A better way
Dear Editor:
Yesterday, May 24, I had the sad juxtaposition of reading political slogans like America First while the nation had a tragic reminder of one thing we’re already “first” in: school shootings.
I grew up in Oregon and was in high school at the time of the Thurston shooting, and despite living on the opposite side of the state, it felt close to home. The following year, it was Columbine. And then, April 19, 2000, I was the one who discovered a threat scrawled in the boys bathroom: “If you think Columbine was bad, just wait until tomorrow.” Despite our school district’s bungled response, I’m thankful nothing came of that, but even a threat sticks with a person.
In college, I was close friends with a man who attended Columbine. He felt the only reason he didn’t die that day was that he had ditched school to go mountain biking. As an adult, I worked in a high school and had to do lockdown drills with the random students who happened to be in the library. Worst of all, my daughter’s first preschool went into lockdown because of an active shooter in the neighborhood.
From 2009-2018, the U.S. had 288 school shootings. The country that fell second in that analysis was Mexico with eight. In fact, we had 57 times as many shootings as the entire G7 combined.
While I am not categorically opposed to gun ownership, I am confident that we can, as a country, find a better way.
Murray Sampson
Winthrop
