Scott, I feel for Louisville and your family right now. Nashville is still reeling from what happened here. All I can say is it is helpful to speak up, just as you have done. It does motivate change. Look what is happening in Nashville and just yesterday our governor who has remained sadly silent about gun reform, finally has a plan. Our statehouse has removed a lawmaker from a criminal justice committee assignment because he thought we should bring back lynching. Just because we have complete idiots in our state legislature doesn’t mean we don’t have a voice. Thank you for using your platform in such a constructive way.
The intensity and incisiveness of this column is bone-shaking, Scott. It says it all. It would make a difference if every one of your followers who reads this and agrees would send a copy to their member of Congress, to their senator. No one has said it better. My heart breaks for those who have lost so much, and for a country that has lost its way. Thinking of you, your family, and your community.
This touches on something that came up a lot during 2020- the solution is different if it didn’t happen to you. I knew a lot of people that were very lax with masking and things, and then either got Covid bad or someone they knew did, and suddenly they were in lockstep with restrictions.
I hate when people make the argument “what if it was your kid?” because anyone in that case would Liam Neesons their way through everything. But not enough of the loudest people just consider “what if I knew them?”
A couple of weeks ago, an article went around that was in the NYT, about couples with children moving to a variety of different places in Europe, to escape the ever-spiraling high prices of homes, education, etc. here in the U.S. And, of course, all the goddamn guns. There was a time when I would have looked at that article, toyed with the thought for a moment, and then put it out of my mind. But when I saw it the other day, I said to my wife, "we seriously ought to think about this." I don't want to give up and yield the country to the fanatics; I really don't. But I understand now, on a much deeper level, why plenty of Americans say "the hell with it, let's get out of here."
This is much where I'm at. There are times--like this week--where I do think it would just be easier to leave, but then--I'm not European. I'm not anything but American, for better or for worse, and I don't *want* to leave.
But it gets harder and harder to hold on to that feeling.
I was on vacation in Europe last week and when someone in my news/politics group chat posted that this had happened my exact words were "I'm going to fuck back off to Ireland now." I don't actually mean it, but also, it's insane how much safer it felt over there knowing that basically no one has guns *and* people drive sanely sized vehicles on roads that are designed for pedestrians to be able to use first and for cars second.
I am at the point where I mostly want to leave. I don't have any common ground with the gunfuckers, nor do I want any. So, I look at emigration policies, and dream.
My wife's job could allow us to transplant to Switzerland and goddamn it that sounds honestly great. I really want to encourage her to transfer, but ultimately, her whole family is here (mine too, but she cares about hers) and it seems unlikely.
This is absolutely where I'm at. Hell, it's why I'm sticking it out in the state I'm in. I refuse to let them have this place, we can actually be better.
When Columbine happened, our high school teachers stopped all lessons and wheeled in TVs so we could watch developments live. This is how shocking it was. Now it's just like, "Another Monday." I feel especially fraught saying this as an immigrant, but I think it's OK to admit quality of life is just better in many European countries.
Well put, Scott: I am so angry, and tired of being angry. What you said about it being reported by the weather hit me so hard. This has become so normal and it shouldn't be, all because a political party has sold their souls to a lobbying group because it gets the same people who were supporting segregation all riled up without the republicans needing to actually support segregation. One more tool in their pockets to eliminate public education and to keep Americans scared - scared enough to keep voting for them.
I don't know where we go next. I don't know how there has been no meaningful action in this country for decades as more and more people are murdered. I don't know what we do.
Well said, Scott, well said. I’m so sorry; take care of yourself.
I’m a college professor and my husband is a 2nd grade teacher; I worry which one of us will experience a shooting first. He found out in January a student had brought a gun to school in the fall; his school is k-2. I had a kid show up to class in a bullet proof vest one day. Any college shooting and my brain hits the internal Rolodex of “do I/who do I know there?”
I can see the Highland Park parade route from my grandma’s driveway. I’m not religious, but it was a literal miracle no one from my large extended family wasn’t at the parade.
My husband grew up in a beef cattle farming family, hunting since he was disconcertingly young. At this point, he only squirrel hunts because “everything else is boring.” His parents’ house is a mile from the nearest big road (big for rural central Arkansas that is). MIL saw a friend of husband’s jokingly aimed a gun at him when they were 11 and that kid hasn’t been allowed back since. On one of our first sleepovers as a couple at the ILs, FIL gave me an hour long lesson in firearm safety, which I appreciated.
I understand the need for firearms in certain scenarios; not every one needs one.
As the UL doctor said in his press conference, I’m so weary.
I don't even know what to say beyond, "Amen, brother." I hope you've been able to hug your kids and keep them cheerful in the face of these modern-day horrors.
Thank you. They've somehow managed not to hear of it, which is good. I believe in explaining things to them as best I can, but the sad truth is there will always be another chance to do that.
At the time of the Michigan State shooting, we lived 2 blocks from campus. We walked our dogs there, tailgated there, went on dates there, took wedding photos there. I’m an alum and so are my brother and sister. Then, I was huddled on the floor of our son’s nursery with my wife and two dogs, scared witless listening to the police scanner. We’ve moved far beyond “that couldn’t happen here” to “when will it happen here?” This is the worst.
A kid I went to elementary school was killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting. A buddy of mine is/was a football coach at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas during that shooting. These things happen so often that it's becoming normal to not only see these things happen elsewhere, but to know and care about people who have experienced them.
I will absolutely never forgive the politicians who refuse to act and I hope hell exists explicitly so that they may burn there forever.
Thank you for writing this. It's not an issue we can afford to be numb to.
The fact that I read this and listened to Godfrey's SZD episode about DIFFERENT MASS SHOOTINGS is so depressing, but both are needed.
I'm thankful that I graduated from Virginia Tech a year before the shooting there. I know people who were shot (fortunately survived) and people with near misses from that event (his mom had a wedding, so he skipped the one of the classes that was attacked). I'm thankful that that's the closest interaction I've had with an event like this, but it's incredibly depressing that I really have to end that statement with a "so far."
I'm just so tired of people acting like Ned Flanders's beatnik parents, with a "we tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas" every time this happens.
I hadn’t heard about this shooting until my wife’s texted frantically- have you heard from [family member who lives in Louisville]? I hadn’t heard from or about so then the calculus started- his office is in Indiana so he shouldn’t be in that area but do you remember where [wife]’s office is? Isn’t it somewhere near there? They’re both young and probably would never actually go into a bank unless they had to but they just bought a house so maybe that’s who has their mortgage- just a flood of disjointed overthinking for an hour or so until I heard they were indeed fine. At that point all my wife and I-- both public school employees-- could do was summon gallows humor and say “at least it wasn’t a school this time.”
It’s so exhausting- I can only imagine what those directly affected go through.
Scott, I feel for Louisville and your family right now. Nashville is still reeling from what happened here. All I can say is it is helpful to speak up, just as you have done. It does motivate change. Look what is happening in Nashville and just yesterday our governor who has remained sadly silent about gun reform, finally has a plan. Our statehouse has removed a lawmaker from a criminal justice committee assignment because he thought we should bring back lynching. Just because we have complete idiots in our state legislature doesn’t mean we don’t have a voice. Thank you for using your platform in such a constructive way.
The intensity and incisiveness of this column is bone-shaking, Scott. It says it all. It would make a difference if every one of your followers who reads this and agrees would send a copy to their member of Congress, to their senator. No one has said it better. My heart breaks for those who have lost so much, and for a country that has lost its way. Thinking of you, your family, and your community.
This touches on something that came up a lot during 2020- the solution is different if it didn’t happen to you. I knew a lot of people that were very lax with masking and things, and then either got Covid bad or someone they knew did, and suddenly they were in lockstep with restrictions.
I hate when people make the argument “what if it was your kid?” because anyone in that case would Liam Neesons their way through everything. But not enough of the loudest people just consider “what if I knew them?”
A couple of weeks ago, an article went around that was in the NYT, about couples with children moving to a variety of different places in Europe, to escape the ever-spiraling high prices of homes, education, etc. here in the U.S. And, of course, all the goddamn guns. There was a time when I would have looked at that article, toyed with the thought for a moment, and then put it out of my mind. But when I saw it the other day, I said to my wife, "we seriously ought to think about this." I don't want to give up and yield the country to the fanatics; I really don't. But I understand now, on a much deeper level, why plenty of Americans say "the hell with it, let's get out of here."
I've had that thought, too, but then again, to paraphrase "Office Space," why should *I* leave the country when they're the ones that suck?
This is much where I'm at. There are times--like this week--where I do think it would just be easier to leave, but then--I'm not European. I'm not anything but American, for better or for worse, and I don't *want* to leave.
But it gets harder and harder to hold on to that feeling.
I was on vacation in Europe last week and when someone in my news/politics group chat posted that this had happened my exact words were "I'm going to fuck back off to Ireland now." I don't actually mean it, but also, it's insane how much safer it felt over there knowing that basically no one has guns *and* people drive sanely sized vehicles on roads that are designed for pedestrians to be able to use first and for cars second.
I am at the point where I mostly want to leave. I don't have any common ground with the gunfuckers, nor do I want any. So, I look at emigration policies, and dream.
My wife's job could allow us to transplant to Switzerland and goddamn it that sounds honestly great. I really want to encourage her to transfer, but ultimately, her whole family is here (mine too, but she cares about hers) and it seems unlikely.
This is absolutely where I'm at. Hell, it's why I'm sticking it out in the state I'm in. I refuse to let them have this place, we can actually be better.
When Columbine happened, our high school teachers stopped all lessons and wheeled in TVs so we could watch developments live. This is how shocking it was. Now it's just like, "Another Monday." I feel especially fraught saying this as an immigrant, but I think it's OK to admit quality of life is just better in many European countries.
Well put, Scott: I am so angry, and tired of being angry. What you said about it being reported by the weather hit me so hard. This has become so normal and it shouldn't be, all because a political party has sold their souls to a lobbying group because it gets the same people who were supporting segregation all riled up without the republicans needing to actually support segregation. One more tool in their pockets to eliminate public education and to keep Americans scared - scared enough to keep voting for them.
I don't know where we go next. I don't know how there has been no meaningful action in this country for decades as more and more people are murdered. I don't know what we do.
Thanks for writing.
Well said, Scott, well said. I’m so sorry; take care of yourself.
I’m a college professor and my husband is a 2nd grade teacher; I worry which one of us will experience a shooting first. He found out in January a student had brought a gun to school in the fall; his school is k-2. I had a kid show up to class in a bullet proof vest one day. Any college shooting and my brain hits the internal Rolodex of “do I/who do I know there?”
I can see the Highland Park parade route from my grandma’s driveway. I’m not religious, but it was a literal miracle no one from my large extended family wasn’t at the parade.
My husband grew up in a beef cattle farming family, hunting since he was disconcertingly young. At this point, he only squirrel hunts because “everything else is boring.” His parents’ house is a mile from the nearest big road (big for rural central Arkansas that is). MIL saw a friend of husband’s jokingly aimed a gun at him when they were 11 and that kid hasn’t been allowed back since. On one of our first sleepovers as a couple at the ILs, FIL gave me an hour long lesson in firearm safety, which I appreciated.
I understand the need for firearms in certain scenarios; not every one needs one.
As the UL doctor said in his press conference, I’m so weary.
I don't even know what to say beyond, "Amen, brother." I hope you've been able to hug your kids and keep them cheerful in the face of these modern-day horrors.
Thank you. They've somehow managed not to hear of it, which is good. I believe in explaining things to them as best I can, but the sad truth is there will always be another chance to do that.
At the time of the Michigan State shooting, we lived 2 blocks from campus. We walked our dogs there, tailgated there, went on dates there, took wedding photos there. I’m an alum and so are my brother and sister. Then, I was huddled on the floor of our son’s nursery with my wife and two dogs, scared witless listening to the police scanner. We’ve moved far beyond “that couldn’t happen here” to “when will it happen here?” This is the worst.
A great post that I wish you didn't have to write.
I got an email from a friend in Pakistan asking how we were doing and concerned for state of things in America.
From Pakistan. They're worried about America.
From where they sit, it's worse here.
It probably is!
A kid I went to elementary school was killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting. A buddy of mine is/was a football coach at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas during that shooting. These things happen so often that it's becoming normal to not only see these things happen elsewhere, but to know and care about people who have experienced them.
I will absolutely never forgive the politicians who refuse to act and I hope hell exists explicitly so that they may burn there forever.
Scott, you’re a treasure. This is gold standard-level writing on this topic.
Thank you for writing this. It's not an issue we can afford to be numb to.
The fact that I read this and listened to Godfrey's SZD episode about DIFFERENT MASS SHOOTINGS is so depressing, but both are needed.
I'm thankful that I graduated from Virginia Tech a year before the shooting there. I know people who were shot (fortunately survived) and people with near misses from that event (his mom had a wedding, so he skipped the one of the classes that was attacked). I'm thankful that that's the closest interaction I've had with an event like this, but it's incredibly depressing that I really have to end that statement with a "so far."
I'm just so tired of people acting like Ned Flanders's beatnik parents, with a "we tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas" every time this happens.
Keep writing, keep trying. Thank you.
Avoiding a mass shooting event in America means you were lucky.
That's where we're at today.
If you happen to make it to old age without encountering one, you're the exception.
Fuck. Yes. This.
I hadn’t heard about this shooting until my wife’s texted frantically- have you heard from [family member who lives in Louisville]? I hadn’t heard from or about so then the calculus started- his office is in Indiana so he shouldn’t be in that area but do you remember where [wife]’s office is? Isn’t it somewhere near there? They’re both young and probably would never actually go into a bank unless they had to but they just bought a house so maybe that’s who has their mortgage- just a flood of disjointed overthinking for an hour or so until I heard they were indeed fine. At that point all my wife and I-- both public school employees-- could do was summon gallows humor and say “at least it wasn’t a school this time.”
It’s so exhausting- I can only imagine what those directly affected go through.
Geez, typo and bad-grammar much?