In the early afternoon of April 17, 2025, I received what to date has been the worst message ever sent to me. It was my daughter, a senior at Florida State University, texting that she was running from campus because there was an active shooter nearby.
I am grateful that my daughter thought to run when they heard the gun shots from her classroom, as did her boyfriend. I know that my daughter is still on ready alert when she hears sirens or what sounds like gunfire. I hoped never to have that kind of scare again.
And then I woke up on March 1, 2026 to read a headline about a mass shooting in Austin, my daughter and her boyfriend’s new home, where she attends law school. This time, a gunman opened fire in a bar, not far from her campus, leaving 14 people wounded. I couldn’t stop crying as I messaged her to ensure that they were OK—thankfully, yes.
When does this stop? According to the Gun Violence Archive, there had already been 50 mass shootings in the U.S. three days before this one in Austin. Why should parents (like me) have to read the headlines and wonder if the second time my daughter was close to one of these incidents was the last?
This country has been built on violence, justifies violence when it suits its needs and produces narratives to young people that violence is the answer to conflict. Violence is the way the United States typically “solves” international and domestic conflicts, from killing Indigenous peoples and taking their lands to “removing” leaders to suit its needs.
As I write this, I am reading about the U.S. and/or Israel killing 153 schoolgirls in Iran, and I am dying for those families. Reports are that the shooting in Austin may have been in retaliation for the U.S. attacks.
This has to stop. May we all figure out how to do better—for us, for our world, and please, for our children.
Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in the Barry University department of sociology & criminology in Florida.
