nicole13131313-blog - Tumblr blog

[nicole13131313-blog]

Thurston

Twenty years ago today I stood in the cafeteria of my high school as a 14 year old freshman and watched my best friend fall to the ground as she was shot in the hip. Kip Kinkle fired 50 rounds at myself and my classmates. Do you know how long that takes? How loud that is? As a 14 year old I had to press my hands as hard as I could against a bullet wound, wondering if I was pressing hard enough to keep my friend alive. Two people lost their lives that day, 25 people were wounded by bullets, and an entire school full of children know the sound of 50 bullets being fired at them. Fifty. The US has had 57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialized nations combined. We are letting our children die while we move slowly and cautiously trying not to upset those holding true to words written in 1789. The higher the gun ownership rate, the more a country is susceptible to experiencing mass shooting incidents. The time for gun control isn't now, it isn't even yesterday, it was 20 years ago! We can't let more and more kids grow up knowing the sounds of violence, the feel of blood on their hands, and the burden of senseless loss.