“Why are so many people freaking out about this?” Asked a friend on the morning of our celebratory last day before Winter Break, December 17, when a vague school shooting threat that affected regions across the nation circulated on social media.
My response was, “why aren’t you?”
Her answer was surprisingly automatic: “Have you guys not had a shooting threat before?”
Of course, I am acquainted with the very real and horrific tragedies of Columbine, Sandy Hook, the recent Oxford High School shooting, and countless others, but school shootings always seemed to exist in a separate world from my own. At a Quaker school that emphasizes the belief of non-violence, school shootings never registered as a genuine threat to my immediate community or to myself.
It wasn’t until that conversation with my friend that I realized how normalized school shootings, and their threats, are.
If you internalize the words, ‘school shooting,’ and digest their meanings, it’s a gut wrenching phrase. School is for learning and growth, and for me, it has always been synonymous with ‘second home’; a shooting is a barbaric travesty that can end a life in a matter of seconds, simply with the pull of a trigger. There is a violent paradox between ‘school’ and ‘shooting,’ but they are increasingly strung together.
With such a potent sense behind those words, it is astounding that today’s students are numb to them, myself included. It was only when I began to think about our conversation that I noticed this numbness and wondered how it came to be.
I came to the conclusion that it stems from American culture. As a nation, our struggle with gun violence both in and out of schools is no secret. Students are constantly exposed to the topic of guns physically, in figurative language, and in debates focusing on all of the topic’s baggage.
But why, as a nation, do we experience so much violence compared to other gun-toting countries? Is gun violence simply woven into the fabric of our culture? Quite literally, the right to bear arms is penned into our governing text of the Constitution, and it is a fundamental right to citizens of the United States. But, it doubles as a right that causes endless brutality, debate, praise, and loathing.
Are Americans, as a whole, a violent body? I don’t believe the answer is yes. I do believe, though, that there is something distinctive about American gun culture that contributes to a landscape of heightened gun violence.
The ugly truth is that some American students do not worry for their safety at school, while some do. Maybe not actively, but with the passive thought of becoming a hashtag or breaking news story dancing through the backs of their minds. Others have ascended past a feeling of anxiety and entered a more chilling school of thought: the threat of a shooting leaves them unfazed.
To all of the unbothered, untouched, and nonchalant, I suggest you take a moment to examine those words and realize the severity of the threat and all it implies.
