Again, again, again – it pains me no end to have to post news of yet another mass shooting in a public school, yet not to do so lets the silence speak volumes, which is not now, nor will it ever be, acceptable. These are our children America – they are in our schools. And please, do not forget for a moment the teachers, coaches, principals and other professionals who help to educate them, and keep them safe, often sacrificing their own safety, and their lives, to protect America’s children against gunfire from assault weapons in their classrooms and on school campuses around the country.

Quartz – The normalization of America’s school shootings, in one chart

Via Everytown: “Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in America — an average of about one a week. How many more before our leaders pass common-sense laws to prevent gun violence and save lives? Communities all over the country live in fear of gun violence. That’s unacceptable. We should feel secure in sending our children to school — comforted by the knowledge that they’re safe. Consistent with expert advice and common sense, Everytown uses a straightforward, fair, and comprehensive definition for a school shooting: any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds, as documented by the press and, when necessary, confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement or school officials. Incidents in which guns were brought into schools but not discharged, or where the firearm was discharged off school grounds, are not included. The database is updated as new shootings occur or as new evidence emerges about prior incidents. When it comes to American children being exposed to gunfire, these shootings are just the tip of the iceberg. A report by the Urban Institute showed that in the single school district of Washington, DC, there were at least 336 gunshots in the vicinity of schools over a single school year. And school shootings have long-term impacts on the school community as a whole: a recent analysis of school shootings found that those involving a homicide reduced student enrollment in the affected schools, and depressed students’ standardized test scores by nearly 5 percent.”

“The frustration is that we did everything that we were supposed to do … and still to have so many causalities. … I feel today like our government, our country, has failed us and failed our kids and didn’t keep us safe.” – Melissa Falkowski, teacher at Florida high school pic.twitter.com/LknYnQaD2A — Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) February 15, 2018