At last week’s Super Bowl victory rally in Kansas City, we had stopped near Union Station for a few moments and contemplated waiting to see if some of the Chiefs players would be coming that direction.
However, we decided we were ready to move on.
Just a few minutes, later gunfire erupted near that spot. Looking back, that simple decision may have been a lifesaving choice.
Just luck, I guess.
I actually felt pretty calm during Wednesday’s tragedy, as none of our children had accompanied us. As my husband and I were being escorted by law enforcement from one spot to another to elude the shooters, with officers rushing past us with military-grade weapons, I kept thinking how glad I was that none of our kids were there.
Another lucky break.
I started to think how this was actually my family’s second brush with the direct effects of gun violence in less than two years. In March 2022, I found myself anxiously waiting outside my son’s high school after an active shooting incident. While a student, an administrator and a school resource officer were injured, my son was down the hall and was able to avoid the incident.
What a stroke of luck.
On Wednesday, once the area was deemed secured and we were released, we were directed out of the building and saw images that are hard to shake: young children with tear-stained faces and some very young individuals being loaded onto stretchers and into ambulances.
This is the reality of life in America — a country where you only ever need half a flagpole.
It’s a place where we’ve decided luck should play as great a role in keeping us safe versus commonsense solutions. In a country with nearly unfettered access to firearms, carnage and destruction are a frequent result.
Our stats in this regard tell the story:
• The U.S. gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than that of other high income countries.
• Firearms are the leading cause of death for children.
• So far this year, there have been more mass shootings than days.
