The internet has deemed December 17 to be "National Shoot Up Your School Day", and it's the craziest thing we have heard all year. It goes without saying that TikTok Challenges have crossed the line and schools in the U.S. are calling out parents to watch their kids.
AP Photo/Seth Perlman.
Today, December 14, marks eight years since the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School, when a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators in Newtown, CT. Those kids would be 14 and 15 years old right now. They should be learning Tik Tok dances and complaining to their parents about Zoom school. Instead, they are frozen in time, adorable faces who serve to remind us about the work still to be done to prevent other deaths like theirs.
Many of us naively thought that Sandy Hook would change this country’s stance on gun control, especially the sale of assault weapons. When we look at Parkland and every other shooting that has happened since then, however, it’s easy to feel utterly hopeless. But earlier this year, when we spoke to Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, she explained that progress has been made, even if it’s not as fast as we might wish.