This article contains sensitive and heartbreaking topics; please take care while reading.
Ashbey Beasley knows what the immediate and after effects of a mass shooting are. She lived through them with her son after the Highland Park shooting on July 4, 2022. On what should have been a day of celebration, Ashbey and her son were thrust into a club no one wants to belong to, and while they weren’t physically injured during the parade mass shooting, they have been dealing with the aftermath of the experience for almost a year.
Beasley never anticipated being in close proximity to another mass shooting, but as she saw a news broadcast unfolding in Nashville this afternoon after the mass shooting at the Covenant School — she knew she had to do something, say anything. So in a decisive move, she began speaking, and attention quickly turned her way. She started talking to reporters by asking a question we’ve all asked before:
“Aren’t you guys tired of covering this? Aren’t you guys tired of being here and having to cover all of these mass shootings?”
Beasley continued by sharing that she’s met with over 130 lawmakers after becoming an activist after the events of the July 4th shooting, and she can’t comprehend why we’re still here — why news reporters are gathering once again to report on a mass shooting involving children at a school. Why are we still sending our children to school with the overwhelming knowledge that they’re not entirely safe there?
Sharing a bleak statistic, Beasley notes that gun violence is the number one killer of children and teenagers, surpassing the spot where vehicles once stood. It’s almost unfathomable to think that more children pass away due to firearms than car accidents. Beasley is heartbroken that we’ve not found a way to stop failing our kids, and people all over the country share those same sentiments this afternoon.
Beasley was standing with another mother who she met in her fight against gun violence, and both women felt shocked but not surprised to be met with another instance of gun violence, sharing that it’s only in America that you can experience more than one mass shooting in a lifetime. For Beasley, it was surviving one attack and being near another in less than a year; that idea should strike a match in the hearts of anyone.
In a chat with USAToday, Beasley shares that activism is how she deals with what she experienced with her son in 2022.
“The activism has sort of become my therapy. There’s no absolute answer that’s going to prevent every single gun death. But we have to do everything in our power to do the things that we know will work.”
While many will be talking about the shooter in the coming days, it is essential to honor the lives of the victims from the Covenant School, remembering the lives they led and who they could have continued to become before their untimely deaths. Six people lost their lives today, three children and three adults.
The three children are Evelyn Dieckhaus, age nine, Hallie Scruggs, age nine, and William Kinney, age eight. The adults are Cynthia Peak, 60, Katherine Koonce, 61, and Mike Hill, 61. The heart and soul of our country lie within the spirits of children; they are our future, and today paints a dark cloud over all of us.
We Got This Covered will keep you updated as we learn more, and we’re sending our thoughts to those affected by today’s tragedy.