Getting Real with Kira Hazledine
Do you want to know something? Louis, my darling husband from England, had never heard of or participated in a lock-down drill in his life. He vaguely remembers seeing it in movies or on TV. Perhaps it was a Glee episode with a cheerleader fearfully standing on a toilet. It seemed ludicrous to him, and he just assumed it was typical TV drama. You know, like how everything bad ever happens to the characters in Grey’s Anatomy in just a few short seasons.
Then Louis realized that lock-down drills in our schools are REAL. The threat of guns harming our children is REAL. The fact that in this country, shootings are the third leading cause of death for children. Illness is first, unintentional injury (like a car crash) is second, and GUNS ARE THIRD. Guns are a threat in this country, and I can’t possibly be the only mother that fears for her child’s life.
Let’s be real, we all worry. In between establishing healthy diets and avoiding child predators, our list of worries is at about a billion. But the fact that something completely preventable is at the very top of this list is appalling. Why aren’t we doing more? There’s an entire coalition of moms against drunk driving. Where are the moms against mass shootings? Where are the moms demanding that school be a safe place for their child to be? Quit filling preschools with bullet proof nap mats, and for the love of god, someone find a solution.
In 2018, there will be serious elections happening, and you need to be out there voting and campaigning for the safety of your children. Just in the last few months, the US has experienced its worst mass shootings in our entire history. There is a gun problem, and children are dying every day. School is supposed to be safe. Church is supposed to be safe. Our children our supposed to be safe. Vote for representatives that believe in the same.
More guns won’t help. And honestly? For those touting their 2nd amendment rights and yelling at me for being a wimpy liberal, I hope they come for your guns. I hope they don’t even bother with regulation, and they just take every unnecessary firearm from the civilians that truly don’t need one. For every father protecting his house, another father has accidentally shot and killed their own child sneaking back in. For those claiming to be the “good guy with a gun”, those literally DON’T EXIST and have NEVER made a difference. You can have my thoughts and prayers in exchange for your hurt feelings.
Do you know what makes a difference? Our voices. Mothers are a force to be reckoned with. We fiercely protect our children, and we can change the world to make it a better place. Do you know what else makes a difference? Gun control, as made obvious by every other first-world country. So I’ll ask again. Where are my mothers against the NRA? Where are my mothers against mass shootings? I’m all about it, and maybe I’ll find the resources to start this grassroots project myself. But at the very least, make yourself be heard. Don’t wait until your child has accidentally been shot at a friend’s house because they were playing with guns. Don’t wait until a grocery store is the next target for a mass shooting, and you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t wait for children’s lives to be needlessly stolen.
There are mothers right now in Texas and Las Vegas grieving for their babies of all ages. Neither of those men should have had that type of access to guns. So what are you going to do about it? If you had lost your child, would thoughts and prayers be enough? I know, I know. Maybe you’d like to go out and get your own gun, and maybe you already have one! But to protect who, if your child has already been shot? What will you do with your anger, and your gun at your bedside table, or the one in your purse, when someone aims an AR-15 at you, or if in the blink of an eye, the trigger has already been pulled? This isn’t the wild west, and you aren’t that quick of a draw. Sorry (not sorry), but even with a gun in hand, you will lose every time. Is your child’s life worth your ego?
Guns aren’t the answer, and neither are thoughts and prayers. It is up to you to protect your children, and as a mother, you have the power to be heard. I want my child to grow up not having to depend on lock-down drills and backpack armor. Don’t you?
