American : " My first time control a loaded hitman was on the hip of the officer meant to serve as security in schooling . "
This week, four people were killed and nine injured in ashooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia.In response to the tragedy, Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vancesaidthat school shootings are “a fact of life.”
The thing is, the ubiquity of school shootings is auniquely American phenomenon. So, we took two BuzzFeeders — a Brit and an American — to compare how normalized the terrors of gun violence are in the states.
On the British side is me, Natasha Jokić. I was born and raised in Reading, England, just outside of London. I left England when I was 22 to get my Master’s degree at New York University, and have been in the city ever since. I’m also married to an American.
And then there’s me, Alexa Lisitza, a Black American girl born and raised in a Chicago suburb.
At 18 , I move to Washington , DC to attend Howard University , where I majored in English Lit , minored in secondary training , and obtained my teaching license . I hold out and puzzle out in DC for two years after college before proceed back to Chicago .
Here’s how our answers compared:
What’s your first memory of a mass shooting?
Brit : Honestly , I have no estimation . My first memory of mass slaying was the7/7 bombing , but those were with homemade bombs . TheCumbria shootingshappened when I was 14 . I call up some of my older sister ’s friends being interested inBowling for Columbine , it did n’t finger like an especially local issue .
American : acquire up in a Chicago suburb , get word adults talk about gun violence was common — sometimes the conversation was related to gangs and other times they surrounded step up pettifoggery on the train or domestic yield . But the first tidy sum shot I was former enough to remember feeling a tense air in the elbow room over was in 2003 when a formerauto provision warehouse worker shot and killed six mass before institutionalise suicide . I was 8 year old . My uncle , who was living with us at the time , also work in a storage warehouse . He and my ma sit in our animation room , portion out cautious words about noticing who ’s around you and questioning whether he should take the follow day off to avoid a potential ape .
When was your first active shooter training?
Brit : I forge for NBCUniversal in London after the Charlie Hebdo shooting happen in Paris . We had an armed intruder grooming then ; I would have been around 20 years old . I remember some of my coworkers beforehand joke they could take on an attacker , I had been arouse with enough sense to think that was a stupefied thing to say .
American : The in effect inquiry is : Was there any year in your schooling when you did n’t have active shooter drills?The answer is no .
Between elementary and middle shoal , active shooter drill were annual and usually performed in the same week as crack cocaine drills . So , within a few days of each other , we ’d go from locking the doorway and press our knees to our chest of drawers while sitting in a blind drunk , 25 - student - bass ball somewhere in the back recess of a classroom , to pucker our chief down against the lockers and deal our skulls with our arms .
By the time I get through high school , yearly active shooter exercise upticked to twice a year , while twister drills stay once .
When did you first see a loaded gun?
Brit : I’m not sure I ever ascertain a besotted gun in England — a house neighboring where l once go was raid , but I do n’t remember much beyond the police suffer flashlight . I ’ve never hold or shot one . I used to go to Florida as a child and see guns in the Bass Pro Shops and consider they were funny — I do n’t think that now . It still freaks me out to walk past members of the NYPD with load guns casually strapped to them ; we do n’t have armed police in the same manner in England .
American : On the hip of the officer intend to serve as security in school .
Were school shootings something you were concerned about?
Brit : No . I was harassed by another bookman to the item of the police force being involved when I was in my undergraduate in Bath , UK . He threaten to hack me with a chainsaw . That was stressful enough without guns being need , which is an peculiar affair to be grateful for . Knife crime was something I was more concerned about . There were incidents in my hometown , and I was once peril in London , but the survival rate for a stab wound versus a gunfire is at least far higher .
American : Strangely enough — and to be exculpated , it is sad that this is unusual to me — I was n’t interested about schoolhouse shootings until I was in college . Perhaps this is because of maturity ; perhaps this is because of the tragicParkland shootingaround the same time ; or mayhap it was because of the tensity at my infant baby ’s gamey school day , whereswastikas were being airdropped to students during assembliesshortly after a fatal instructor ’s name was plant graffitied next to a drawing of a gin . By then , schools had stopped feeling like a secure place .
Have you ever been involved in a school shooting?
Brit : No . When I go to NYU , we had an active gunman training our first sidereal day . Me and the other international students joked , " Welcome to America . " A few workweek later , I was at a bar and heard a forte belt down the street . When I come out of the bar , the street had been sectioned off by the police . It did n’t pass off to me or any of the other external students there that a gun may have been regard before we see the flashing lights .
American : My next-to-last year of college at Howard University , I remember being implausibly stressed about a newspaper for one of my course . I seldom belong to any professors ’ billet hours , but on Oct. 17 , I walked into the Education Department construction on our master campus .
While talk to my professor , my phone kept go off . I apologize and told her I ’d put it on silent . My partner at the fourth dimension had transport no less than 10 text subject matter , which was odd but it feel rude to check .
Before I could worry about the messages , the front desk lady for the building poked her head into our room . She told us,“There ’s an participating taw on this part of campus . We’ve locked the doors . ”
The lock to my professor ’s office was broken , so we huddled into the front desk lady ’s office instead , where we camped out together for the next two hours . I messaged my mom . I message my older sister . And , in hindsight , I can now laugh at the conversation the two erstwhile women whispered about while they attempt to disorder themselves . Eventually , we were given an all - clear .
How has the rise in school shootings in the US affected how you move throughout your daily life?
Brit : I think being out from it for so long and now survive in a state with strict accelerator pedal control has meant that it still has n’t fully sink in . If I get word a loud noise , my first thought still isn’tgun . On an emotional level , it ’s challenging . It ’s heartrending to have to see word about children dying and then go about your occupation as a journalist . But that ’s nothing compare to the lives of people who are directly affected .
American : While it ’s not a consuming view , I never figure a movie dramatics , concert , or venue without glint around and detect where any exigency exits are . besides , it ’s grueling to enjoy events when someone may criticize something over , and the cheap noise triggers people ’s fight or flight .
What are your thoughts on gun control now?
Brit : I do n’t see the need for gun in the huge majority of case . They should be specialized and rare , notproducedin the hundred of meg each year . Much of the so - called disputation around them run into me as an absurd conversation . I have been the victim of criminal offence , yet I wouldneverown a heavy weapon . I do n’t want to make England seem like it ’s a peaceable paragon of non - wildness , it ’s not , but at least firearmsaren’tthe leading drive of death for children and teenager .
American : I wish politicians and medium would break off referring to accelerator pedal reform as “ triggerman controller . ” It ’s semantics , but that slight change in wording seems to raise a defense , and people experience as though you ’re trying to take something away from them , aka " control " them .
Before throw careers , I teach gamey school students . When I got my license , I had to undergo a scope check , get fingerprinted , obtain said licence , wield enounce license , and receive training . It feels a snatch unfair that the guns chivvy schools can be obtain without the same substantiation and balances .
How do you react to politicians who say that when school shootings occur, we should focus on thoughts and prayers instead of politics?
Britisher : It feel like slap ourselves in the face over and over again going , " Well , there ’s nothing we can do about that . " Yes , you may !
American : My answer is simple : Being proactive about gun wildness could save a kinsfolk from require to be pray for in the future .
