Campaign Action
Five years ago today, we heard there’d been a shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut. The names Sandy Hook and Newtown were not yet familiar, and as the first reports came out, few imagined how terrible the final toll would be. Twenty children and six members of the school staff were killed, and it felt earth-shattering. It felt like it would change things, give rise to a commitment to really fight mass shootings in America. As President Obama said that day, fighting to hold back tears, “As a country, we have been through this too many times.”
Well, we know how that went. A few states have passed stronger gun laws, but at the national level, Republicans have not only blocked progress, they’ve pushed for weaker gun laws. In Orlando, 49 people were killed and 58 were injured in a mass shooting. In Las Vegas, 58 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in a mass shooting. Those deaths are not worth policy changes to Republicans, the same Republicans who scream for limits on immigration when an immigrant with a truck kills eight people.
Like the man said, as a country, we’ve been through this too many times. We’ve seen too many pictures of the dead, of “beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old” or teachers or parents or newlyweds or nightclub-goers or country music fans; too many stories of families struggling with grief and fighting to make a difference; too many politicians offering up thoughts and prayers and telling us it’s the wrong time to talk about changing things. “Our hearts are broken today,” Obama said. They still are, and they will be again, because nothing has changed because Republicans will not let it change.
So let’s remember Charlotte Bacon, age six; Daniel Barden, age seven; Rachel D’Avino, age 29; Olivia Engel, age six; Josephine Gay, age seven; Dylan Hockley, age six; Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, age 47; Madeline Hsu, age six; Catherine Hubbard, age six; Chase Kowalski, age seven; Jesse Lewis, age six; Ana Marquez-Greene, age six; James Mattioli, age six; Grace McDonnell, age seven; Anne Marie Murphy, age 52; Emilie Parker, age six; Jack Pinto, age six; Noah Pozner, age six; Caroline Previdi, age six; Jessica Rekos, age six; Avielle Richman, age six; Lauren Rousseau, age 30; Mary Sherlach, age 56; Victoria Soto, age 27; Benjamin Wheeler, age six; and Allison Wyatt, age six.
They should all be five years older today. We cannot give up on preventing the mass shootings that will give us more lists of names to mourn.