By Beto O’Rourke
Eight students and two teachers were murdered in their classrooms after a gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School one year ago this week. Thirteen others were wounded. It forever changed their lives, the school, and that community.
In the days that followed, I traveled to meet with students who survived the shooting and parents who had tragically lost their children. I had the opportunity to listen, to learn, and to commit to following their lead in doing everything we can to end the epidemic of gun violence.
That meeting along the water in Galveston is where I met Rhonda, whose daughter Kimberly was killed in her art class. Rhonda gave me a photo of Kimberly that I've kept in my wallet ever since — as a reminder of her family and also of the urgency necessary to ensure no parent has to worry about sending their child to school and wondering whether they’ll make it back.
But in the year since the Santa Fe shooting, far too many more school shootings have occurred — most recently in Highlands Ranch, where abrave young man named Kendrick Castillo died rushing toward the gunmen, saving the lives of others in his classroom. It was not unlike the sacrifice made by Riley Howell at UNC Charlotte the week before. These tragedies followed other shootings in synagogues and churches, malls and movie theaters, nightclubs and newsrooms.
It's no wonder our students and teachers are so focused on preparing for the next shooting to occur. It's why when Henry, our 8-year old, came home from his public school and we asked him what he had done that day, he told us about his teacher herding him and his classmates into a closet and telling them to resist the temptation to open the door when someone acting like an active shooter bangs on it. It's why Milan, a 14-year-old attending Berg Middle School in Newton, Iowa, told me she was afraid that one day she'll go to school and never come out. And it's why Cathryn, a high school student in Derry, N.H., told me that she knows exactly which bookshelves and cabinets to knock over in an attempt to block the door if a shooter comes into her school.
If this is happening in our classrooms, then it can happen anywhere. It shouldn’t surprise us that our country loses more than 30,000 Americans to gun violence every year. We cannot accept that this is an not act of God or that Americans are fated to be inherently violent. This is a human-caused problem with a human solution.
Following the lead of those on the ground in Santa Fe, students walking out of their classrooms and marching for their lives, and all the moms demanding action, here are a few human solutions that I propose.
• First, universal background checks without exceptions. Close the boyfriend loophole, the Charleston loophole, the gun show loophole, the online loophole — no more loopholes and no more excuses for refusing to close them. States that have adopted universal background checks have already seen a reduction in gun violence. We know it works. As president, I want to make sure we do the same nationally. Gun owners and non-gun owners agree, Republicans and Democrats agree. So let's transcend the National Rifle Association and the gun lobby — who have purchased complicity and silence for too long — and get this done.
• Second, stop selling assault weapons that were designed, engineered, and sold to the United States military for the express purpose of killing people as effectively, as efficiently, in as great a number as possible. They should remain on the battlefield where they belong — because as long as we keep selling them in our communities, they will keep showing up in our schools.
• Third, let's adopt red flag laws — not one city or one state at a time, but for this entire country. That will ensure that if someone who owns a gun is a danger to themselves or others, we can use due process to stop them from using that weapon before it's too late.
• Fourth, we must treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves. We must demand bold solutions and ensure ambitious plans are on the table and part of the discussion. We will also fully invest in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and research into gun violence so we can not only continue to understand what’s happening but begin to address it.
• And finally, let’s make sure that in addition to mass shootings at schools, places of worship, and concerts, we also acknowledge that we are losing far too many people one or two at atime in communities of color. These killings are so numbingly common that they barely make the news. So let’s not just protect kids in schools, but make sure that we value every life in this country and do our best to save every single one of them. Sensible gun legislation will do just that.
A year after Santa Fe, the work to end gun violence continues. The work to keep our kids and communities safe goes on. But remembering Kimberly, Kendrick, Riley, and all those who have succumbed to our inaction, we will step up, rally our fellow Americans, and deliver on these solutions to ensure that we finally and fully address gun violence in this country.
O’Rourke is running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.