Just days ago, another high school student brought a gun to school and started shooting; this time at North Thurston High School in Lacey. I have to ask, what irresponsible adult did not secure this gun and allowed an adolescent to access it? These repeated incidents of preventable gun violence anger me.
I am a former trauma/surgical nurse with a master’s degree, and every time I read a story like this, it takes me back to my trauma room days. I recall caring for a father in his early 30s who was setting up a swimming pool in his backyard for his children when someone shot him in the head. It was horrific. His image is seared in my mind. He did not survive.
Here we are, over three decades, and 240 school shootings later, and still we as a nation seem to tolerate rising gun violence. This year, our Washington state legislators had a chance to pass several bills to keep guns out of the hands of children and the mentally ill. Both bills died in session. Yet, 30,000 people will die from guns in our nation in 2015. We cannot tolerate this. It’s time we started truly working together to bend the arc of growing gun violence toward common-sense gun laws and authentic public safety.
Joanne Pinelli
Camas
