Editor, The Beacon:

Neither the police nor teachers should be expected to die defending schoolchildren from an active shooter. We must not normalize this savagery by “hardening” schools and arming teachers and think we’ve fixed the problem.

It should not be normal for any civilian to buy a weapon of war. It should not be normal for any person of any age to be able to buy a gun of any kind without a thorough background check and a waiting period.

It should not be normal for children to endure active-shooter drills and wonder if this time it’s real. It should not be normal for a city to bury 19 children and two teachers in one week and live the trauma forever.

In no other nation on earth are children being routinely slaughtered in their classrooms. Those in Congress who could act to stop the carnage and won’t are leading us to heights of barbarity unfathomable to the rest of the civilized world.

If our leaders won’t lead, then we must. Once again, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Kathy Hersh

DeLand