I'm not *that* old and I can attest that school shootings are NOT a fact of life. It wasn't on anyone's radar when I was in school in the 90s because it wasn't something that happened. This is a modern phenomenon with a clear cause and an obvious (if very difficult) path to resolution.
And there was a period where automatic rifles were banned and guess what? Shootings decreased. Should have never let that law sunset.
Am older than you and confirm that your experience was not a 90’s statistical aberration.
I'm old enough to remember when schools shootings used to be something to sing about www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yte...
YouTube video by sueuk
Yep, there’s a reason Columbine was seared into the public memory at the time and it’s not because school shootings were common occurrences
I was a senior in high school during Columbine (at a different CHS, as it happened). I remember thinking surely the adults would make sure nothing like that ever happened to kids again. They built this reality.
People seem to think locking up the parents and putting more kids in mental health institutions will resolve things. Even democrats are starting to believe this crap. It’s nuts.
I'm 20+ years older and it was beyond unthinkable when I was in school in the '70s. Campuses were open, people wandered in and out - and we had no mass shootings. One kid shot a teacher in '78 or '79, and it was international news. Literally - we were living in Algeria & still heard about it.
It was absolutely not a thing when I was in high school in the mid '90s. I was an anxious teen, if I had believed that someone could/would bring a gun to school with murderous intent, I *would not have gone to school*, or I would have spent every day jumping at shadows and learned nothing.
I’m Gen X and this horror was NOT a thing when I was in school. Just literally not a concept people had in their minds. The absolute obscenity that children —children!— have to have this as a constant looming possibility in their lives…