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Stunned by active shooter incident
Letter To The Editor

By Ruby Sheaffer

Monroe

To the Editor:

As a student at Monroe High School, I was stunned by the active shooter situation at the Mount Horeb Middle School last Wednesday. Like most, if not all, of my fellow students, that was the closest I’ve been to an active shooter situation. The closest I ever want to be to a situation like that. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of assuming that is the closest we’ll ever be.

Like most other high schools across the country, we complete regular active shooter drills. We practice how to barricade a classroom, plan how to quickly and safely exit the building, and brainstorm how to counter an attacker. There’s even a nice little acronym to remember what to do in this horrific situation — ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). There is no reason that school shootings should be so common — that we are spending our time learning not how to solve math equations or analyze literature, but how to fight for our lives.

I, along with the rest of the Class of 2024, will graduate at the end of this month. On a few occasions, I’ve felt relief that I’ll no longer be entering a building every day that could be the target of the next school shooting. I expressed this thought to one of my teachers the day of the Mount Horeb situation, and they responded that it sometimes feels like we’re all just waiting for an active shooter situation to happen. That no one is immune. That it is not an issue of if, but when.

So, please. For the sake of our community, our students, our safety, our lives, please act. I — and many of my peers both in this community, in the Mount Horeb community, and across the country — beg of you to take action. Thoughts and prayers are appreciated, but they do not create change. Do not wait until it is our school district, our students, our community. Call legislators and ask for their support for gun reform. Talk to your friends and family to make sure firearms are secure. Volunteer for and support organizations that promote gun safety, reform, and regulation. Vote in November for candidates that you believe will truly protect the safety of students and children. Unless we act, we will continue to face a future where every day there could be another Parkland. Another Sandy Hook. Another Uvalde. Another Mount Horeb.