This week, our Girl Friday team had always intended to honor the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, but we were even more compelled to talk about gun violence in the U.S. after the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade. We are enormously grateful to Rachel Feldman of GIFFORDS for talking to us about the impact of mass shootings on families and communities, as well as what personally drives her work to end gun violence. 

In an emotional scene in the 2018 horror movie A Quiet Place, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski talk about how to protect their children from the monsters that have descended on their town. In a moment of exasperation, she asks him, "Who are we if we can't protect them?" U.S. politicians should be asking themselves the same question this week. On May 24, before the U.S. could recover from shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Southern California, an 18-year-old man charged into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 21 people, primarily children. The surviving children's accounts have been harrowing. Countries like New Zealand and Scotland have proven that we can protect children from gun violence. So, who are we if we continue to choose not to?

Throughout National Gun Violence Survivors Week (February 1-7, 2021), Americans have shared their stories about loss, injury, and trauma due to gun violence. This is a necessary conversation, given the sheer volume of Americans who are witnesses or victims of random or targeted shootings. Everytown for Gun Safety's 2019 report called the U.S "A Nation of Survivors," because 58% of American adults, or someone they care for, have experienced gun violence. What can we do to change our culture and public policies?