Author's Note

Keeping up with the gun violence statistics is impossible. The statistics quoted in the story are as of May, 2023. Scarely a day goes by without more shootings. We simply cannot allow this to continue.

It's been a year now and the slaughter goes on unabated. Here in Texas the governor and legislator has only made it easier to procure a gun, and are focused on putting all the responsibility on the victims, by turning our schools into fortresses and our dedicated teachers into footsoldiers. Imagine if those children murdered at Ross Elementary could look down and see this. What would they think?

"Since 1970, there have been 1,924 incidents involving the discharge of a firearm on school property and 637 people have died." source: Campus Safety Magazine.

I'm writing this immediately following the Uvalde school shooting.

I had left the University of Texas campus to go home for lunch just before Charles Whitman began his rampage from the UT Tower in 1966. Twelve students were murdered that day, and the slaughter goes on unabated. Politicians huff and puff about 2nd Amendment Rights and pledge to do something "reasonable" about it, but nothing is done, or if it is, it's temporary—witness the Assault Weapons Ban under Clinton that only lasted 10 years.

This short story is my pitiful attempt to give the victims of these shootings a voice. It is completely fictional with imagined characters—except for the shooter. I will immediately donate any royalties I make from the sale of this story to organizations such as The Brady Campaign, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence or similar organizations.

Enough is enough.

Bill Schweitzer, June 2022