After the Minneapolis catholic school shooting at the end of August, I started to think a lot about how I, and many others my age, react to these tragic incidents. There’s no denying that school shootings are vile, horrific acts of violence and a serious policy change needs to be made to gun regulations, but those weren’t the thoughts that lingered with me days after I heard about what happened in Minneapolis. I couldn’t stop thinking about how my own reaction was so mundane. I had immediate feelings of despair and sadness, but after about 20 minutes I was moving on with my day and the two children who died, the 21 people that were injured, were out of my mind.
I think the issue is that my generation, Gen Z, and the one below, Gen Alpha, have become extremely desensitized to these types of events. Desensitivity is a reduced emotion, physical, or neurological response to some type of stimuli after repeated exposure to it. According to CNN, as of September 10 there have been 47 school shootings in the United States this year alone. 19 people have died. 77 have been injured. Last week there were two school shootings in one day. I started school in 2010. From 2010 to 2024 there have been 489 school shootings. It’s not insane that I no longer have a significant reaction since I’ve experienced about 500 shootings in the 15 years I’ve been in school.
Although I haven’t personally been part of a school shooting, which is something I am beyond grateful for everyday, the effects from these tragedies have found their way into my life. Since I was five and sitting in my kindergarten class learning to spell my name, I was taught what to do if an intruder entered the building. The words “run, hide, or fight” have been ingrained into my head from my first week in school all the way through my senior year. By middle school the monthly drills were just a way to waste time. I could tell you the best corner to hide in for any classroom I sat in. I knew how to turn a stapler into a weapon and which door to run out of if I got the chance.
My parents didn’t grow up learning how to handle an active shooter. Neither did their parents. They are able to have the outrage and disgust and fear that I should feel but can’t because I’ve been surrounded by this violence since I was a child. It’s disquieting that America has learned nothing in the last 25 years. When will strict regulations be put in place to limit who can get a gun? I focused on school shootings, but what about all the concert and night club shootings? Will my children be exposed to such recurrent violence or will change finally come?
