Warning: The following story contains accounts some people may find disturbing.

We were 5 years old when Sandy Hook happened – not old enough to fully understand what had happened, but old enough to remember the promises adults made us that something like this would never happen again. Back then, we were still young enough to believe them. We started Kindergarten that same year and along with our ABCs, we learned how to sit silently with the lights out and hope that what had happened to countless others wouldn’t happen to us. 

Now, ten years later, we’ve learned a lot. We learned how to count, adding up the number of lives lost to gun violence this year. We’ve learned how to read, analyzing the expressions of grief and fear, We’ve learned to sing the funeral marches, to perfect lockdown drills, and to walk to math class without falling apart, just moments after receiving a notification that somewhere in this country, some kids just like us, had lost their lives in what was meant to be a safe place – again. And yeah, we’re young and we know we’ve still got a lot to learn. But every time we hear the words, “we are now in lockdown,” booming over the speakers, we wonder, how much more will we get to learn if this time, it’s not just a drill?

Every day, 12 children die from gun violence in America. Another 32 are shot and injured. When motor vehicle crashes used to be the leading cause of death among teens, they raised the drinking age to 21 and taught us that drinking and driving kills. Guns are now the leading cause of death among American children and teens and gun reform across the country is still in gridlock. 

In Uvalde, Texas this past week, 19 kids and 2 teachers lost their lives to gun violence in the 27th school shooting and 214th mass shooting America has had this year. In the hours before this horror happened, Xavier Lopez and his classmates had just stayed after their end-of-year ceremony where they watched a movie and ate popcorn. Xavier had just made it on the Honor Roll on that same day he died. He was 10 years old. Xavier's Grandfather, Leonard Sandoval, said as he stood in his driveway, "Why? Why him? Why the kids?" We are all left wondering why them. Really, it's why us – not old enough to vote but old enough to die. Innocent kids like Xavier and his elementary crush. 10-year-old Jackie Cazares who had just had her First Communion just two weeks prior and her cousin Amerie Jo Garza who was everyone's friend during lunch and recess. “Those were 21 lives that we can’t get back.”, Lisa Cazares who lost two 10-year-olds in the shooting said.

It shouldn’t be a political statement to say that we want to be able to go to school without fear of being hurt. It shouldn’t be a political statement to plead that the people we trust to lead our country value our lives more than they value contributions from lobbyists. It shouldn’t be a political statement to ask the adults around us to keep their promise – "never again".

In the past 8 years, the U.S. has had over 3600 mass shootings. How many more innocent people need to die before our politicians do something about it. How many more little kids won't be able to say goodbye to their moms and dads.

Written by Mathew Reis (2025) & Atlas Lissy (2025)
Cover Photo taken by Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times.
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