Joseph Avila, left, prays while holding flowers honoring the victims killed in Tuesday’s shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Wednesday, May 25, 2022.
The shooting at Robb Elementary School earlier this week in Uvalde, Texas, broke hearts across the country.
Parents, loved ones and even children that were in the school during the incident were able to share their thoughts and stories. At the University of Delaware, college students expressed concerns about security and safety at schools.
Robby Samataro, a junior at the school, said his family lives near Sandy Hook, Connecticut, the site of the 2012 mass shooting that left 20 elementary schoolers and six faculty members dead. His family’s proximity to Sandy Hook has allowed him to witness firsthand the grief and tragedy experienced by the victims’ families in the aftermath.
"The fact that our safety is being treated as a pawn in a political game is – it's mind-boggling. The fact that it's all talk and nobody's willing to commit – just, there's no action being taken to make sure that our safety is prioritized, and it's just incredibly disappointing,” Samataro said.
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“Instead of taking real action to protect us from bad actors, we are instead having to learn how to protect ourselves if or when it happens instead of getting ahead of the curve and stopping people before it happens," he added.
Ocean Shen, another University of Delaware junior, noted how quickly the Uvalde shooting followed the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. He called on leaders to implement both gun control measures and mental health resources.
Holly, who asked that NBC10 only use her first name while discussing the topic, said she was exasperated at the country’s inaction on guns following mass shooting after mass shooting.
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"I'm just wondering why we haven't done anything as the U.S.," Holly, a sophomore, said.
Holly noted that people in other countries struggle with mental health, yet those countries do not see mass shootings on the scale or with the frequency that the U.S. does in part due to their stricter gun policies.
Samataro, meanwhile, expressed frustration at what he feels is a growing lack of safety at schools.
"Classrooms are basically being treated like a war zone,” Samataro said. You have to know where to hide, you have to know where to get out if you have to. And the fact that we're being expected to just know that and live with that every day – the fear of knowing that ... we could be next."
