We are paying the price of politics with the lives of children

Aliyah Pitt, Contributing Writer

The shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis this August was nothing less than a tragedy. Students and other worshippers gathered for morning Mass, a space meant for safety and reflection, when a shooter opened fire on the congregation through the church windows, killing two children and leaving 21 others injured.

School shootings are prevalent across the U.S., and Richmond is no exception. The city was faced with its own catastrophe in 2023 when a shooter killed two people and injured five others during Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony at the Altria Theater. What should have been a joyous day for students and families turned grim, and those affected were left with the same grief the Minneapolis parents now carry. 

But like always, the outrage from both incidents will dissolve and America will move on until it happens again.

This cycle of numbness is dangerous, but the greater danger lies in the politics that allow it to persist. Every mass shooting is followed by the same ritual. Leaders issue “thoughts and prayers,” cable news airs roundtables and Congress holds hearings destined to go nowhere. Then the moment passes. Lobbyists breathe a sigh of relief, campaign donations flow and the gridlock tightens its grip. Groups such as the National Rifle Association rely on America’s short attention span, and lawmakers continue to oblige them.

We have allowed these massacres to repeat too often and each time nothing changes, except for the growing list of parents who unknowingly say goodbye to their children for the last time. 

The issue is not a lack of solutions —  it is political unwillingness. Universal background checks, red flag laws and bans on semiautomatic weapons are suggestions supported by millions of Americans, including gun owners. Yet Congress refuses to act, because doing so risks angering the NRA, manufacturers and donors who profit off of endless violence. 

Many argue that no law could have prevented these tragedies, but that completely misses the point — no single policy eliminates all harm. Seatbelt laws did not eliminate all traffic deaths, but it minimized them. Anti-smoking campaigns did not eradicate lung cancer, but they raised awareness. The same logic applies to gun control. Each layer of protection makes another calamity less likely.

It took the Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York shootings to push lawmakers to pass the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, but the law was more of a suggestion than a mandate, and its contents — which funded the alternative, “agreeable” solution of mental health resources for schools — have been gutted by the Trump administration.

There have already been at least 44 school shootings in 2025, according to CNN, which averages over one shooting per week. Firearms are now the leading cause of death amongst American children and teens, surpassing car accidents and illness. We are losing a generation, yet statistics on death are treated with the same indifference as a weather forecast. That numbness has become apathetic politicians’ greatest ally.

These shootings should make people uncomfortable, and their preventability should make us angry. Communities can hold vigils and schools can practice lockdown drills, but nothing will happen until policymakers treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves. Each filibuster and “now is not the time” statement is a deliberate choice to let the cycle continue.

We do not need more thoughts, prayers or empty hope. We need laws that reflect the value of children’s lives over the power of interest groups and lobbyists. We need leaders who refuse to accept gun violence as a normal part of our lives — who understand that action is not optional.

Until then, the silent toll of political gridlock will continue to grow. America remembers the shooter’s right to bear arms, but not the innocent child forced to stare down the barrel of a gun.