Listen to the Lambs
by Deborah DiMicco

Blaming the shooter and leaving it at that will not protect our lambs, our children, from the next school shooting.

~ American Negro Spiritual

The school shooting at Apalachee High School was the 45th school shooting of 2024.

Listen to the lambs.

“I really don’t want to go back. I shouldn’t have to go back to school worrying about dying.” said a 14 year old Apalachee student.

Listen to the lambs.

At the sound of gunshots, students took refuge behind an upended teacher’s desk. One began to pray.

“Everybody was crying. Everybody was on the floor hugging each other.” Some texted their parents “I love you.” “This can’t be happening,” said another.

Oh, but it can. The 14-year-old shooter, Colt Gray, used an “AR-platform style weapon.” Since the ban on assault weapons was allowed to lapse in Congress, assault weapons have become one of America’s most popular firearms. It’s “reliable, adaptable and accurate” according to the NRA. It fires 60 rounds per minute. And it’s relatively cheap.

The four who were killed at Apalachee High School? They didn’t stand a chance.

Trump sidestepped the gun issue, saying the shooter was a “deranged, sick monster.” JD Vance says school shootings are “a fact of life.” Really? So how did this “sick monster” get his hands on a gun? How did the Uvalde shooter? The monsters are out there, and Trump and the NRA and gun-rights activists are quick to blame the shooter, completely missing the point that by refusing any kind of restrictions on gun ownership, they are aiding and abetting every single one of these shooters. Trump and his gun supporters claim they are pro-life, yet they refuse any attempts to keep guns out of the hands of the “monsters.”

Four more dead. The 45th school shooting of the year.

Listen to the children. All a-crying.

If we as a nation do not take the steps necessary to ban assault weapons, to require background checks, to enact red flag laws and safe storage laws, the “monsters” will continue to get guns. And innocent children and teachers will continue to die.

The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, declared that firearms are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents. If we do not stand up to the NRA and the politicians in its pocket, if we do not stand up for life - for children and families at risk every day because a child simply wants to go to school and safely return home, we share the blame with Colt Gray and the many other gun-toting monsters who preceded him. And, undoubtedly, the other monsters who will follow.