Mass shootings are normalized in the United States. ... What a statement. I’ve never wanted to read a sentence like that and know it to be fact, but here we are. It’s a disgusting world we live in: we go through cyclical patterns of being in shock, mourning, and moving on around the preventable deaths of hundreds. When nothing major happened legislatively after the Sandy Hook massacre (or after any and every shooting that happens in inner city communities as yes, this is also a race issue... But I will refrain from delving into that topic right now), we should have seen this coming. My blood is boiling, and I can feel my thoughts explode out of my fingers and my emotions violently steam from my ears. I suspect not much will be well articulated, but it must be said.

To those who are sharing #walkupnotout: do you realize the dangerous mindset you are perpetuating? The conversation the walk outs are trying to bring up is about assault rifles, bump stocks, and gun regulations as a whole. For you second amendment fanatics, this isn’t going to take away your beloved cold metal; the goal is to limit what’s available and to whom. I take it to be an obvious sign of something being wrong if unstable people can so often acquire guns without much difficulty and go on these rampages that happen nearly daily.

This isn’t a lesson about being nice to each other (though more of that would be excellent and beneficial for the world), it’s stopping the NRA from exercising their love for money and power at the risk of human lives. It'd be a different story if the phrase was "walk up and out" instead of "walk up not out”; you can't say you understand the movement and state that you’re “not in disagreement” it by perpetuating a phrase that literally lifts one action and condemns another. It just doesn't work.