In the wake of a string of recent school shootings, in Texas and Colorado last week, and an elementary school shooting today in Tennessee that claimed the lives of three children and three adults, Niecy Nash shares the memory of when her brother was shot and killed at his California high school in 1993. The star actress stated, "In 1993, my only brother was killed on his high school campus because somebody brought a gun to school. It's 2023, and it's babies who will never make it home to see their parents. And those parents will forever be in a space and a place where they are like, what was the last thing I said? What was the last lunch I made? What was their last thought? Experience? Did they call out for me?"
A 28-year-old transgender woman, Audrey Hale, a former student at Covenant Elementary School in Nashville, was responsible for today's shooting at the school. Audrey was shot dead by the authorities. Yet, reportedly, Hale's motive for the shooting was resentment toward the school, which teaches pre-school-6th grade. The shooter was allegedly carrying two semi-automatic AR-15-style rifles and one handgun. All of the students who were killed were reportedly nine-year-old children.
Last week, 16-year-old Jashawn Poirier was killed at Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas, and a female student was wounded. Also last week, a student opened fire at East High School in Denver, Colorado, wounding two teachers and fatally wounding himself. These are only a handful of mass shootings that have taken place in America this year. According to Axios, America has already surpassed 100 mass shootings for 2023.
Amid more gun violence, several states continue to relax their gun laws. So, the question we should ask is, where do we go from here? How do we protect students, campuses, and the general public from mass shootings? In 2022, the U.S. had 20,138 gun deaths, excluding suicides. One of the horrendous mass shootings in recent years occurred in Uvalde, Texas, at Robb Elementary School last year, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students, and it still enormously impacts the community.
America has a great deal of thinking to do, and fast.
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