In America, guns are everywhere. We hear about them in the news, hear the shots late at night and debate gun control at the dinner table until we’re too numb to think twice about even the most horrific gun violence. Even at DU, we are accustomed to the frequent notifications about shootings near campus. The shots heard on Williams St. last week are just the most recent example. Despite the stream of emails about the incident, students went to class without hesitancy; if we put our lives on pause every time guns posed a threat, we’d never get anything done.
In 2023 alone there have already been 3,943 deaths due to gun violence and 54 mass shootings. One of the mass shootings of 2022 to make national news occurred just a few hours south of DU at Club Q where five people were killed and 25 were injured. The U.S. experiences the most mass shootings of any country by far, and Colorado specifically has been home to some of the most shocking shootings in recent memory. It’s no wonder that we have become numb to gun violence, but can anything be done about it?
The difficult truth is that there is a gun culture in the U.S. entirely unique to us that creates the ongoing debate over gun control. People have all kinds of reasons for owning guns. Those who buy guns legally rarely do so with the intent to kill. But the numbers speak for themselves. This year 160 children and teens have already died from gun violence. As a country, we have to start asking ourselves if the price is worth it.
As college students, it can often feel difficult to create change. We can sign as many petitions as we want, but waiting for Congress is a slow and frustrating process. How do we approach the ever-present culture of gun violence without apathetic acceptance?
A great place to start is thinking about how we digest news about mass shootings and local gun violence. The next time you hear about a mass shooting, or get those Campus Safety notifications, take a moment to sit with it. Take a moment to think about what it really means. It might make you feel sad, overwhelmed or even angry but that is all part of grieving the peace our generation is missing because of gun violence. It is not our responsibility to carry the weight of others’ mistakes, but at least we can begin to process how it has affected us.
Letting go of that numbness is not easy and counseling can help make it easier to process and understand your relationship with gun violence. Everyone has a story involving guns, some more severe than others. Part of making gun violence personal is recognizing the ways it is already personal to you.
Other steps that can help in grieving gun violence are prioritizing self-care, paying attention to the emotional health of yourself and others, avoiding over-exposure to media and allowing yourself to feel sad about the event even if it is not close to you. This can look like consuming news about the event in small doses, talking with your friends or people you trust and taking more time to yourself to process.
Gun violence and mass shootings are a chronic American condition. While we wait for a permanent solution the best thing we can do for ourselves as young people is to combat the apathy we’ve developed by learning how to grieve all we’ve lost to gun violence.
