As politicians and the media continue their endless debate on the issue of assault weapons bans, background checks, and other gun safety laws in the U.S. — our children and teachers continue to be caught in the crossfire — literally.
Yesterday, the grade school class in Goleta that I support as a volunteer math tutor twice a week was coming in from a sunny recess when a Lock Down Order came down over the school loudspeaker. Twenty students, their teacher, and me (a local professional engineer and business owner) immediately locked the classroom doors, moved out of sight, and huddled behind the waist-high bookcase beneath the wall of windows in the 1960s era classroom. And there we all attempted to hide, with the lights out, in complete silence — with the exception of the few children who quietly sobbed — until the all-clear was given, an excruciatingly long 30 minutes later.
Fortunately, this particular story did not end in another tragedy; the cause of this lockdown was a false active shooter alert at a nearby high school. But for those 30 long minutes — for the children, for their teacher, and for me — the threat was very real. The fear and the tears were real. The frightening memory those 20 children will carry with them into their futures is real.