S-N Editorial

Far too often are we reminded of the horrors of gun violence in America. It seems like mass shootings command headlines weekly, and if not that frequent, at least monthly. Last week, it hit home.

A gunman entered Perry High School on Jan. 4 before classes started wielding a shotgun and handgun. He opened fire, killing 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and wounding seven others, including Principal Dan Marburger. The high school student identified as the shooter also killed himself.

Prior to the Perry incident, Iowa had been mostly spared from mass shootings. There was the 1991 shooting at the University of Iowa that left five dead; however, the deplorable carnage has been cast elsewhere in the years since. Columbine, Uvalde, Virginia Tech, Buffalo, Las Vegas, Newtown, Aurora...the list goes on and on and on.

As is always the case following mass shootings, folks hunkered down into their corners to demand what they always demand: More gun control if you’re “liberal;” more mental health access if you’re “conservative.” Quickly, though, everyone moved on just like they always do after a mass shooting. Nothing changes, only the body count.

When will we come to grips with the sickness that’s taken hold of our nation? The solution is not clear, but it will no doubt take a degree of everything to stop the scourge of gun violence in America. Sometimes everyone can be right all at once. In this case it is the guns, it is a lack of mental health care, it is a lack of morality, it is a disregard for human life. Are we so numb to the carnage unfolding before us that we are willing to shrug it off at each instance?

The plague of shootings demands a course of action, but don’t get your hopes up. If nothing happened after Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Las Vegas and everywhere else, nothing will happen after Perry.

Kids shouldn’t be scared to go to school. Principals and teachers should not have to be human shields for students. You shouldn’t have to worry about catching a bullet at the grocery store. This is madness.

In Iowa, we may have gotten a false sense of security while violence unfolded elsewhere, but last week it came to our doorstep. Nothing will be the same, nor should it. It can happen here – it just did. Never forget that.

News coverage of the Perry shooting repeatedly noted that people were thankful it happened so early in the day and that relatively few students were in the building. It could have been much worse, they said. Tell that to Ahmir Jolliff’s parents and see how far it goes.

This senseless violence must stop, and officials at all levels of government need to leave the partisanship behind and attack the problem from all sides. The repeated bloodshed is too much to bear.