I was raised in the south by a dad who mounted a gun rack in every truck he had before it ever left the dealership. I spent the early part of my childhood wedged in the middle seat straddling the stick shift and trying to maneuver my body so that the butt of my dad’s shotgun didn’t slam into my hip when we hit a bump in the road. So I get the right to bear arms. I was raised with that mentality. I was raised with that respect. I still have some guns that my dad collected during his life, because they meant a lot to him, so therefore, they mean a lot to me. My dad was a member of your organization. So was my dad’s dad. And probably on up the line.
But I am raising a college student. One who has to navigate hallways with thousands of other college students on a daily basis of whom I don’t know. I don’t know their parents, or how they were raised. Therefore, every time that my son leaves our driveway to go to his campus hundreds of miles away, I am putting his life into God’s hands, the hands of legislators and lawmakers, and major influential organizations like yours who have political power. And though I will never lose faith in God, I am losing faith in you and the legislators and lawmakers who make the decisions to keep my son, and every child and young person who is seeking an education under the privilege of being an American citizen, safe. More than once I have begged my son “please, if something happens, just run. Please don’t try to be a hero. Please son. Just run.” But even as I say the words, I know he wouldn’t. I know his heart. He would want to stop the pain. It’s how he was made, it’s how I raised him. But now I am contradicting the morals I taught because I just want my child to come home. Just like every other mother and father that send their kids to school. We just want them to come home.
I am tired of hearing about rights and freedom. Please don’t get on TV or tell some person in the media to tell me about people’s rights or the freedom to bear arms anymore. Because every time I hear that, I can’t help but think, “what about the right and freedom of American children to get an education without getting shot? What about the rights and freedom of educators to teach our children without trying to figure out how they can cover enough kid’s bodies so that their students won’t get shot?” Education is the true foundational freedom that can set us apart as a country. Not guns. Education is one of only a few things that we as parents can give our children that cannot be stolen or taken away. And now, every parent who enrolls their child in school has the fear of standing in that same parking lot with crime tape encircling it, just praying they will come out. You can’t tell me that you don’t have that fear too. I know that you do.
It’s true that our generation and generations before ours grew up with the right to bear a variety of arms, and we didn’t have the type of violence in schools that we have now. But I don't believe that we can legislate for present or future populations anymore based on the past. This is a different generation of kids, it is a different generation of parents. The reality is that the morality of our country’s makeup has changed. It is sad, it is tragic, but it is a fact.
This has to stop.
My dad taught me about guns. But he also taught me about compromise, and when to say “when.” Enough is enough. American parents need you to offer a resolution. A compromise. Every mother in America is begging for it. It isn’t about party lines anymore. It’s about our children.
Sincerely,
A mom.