‘This is just ... regular life?’ Gun tragedies as the norm

On Wednesday, a friend greeted the day with grim resignation.

“And now we’re just supposed to drop our kids off at school this morning.”

Another parent I know questioned an age-old truism.

“Dropping my kid off at school shouldn’t feel like an act of neglect. But between COVID and gun violence, I have cried at drop off more this year than I care to admit. Wondering whether an education is worth it. It shouldn’t feel like this.”

And yet another experienced what seems to be the new reality.

“This weekend at the grocery store, a man came in and started screaming ‘I own this store.’ Thinking about Buffalo, I yanked my 4-year-old out of the cart and started looking for hiding places. This is just ... regular life?”

These parents are journalists and political people in San Diego I happen to follow on social media, but their anxieties reflect those of millions of Americans.

Troubled though they are, it’s sad to suggest that they may be lucky. Their kids are alive, whereas 19 elementary school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, are not — along with thousands of other children and adults who have been victims of gun massacres over the years.

The regularity of mass shootings sometimes dulls our sense of anger and frustration, fueling feelings of hopelessness. But not always. Not following what happened at the Buffalo, N.Y., market on May 14. Not following what should have been a normal school day in Uvalde on Tuesday. Certainly, not when children are the victims.

We read and watched the accounts of carnage with horror and the unfathomable grief of families through tear-filled eyes.