Posted on Facebook, 5/25/2022:
Our hearts go out to the entire community of Uvalde, Texas, and all those impacted by today’s senseless violence at Robb Elementary. Uvalde CISD is part of our robotics community, and we feel their losses as our own. We stand with Uvalde during this unfathomably painful time.
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But they struggle to denounce the senseless gun violence. They stand with the community. This is equally toothless to the statement Gov. Abbott put out (he called it a “senseless crime” and “horrific loss”). I’d like to hear some feeling for what this is and what this means.
This is a step in the direction of better crisis communication. But it’s a small step.
These shootings—which will never become normal no matter how frequent they are—hit differently for me when there’s a robotics team at the school. Of course there’s no real difference, but for me it’s closer to home. It could’ve been me years ago, or students I’ve mentored now.
Let’s call this what it is: someone with a weapon they have no reason to possess, murdering students and a teacher – this could’ve been any of us. There is something seriously wrong with us as a society. This was preventable. We don’t need thoughts and prayers, we need action. This hurts.
Plus the only way they would know where that gun is at is from the parents telling them, showing them, or they just simply observed on where they keep it.
In this day and age it is obviously unacceptable for a kid to have a gun.
Knowing another situation could’ve happened in California today is just bothersome.
For those who don’t know about the California one:
I’m disappointed in the response to every mass shooting I have heard of in the news - Everyone calls it a senseless and tragic event, but nothing ever happens to change it.
I hope that someday, sometime, we as a whole will realize something needs to change and take at least a small step towards changing this terrible state of affairs.
Call me a cynic, but nothing of substance is going to change, especially in Texas, where “pro life” is in effect only until you take your first unaided breath, and from that day forward it’s thoughts and prayers.
I live 10 miles from the Sandy Hook Elementary School and have friends in that community that were changed forever on that day. It’s been almost a decade since the mass shooting that should have made this one impossible, yet here we are again.
Who posted it? I don’t use FB.
Is this a way that FIRST HQ has issued statements before? Asking because I don’t know, and might have expected another path; e.g., blog connected with FIRST’s own website.
They’ve posted things all over the place for years. I don’t think it’s too shocking a company would use social media to make a statement about a tragedy though. I am also not on Facebook to see it mind you.
The lack of a unified communication stream with FIRST is hardly new though.
It’s a safe, nonpolitical statement.
@electroken You are not a cynic. You have decades of history to back you up, unfortunately.
The best advice I can offer is to call/write/email your state and federal reps. Repeatedly. Over and over. Let them know how you feel. Get your friends and neighbors to do the same.
Yes, this is from FIRST’s official page. They put out public statements not infrequently, as is common with a lot of brands these days. The reality is that in today’s online world, people expect rapid response from brands on a whole host of issue, and it every one has a blog post or press release, there would be posts in those channels every day.
This argument doesn’t hold up. It’s not a safe statement in the least – it’s alienating to anyone who wants this called out for what it is and not euphemistically passed over. When did we become a society that accepts the path of least resistance or lowest common denominator as the “safe” option?
I type… I delete… I rethink… and repeat.
I don’t think I can contribute anything swaying or meaningful.
Just another morning that I question if I have what it takes to go in and do my job, whatever that may entail today.
I don’t generally like to post on these kinds of topics as I rarely feel I am educated enough or experienced enough to make a statement that is meaningful, helpful, or aids in furthering the discussion. But I did want to offer a student’s perspective:
As a student still in high school, this is absolutely horrifying that this happened, especially at an elementary school, where I’m sure he had history or some kind of relationship with absolutely none of those children.
I think we need to remember that this is not only a gun problem but a people problem as well.
Salvador Rolando Ramos was bullied relentlessly by his peers for most of his school career, so badly that he repeatedly told his Grandma he couldn’t go to school anymore. Hurt people hurt people, and the best course of action is to target the root of the problem: Why are kids still getting bullied like this? How do we stop this bullying in America’s schools, and make sure everyone feels like they belong and are loved by their community. And for those who aren’t well mentally, we need to find a way to make sure they get the care they need.
Only then can we begin to see the decline in these types of horrible attacks. Even if we took away the ability for people to possess any type of firearm, these attacks would still happen, either with an illegally possessed firearm, or something worse.
These people feel they need to make the world feel pain because it brought them pain, and as awful as it is, a lot of them go to extreme ends to make sure they can bring the pain they felt back on the world.
I think FIRST should work towards taking a more proactive step towards fighting bullying and harassment outside of competitions, Bullying: for any reason, is NEVER ok. And we in FIRST need to serve as an example for the rest of the people who aren’t in FIRST to be better and to end this.
This is a great point. While I’d love to see FIRST come out forcefully in favor of stronger gun control, the path you’re suggesting is one that they are more likely to do, and has the potential to have real impact. Build a generation of people who are nice to each other. That’s what this “good stuff” is all supposed to be about.
I thought Steve Kerr had a normal response in his press conference. That more people are not being emotional is a symptom of just how numb many of us are at this point.
A way for FIRST to make it’s stance known, without directly saying it out loud would be to have every event make announcements during opening ceremonies, lunch, etc. for what the crowd’s response should be to an active shooter/other emergencies.
I already think that planning for emergency situations at events is not as well handled as it could be. The fire alarm debacle at FiM States is a good example of the communications breaking down and the people who can make announcements not knowing exactly who to take their announcements/direction from.
I’ll preface this with saying that I majored in Emergency & Disaster Management, so preparedness, mitigation, & response are what I live for (hopefully just the former 2 and not the latter). I think EVERYONE needs to practice better safety skills and preparedness. Do you know where your exits are? Do you know where security/EMS/etc are for assistance (because they will be able to respond a LOT faster than just calling 911)?
I attended a company conference here a couple weeks ago (I work for an AEC firm) and we start all of our meetings off with a safety moment. In that instance the CEO was there and talked about the exit plan, where the AED was at, and asked who would call 911. Ask me if I knew where EMS was at or even an AED at champs and I wouldn’t even be able to answer you.
I feel like this is a safety issue that FIRST needs to definitely address each day. A good example of why stuff like this is important is that we had a gal fall down some steep concrete steps at our venue this year and I literally ran down to the pits to get EMS, only to be reminded they had EMS for the venue as well in a different location, but not very well marked. Then again, it does sadly seem like safety is going by the wayside and everyone, even FIRST staff/volunteers/mentors getting lax.
These are VERY good suggestions and observations! Our team includes a pre-planned evacuation point for each venue/hotel we attend. Never thought about adding a “where to find ems” section. We bring our own AED for the pits and post signs around the pits, but its all unofficial.
As someone who has close family members mourning the loss of their young cousin in Uvalde, I appreciate the statement FIRST made. Stay safe everyone. Cherish the time you have with your family.
Bullying, as unfortunate as it is, happens everywhere. Mass shootings in schools happen overwhelmingly in this country.
Mass Shootings, and overall deaths by firearm, are largely an American problem.
In the US, ~80% of homicides are via firearm, whereas in the UK, only 4% are. Even our next-closest comparisons, Canada and Australia only clock in at 37% and 13%. (source)
That being said, the “correct answer” is unclear, and anyone who says it’s obvious is oversimplifying.
Fivethirtyeight has an excellent series of articles about gun violence in the US, and evidence-based ideas to stop it.
Trigger warning gun violence with a quote from the 538 articles
The typical shooting victim is an older man, most likely white, who ends his own life with a gun. The thing that will save that man’s life may not be the same thing that saves the life of a trans immigrant abused by her partner, may not be the same thing that saves the life of a child who arrives at school unprepared to face a man with a rifle, may not be the same thing that saves the life of a service member with depression. And something else entirely may be needed to save the lives of young black men, who are most at risk of dying from gunfire.
Limiting access to guns is not always possible, nor necessarily desirable. Suicide prevention efforts in the Mountain West and in the military must figure out how to protect two high-risk groups for whom guns are a part of life as well as death. And police officers, who find themselves on both sides of the trigger, are turning to body cameras to further protect the public and themselves.
This is not to suggest that tighter gun control would have no effect on gun deaths. Research shows that background checks do lower homicide counts, but they would have less effect on suicide — which accounts for nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths. And it’s unclear what would work best to prevent gun terrorism or mass shootings, two related categories of gun death that are relatively small but receive outsize attention.
It’s unclear specifically what can be done to stop mass shootings, which are the rarest form of gun violence, as evidence-based reviews of policies put into place in other countries find mixed results, with it being unclear whether the gun buybacks and weapons bans actually resulted in a meaningful reduction in deaths. (source, again from 538)
Even then, any success Australia and Great Britain had reducing gun deaths would be hard to replicate in the U.S., because of how our country differs from those places. The US has an estimated 120 guns per 100 people, whereas Australia has 14.5 guns per 100 people and the UK has about 5 guns per 100 people. The sheer quantity of civilian guns in this country makes it incomparable to any other developed nation (source).
All of this is to say asking FIRST to come forward with a specific policy solution in their statement is a bit much, as they’re no more likely to know the correct answer, nor in a position to pressure governments to use them.
EDIT: One last opinion article to include: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-used-to-think-gun-control-was-the-answer-my-research-told-me-otherwise/2017/10/03/d33edca6-a851-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html
This.
What I presented is something WE in FIRST can do right now. It isn’t the final or only solution, and I never intended it to be.
