Surviving a school shooting.

By JD

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TW: death, shootings, guns, cops, child abuse, etc

School shootings have been happening in America since 1853, that’ll be 170 years in 2023. In 2022, there were over 20 school shootings, but the ones that really stick out are ones such as: Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Oxford and now, most recently, Uvalde. 

School shootings happen for a number of reasons, but these are the ones that most politicians (and people) seem to forget about: 

• The lack of mental health treatment.

In America, millions of people who resort to gun violence are usually people who suffer from a mental illness. Such as Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooter), who had anorexia, Asperger's, OCD and undiagnosed schizophrenia. Or Ethan Crumbley (Oxford High shooter), he seems to have depression, schizophrenia/psychosis or something along the lines of it. Ethan didn't get the treatment he needed. 
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• How easy it is to buy/steal a gun.

20-30 years ago, it took over 2 months to buy a gun. Now it takes 2 weeks to a half an hour. Kids can steal guns, even if it's locked up, kids can still use firearms and harm someone with it. That's why you see kids as young as 5 get killed because of their parents' negligence to keep the guns safe and secured.
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• “We will make sure nothing like this happens again”, even though it does.

This is a part of a series of articles made by The Onion, although the site (and majority of the news) is satire, they do make good points in their articles. This sums up America’s gun violence in the past 30 years and how much politicians seem to not care about gun violence and do something about this to prevent another school shooting. Politicians want to prevent children knowing what LGBTQIA is but they won’t stop gun violence in the schools. 

School shootings are a tragedy that shouldn’t happen to these poor kids. The impact on society on gun violence and school shootings in general has had people a bit furious since no one has actually gotten state and federal laws surrounding it. It is a harsh reality that has happened for many years in America. After countless attempts to change the gun control laws, no one has done anything about it. No one has actually stood up to the politicians and said, “Hey! We need gun control!” Of course, there has been people saying that to them but politicians are dumb, like telemarketers. 

Interviewing a few survivors of a school shooting.
I have talked with two school shooting survivors about their stories. Let’s meet the interviewees. These are just people who have been affected by something so tragic in their community. All of the interviewers are from the surrounding towns close to Oxford.

So the first person I talked to was my best friend, Zach, he doesn’t attend Oxford but did tell me about a nightmare he had because of the shooting.

Z: Can I vent, please?

J: Yeah, of course. 

Z: I had a nightmare that me and my crush were hiding in the bathroom and we heard loud pounding on the door and she was screaming and crying and hugging me and she said “Zach, make it stop! I’m so scared!” So I stood by the door waiting for the shooter to bust open the door, and the shooter opened the door, I tried to attack him but he shot my arm. My crush was crying in fear and so, I tried fighting him again, but then he shot me again. My crush fainted and never woke up and I died. 

J: Oh man, I’m so sorry that this has happened to you.

Our interview cut short there as I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked, I truly didn’t know what it was like to lose someone to an act of violence such as this and it pained me that people, who live so close to the school, have recurring nightmares and insomnia because of this. 

Our next interviewer is another one of my friends, Madison, who was born in a city close to Oxford. They attended Oxford when they were younger, but their parents moved to another school district after Sandy Hook, if I remember correctly. They’re here to explain what it was like.

J: So, tell me about your life before you moved. What was the experience there? Why did your parents move?

M: My parents moved because of the fact they freaked out over the Sandy Hook shooting and around that time, my parents both got new jobs teaching somewhere. I think I was about 7 when the shooting happened and my parents just decided to move to make sure I don’t get hurt or something along the lines. 

J: So moving saved your life?

M: Yeah, I guess it did. 

J: What about the experience at Oxford?
M: Oxford was alright, for a school. Close-knit school, very quiet, small village. You know everyone and everyone knows you, ironically, I didn’t know everyone and they didn’t know me. So I guess it was alright, I didn’t have many friends as I do now, so I’m glad my parents got jobs at the same time, cause my parents needed the money. But it’s such a shame what happened at Oxford, considering that I grew up around that time. 

J: You didn’t know everyone at that school, didn’t you say it was “Close-knit”?

M: I did say it was close-knit. Because it was, but I was a quiet kid back then. I never got into any trouble, I played by myself and I wasn’t that noticeable. 

J: Did you know the shooter? Or the victims of the shooting?

M: Nope, I don't really remember him. I don't really remember learning any of the kids' names when I was younger. I just called them nicknames like "Playdough eater" or "Rich girl", stuff like that.

J: So you were a loner?

M: I guess you can say that.

J: Any final remarks?

M: No, not really. Although I believe we should do something about this before another tragedy happens again.

I don’t really have anything to say for Madison, or on their behalf, I feel a bit happy that their parents moved but then I’m not too sure, I feel like Madison thinks about their life before moving and says to themself, “Wow. I almost died in a school shooting.” I’m thankful that Madison wasn’t a victim and that her parents moved. But then at the same time, I have no clue what I feel.

Now there are solutions to prevent school shootings and gun violence, for example, buying guns should not be easy to buy, it should be like buying a car. It shouldn’t take a week or an hour. And we should be able to have fingerprint scanners on our safes, so nothing happens. 

School shootings are a very tragic thing that happens a lot in America. It’s a very harsh reality that most people don’t seem to care about. You might’ve not known anyone in a shooting, but maybe the neighbor down the street knows someone from the shooting. Someone knows someone. These people are someone’s kid, someone’s future mom or dad. Someone. They aren’t robots, but actual human beings. They belong to someone, they don’t deserve to die this early. No one does, these people are not disposable. These people are dying and after every tragedy, we still stop and wonder if this will ever end. For good this time. 

And that is my article on surviving a school shooting. 

Keep yourself safe, 
J.D. 

If you or anyone else has struggled with a school shooting or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate and call or text the numbers down below:

National suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or 988.
Crisis text line: HOME to 741741
Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/