September 16, 2025 • 39 mins
"There's too much that will make you upset to not start taking action." - Caitlin
In the wake of recent tragedies at Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis and Evergreen High School in Colorado, we're bringing back an episode that feels heartbreakingly relevant.
If you're feeling helpless and angry right now, you're not alone. But we know the women who listen to this show don't stay helpless for long. They’re women of action.
This episode, originally from April 2023, walks you through concrete steps you can take to advocate for safer schools and prevent future tragedies. We cover effective advocacy strategies, policy changes that work, and meaningful ways to support victims' families.
Let's turn that fury into action and honor these victims by fighting for the safer schools our children deserve.
The blog post for this episode is linked here.
—
What You'll Learn:
- Practical steps to tackle school violence in your community
- Why mental health support in schools matters—and how to advocate for it
- How gun control policy changes impact community safety
- The power of local elections and why your vote matters for school safety
- Concrete ways to support victims and families affected by gun violence
—
Why We're Qualified to Talk About This: We're passionate advocates for school safety with backgrounds in education and a deep understanding of the issues surrounding school violence. We believe parents deserve practical action steps to create safer environments for their children.
—
Resources Mentioned:
- 5 Ways to Take Action After a School Shooting | Teen Vogue
- Sandy Hook Promise
- The Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund
- Everytown Support Fund
- Protect Our Schools
- Make Our Schools Safe
- March For Our Lives
The best support is a rating and a share.
Love,
CK & GK
View our website at ckandgkpodcast.com. Find us on social media @ckandgkpodcast on
- Instagram
- Facebook
- TikTok
Thanks, y'all!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caitlin (00:01):
Warning.
This episode discusses schoolviolence, a sensitive topic that
may be triggering for somelisteners In the wake of recent
tragedies at Annunciation Churchand Catholic School in
Minneapolis and Evergreen HighSchool in Colorado.
We're bringing back an episodethat feels heartbreakingly
relevant.
If you're feeling helpless andangry right now, you're not
(00:22):
alone.
But here's what I know aboutthe women who listen to this
show you don't stay helpless forlong.
This episode originally fromApril 2023, walks you through
concrete steps you can take toadvocate for safer schools.
We're talking effectiveadvocacy strategies, policy
changes that actually work andmeaningful ways to support
(00:43):
affected families.
Your anger matters, your voicematters, and there are real
things you can do with both.
Let's turn your fury intoaction and honor these victims
by fighting for the saferschools our children deserve.
(01:18):
Let's get started.
Also, events that happened inDenver.
So today we have six ways thatyou can take action if you're
feeling a little helpless afterrecent school violence.
So this is a trigger warningnow.
If you can't listen tosomething like this, we totally
understand.
We just wanted to prepare youfor what we're going to be
(01:40):
talking about today.
Thank you for joining us andhopefully you learned something
that you can apply and take someaction if you're feeling a
little frustrated with what'sgoing on in schools right now.
Jenny (01:51):
Right, and if this is your first time to listen to our
show and you are looking forsomething upbeat, go back to
episode 31.
That's one of my favorites.
Caitlin (02:02):
Or really any of the other episodes we've done
recently Totally digestiblebites of like fun and learning
and we appreciate.
You know, if this is your firstepisode with us and you want to
listen, we appreciate it, butalso if you're just really
feeling like it's going to betoo heavy.
31 is great, but so are theothers, so we encourage you to
go there.
Jenny (02:23):
All right.
So with me is Caitlin.
She's a former teacher who nowworks in educational technology
and sadly that's an industrywhere a big part of it is
developing devices to keep kidsand teachers safe against
violence.
Caitlin (02:39):
It's true, yep, and I have to go light on this.
The reason that we can do thisepisode and the reason that I
can handle these heavy momentsis because Jenny, my host, is my
rainbow infused space unicorn,and she just is, and she makes
(03:00):
me feel better, she makes melaugh, and that's that's how I
can do these.
So thank you for being myrainbow infused space unicorn,
jenny.
Jenny (03:08):
I mean, I love this space part right.
I wonder is a space unicornlike used to space so it doesn't
need a helmet, or does it needa helmet?
I don't know.
Caitlin (03:19):
I think that's open for interpretation.
I think, however, the imagecomes together in your mind is
totally appropriate.
Jenny (03:25):
Okay, there's a space suit.
Well, just because this episodeis serious and it's tackling a
topic that, unfortunately, wefeel the need to address a
second time, I do think thatthere's still humor and great
things in our lives.
So, before we tackle somethingsuper heavy, let's spend some
(03:47):
time catching up and talk aboutwhat's happening in our world.
Caitlin (03:50):
Totally.
Jenny (03:51):
Let me tell you right now what I'm obsessed with.
Do it People who Google thingson Facebook.
Okay, I don't know if youremember, but like um text from
last night or my life is average.
You know, those types ofconglomerations of lots of funny
(04:12):
things, right.
Caitlin (04:13):
Um right now.
Jenny (04:15):
I am loving the questions that people have put on
Facebook, thinking that it'sGoogle.
Okay, someone in ourneighborhood group actually put
up is a one I actually saw inreal life.
This is real.
Is dallas worth visiting?
Oh no, it's like what.
(04:35):
What do you like to do?
How far away are you?
Right do you know, Like theseare all pieces of information we
need to know Is Dallas worthvisiting?
I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, probably.
Caitlin (04:51):
Also, this person is in your neighborhood.
Facebook group In myneighborhood, yes, so like
they're two and a half hoursaway from Dallas, Two hours away
from Dallas, Like oh goodness,Okay, Like what goodness Okay,
Like what is happening right now.
Jenny (05:07):
Okay.
And then we've seen people likeis it going to rain today?
What's the high?
Like you don't need to put thatin Facebook, but my favorite so
far I've seen this one.
It was in a group.
In fact, the person who postedit in the group I know
(05:27):
personally.
Oh no, I'm looking forrecommendations for the best
mobile hibachi catering companythat comes to you.
Caitlin (05:40):
Mobile hibachi.
Jenny (05:43):
Like Benihana at your house yeah okay, how many of
those places even exist in ourcity and how would you know
which one is best?
Caitlin (05:53):
yeah, this is weird.
Also, are we sure that they'renot just like asking the
neighborhood group for like arecommendation?
I mean, I guess that's whatNextdoor is for right, but like
this is so so niche.
Jenny (06:06):
Odd Like yeah, mobile hibachi catering company.
I imagine that if you Googlethat with the word Austin,
you're only going to get one ortwo results, right?
Caitlin (06:18):
If that right or all the results are going to be like
, come to Benihana and then, ontop of that, the best mobile
Apache Right.
Yeah, I think if they exist,they, by default, would be the
best Pretty much Like the factthat they haven't gone out of
business would imply that theyare the best.
Jenny (06:38):
Yes, so shout out to the person who asked that I know you
and I care about you.
But that is really funny, okay.
Caitlin (06:46):
Yeah, that's strange.
Okay, well, I'm going to throwin my current obsession.
It's going to sound a littlebit sad, but it's really not.
We you and I are both prettyopen about mental health
struggles that we've had in thepast, and I've recently started
a round of antidepressants.
And my first attempt at this uh, you know this I I had an
(07:10):
allergic reaction to and brokeout into hives every day for two
weeks.
It was horrible and I'd onlytaken the pills for like four
days.
So, like after I stopped takingthem, and now I have hives
Right and I can't stopscratching because they are the
itchiest hives.
And I didn't know that I wasallergic to them.
(07:33):
I didn't know that.
I kept swearing up and downthere's mosquitoes in this house
, Like what's good, and no, no,no, like no one else was getting
bitten, and I had these giantwelts on my.
Yeah, it was horrible, butwe've.
I stopped taking them and Iswitched to something different
and I am titrating onto them now.
(07:54):
I am clearly noticing adifference in how I'm feeling
after being on them for three orfour weeks.
Jenny (08:01):
That's awesome.
I'm so happy for you for threeor four weeks.
Caitlin (08:04):
That's awesome.
I'm so happy for you.
Yeah, it's just, it's somethingthat has been a struggle for me
for a while and I'm just veryglad to finally be taking the
right steps in the rightdirection towards making myself
feel more like myself again.
So that's a really great thing.
And if you ever want to talkabout it, if you're a listener
and you just feel like you knowyou want to be, you want us to
(08:26):
talk more openly about thisstuff, we're happy to do it.
But you know, DM us or whatever, but I'm happy to share what's
going on with me.
Jenny (08:34):
So please, name a pill and I've probably tried it.
Caitlin (08:38):
Right.
I saw a meme the other day.
It was like how it started,started and it was like kids
playing that mancala game whereyou like move the beans around
the board right, and then it'show it's going now, or how it's
how it's ended or whatever, andit's like an adult putting pills
into one of those pill sortersfor the week, which made me
(08:58):
laugh out loud because that isone of my and I have so many
pills in that thing that I use.
I have a week-long thing.
It has my AM pills and my PMpills and it's just like I've
taken so many different thingsand I'm happy to talk about them
, but I'm just really glad to befeeling better now that I'm on
(09:20):
an antidepressant that seems tobe helping me out.
Jenny (09:23):
That's awesome.
Feeling better now that I'm onan antidepressant that seems to
be helping me out that's awesome.
I'm so happy for you as someonewho just got off something that
was highly addictive and movingtowards something that doesn't
make me wake up in the middle ofthe night if I forget to take
it.
It's great when you find theright thing for you Totally.
But what's great for you mightnot be great for me, and so we
have to keep that in mind.
(09:43):
You know, give yourself graceIf your friend is on something
that's making them feel reallygreat and it didn't work for you
, that's okay.
Everybody's brain chemistry isdifferent.
Totally All right.
So here comes the best part ofthe show for me, the gem of the
week.
This is the part where you caneither laugh alongside me or at
(10:04):
me.
It doesn't matter.
But today's gem is not even somuch funny as it is like, yes, I
love it.
I woke up in the middle of thenight earlier this week and it
was not the.
Wake up in the middle of thenight and be like oh, I'm
totally'm, I'm totally rested.
Oh wait, I can still go back tosleep.
That's amazing.
(10:24):
No, it's the.
It can't be time to get up yetwhy am I awake?
And I look at the clock and itsays 2 31.
I say, okay, I got about threeand a half hours before I have
to actually be awake.
Maybe I could drift back tosleep.
Put on a podcast, do somethingto help me fall asleep.
Maybe I could drift back tosleep.
Put on a podcast, do somethingto help me fall asleep.
And then I take a drink of theglass of water on my bedside
(10:46):
table and see the one it's only1231.
Caitlin (10:53):
It was so great, that is the best.
That is the best.
I will often just lie there andI'm like I know, I know my
alarm's going to go off in 10minutes.
I just know it, I just know it,I just know it.
And then I actually, and I, soI don't look at the clock right,
and then I roll over and I'mlike, oh my god, I have an hour
and a half and it's so great,that is the best feeling like 12
(11:16):
, 31, 12, 31, all right, I canget, I can get for an hour now
this is not a problem, right,amazing, oh, I love it.
That's the best feeling.
I'm so glad that happened toyou.
It's like finding a 20 in yourpocket.
(11:49):
It's so good.
Oh, I love that.
Oh, my goodness, okay, okay,well, we are officially turning
into old people, and by we Imean myself and and maybe my
husband too, I don't know butall of a sudden, um Jeopardy and
Wheel of Fortune havere-entered my life.
So it's like we'll be like athome in the evening and then
like there's nothing on tv andand like somehow wheel of
(12:10):
fortune ends up on thetelevision and I don't know how.
But it's been really like kindof fun to just kind of go back
in time a little bit and alsopat say jack, how do you still
look exactly the same, like Idon't understand this.
Jenny (12:24):
There is a picture of him in someone's attic.
I'm sure this is a dorian graything.
It's him and john stamosthere's like right, and paul
rudd like what are you doing?
Yeah, paul.
Caitlin (12:37):
He's aging in reverse.
That's a different situation,right?
Exactly he's.
I don't know what he's doing,but something, something good,
because he's, he looks amazinganyway.
Um, so there will be times whenrise and I are just like telling
answers to the tv, as you dowhen you're watching wheel of
fortune.
Everyone does that, and we'rewatching, we look at sam and his
(12:57):
mind is just completely blown.
Like every time we get it right, he's like Whoa, how did you
know?
And it like I feel so smart andalso, at the same time, it's so
good.
I feel so smart.
I don't understand why I canguess the wheel of fortune clues
(13:17):
before my first grader.
But also it feels really goodwhen you guess it before the
person on the television, right,like that's when you're like I
am a genius, but then also,along with Wheel of Fortune, is
now Jeopardy in our lives again,right.
So, and if you really want tofeel smart, get a Jeopardy clue
right before someone buzzes inlike you'll feel like a genius,
(13:39):
okay, so that's harder for me.
I don't usually do as well.
So the other night I'm in bedwith Sam trying to, like you
know, we're, we're doing thebedtime thing and calming each
other down and all of a suddenhe just starts singing and you
know he sings a lot Like this isa thing in our house.
He will just randomly burstinto song, which is amazing.
(14:01):
It's like living in a musical.
And he'll the other day he'slike and I'm like what are you
doing?
And he just goes where is thatsong from?
Like, oh my gosh.
So he's singing the jeopardytheme song that's hilarious in
bed as he's trying to fallasleep, okay so when I was a
(14:23):
little girl, I was teachingmyself to play the piano.
Jenny (14:27):
And what is the tune that everyone learns to play?
Heart and Soul, right?
No one actually has heard thissong in forever.
They mostly just hear it on thepiano.
Caitlin (14:35):
Or if they're watching big.
Jenny (14:36):
Or if they're watching big right, the Jeopardy theme
song has the same chordprogression.
So if you are sitting at thepiano and playing Heart and Soul
as a duet and you happen tohave the top side, you should
switch to the Jeopardy themesong and blow your partner's
mind.
(14:57):
My dad taught me that there'squite a few songs that use that
same chord regression, butJeopardy is one of them.
Caitlin (15:04):
That's hysterical, yep, oh my, could you imagine like
you're just like here, let'splay together, and then you just
kind of like trip someone?
Jenny (15:11):
out.
Oh, I did it all the time.
Caitlin (15:14):
Yeah, that's really funny.
I love it.
I love it.
And then maybe your child willburst into song while you are
playing it, who knows?
Oh goodness, okay, all right,are we ready to move into some
real talk?
We got some heavy stuff to talkabout, I think.
(15:34):
So, yeah, let's do it Again.
As we mentioned at the top ofthe show, we're talking about
ways to take action if you'refeeling upset about recent
school violence.
We have some really practicaltips.
I'm going to really quicklygive a shout out to a few of the
places where I got thisinformation.
There's a Teen Vogue articleabout five ways to take action
(15:57):
after a school shooting.
Sandy Hook Promise, everytownSupport Fund, protect Our
Schools, make Our Schools Safeand March for Our Lives are all
places where I got theseresources, and we're going to
link all of these in thedescription today, and then
they'll also be in thedescription on our website, so
all of this will be available toyou if you'd like to learn a
little bit more and get somedetails, but we've got some good
(16:19):
details here that will behelpful.
Jenny (16:22):
Thank you.
I just want to say that hashtagblank strong or hashtag pray
for blank, it's just not asolution.
Okay, I understand that, likewe've kind of developed a
formula to respond to thesetypes of events that like, oh,
you put a picture up and youhashtag it blank strong and then
(16:44):
, like, you've fixed it, but Ireally think that's just part of
the problem.
Activism takes actual actionand sometimes that's going to
feel uncomfortable orcontroversial On my own.
I decided to do some researchabout prevention and what you
can do outside of change gunregulations, because I know that
(17:10):
this is a hotbed issue and forsome it's extremely emotional
and I want to be able to answerthe individuals who are very pro
second amendment and do notwant to see changes in gun
regulations.
That's not necessarily how Ibelieve, but I understand that
that can kind of end theconversation a lot.
(17:32):
So I did some research.
What I found was, truly, if youare not in favor of changing
our gun regulations right now,you have to put your money
towards mental health care.
It needs to be in both schoolsin the form of paying more
counselors.
Not just paying counselors moremoney, but paying for more of
(17:56):
them in each school, switchingto a four-day school week so
students have more time forreflection and working on
themselves, or youth programs inschools.
And then mental health in thecommunity helplines, parenting
support groups so that parentswho are noticing about their
children can come forwardwithout embarrassment.
(18:17):
And it needs to be more thanjust suicide prevention.
They need more support.
I know that you put together alist of different ways to take
action.
I just had to start withanswering what I feel is the
opposition and just saying thatif gun control is going to be a
showstopper for you, you havegot to help prevent the mental
(18:40):
health side of this.
Caitlin (18:41):
I agree, and there are plenty of people who are
responsible gun owners, who arenot okay with what's happening.
I agree.
I'm with you in that.
That's not necessarily like I'mmore in favor of stricter gun
control laws, but also Iunderstand that there are a lot
of responsible gun owners.
(19:02):
I know several, that there area lot of responsible gun owners,
I know several, and I'm notinterested in doing things that
completely polarize the entirecountry.
I just feel like this issomething that we should be able
to come together on, and so ifyou're not interested in
stricter gun control thencompletely agree that mental
health is the way to supportwhat's going on here, the way to
(19:23):
support what's going on here.
So I've got six ways that youcan take action.
The first one is to contactyour local legislators.
You can make your voice heardby talking to your local
lawmakers directly.
Everytown, which is a gunsafety advocacy group, again
(19:45):
linked in the description fortoday, offers an easy method to
contact your state senator.
It's basically like find yourstate and click and then you do
that.
That's amazing.
Ulobbycom.
Exactly.
Ulobbycom includes a featurewhere you can find the contact
numbers for your localrepresentative is really easily.
Don't just contact them once.
Contact them again, and againand again.
(20:08):
I highly recommend consideringto make a phone call as opposed
to an email or handwriting somesort of communication, In
addition to any emails that yousend.
Emails have filters and it isvery possible that someone in
(20:29):
your local legislator's officeis filtering out those emails so
that they're not a priority andthey don't get seen.
So, yes, it's in writing thatyou've sent that and that's a
great thing, but also makingadditional contact, contacting
additional ways, is important.
Jenny (20:47):
Right Double it up.
Caitlin (20:48):
Right, when I've contacted legislators, I send an
email and then I basically readthe email verbatim in a phone
call and I also add in a littlepiece of spite into the call and
I do, and I do, and I saythings like if you don't do take
(21:09):
action on this, regardless ofwho's running up against you, I
will throw every spare dollar Ihave towards your opponent.
Jenny (21:12):
Wow.
Caitlin (21:13):
Um, it's a little bit again.
It's a little bit spiteful, um,but I do follow through on that
.
So if I don't see actionhappening, I, you know I do do
that.
So the other thing is um,tiktok is a great resource for
this, but, um, there are plentyof others.
You can learn about how muchmoney is connected between the
NRA and certain politicians.
(21:35):
You can find that informationout.
It's public information.
Jenny (21:39):
Yeah, it has to be.
That's the drama that's goingdown right now is that there has
been some unpublicized amountsand that's not legal.
Caitlin (21:49):
Right.
So all of that.
When you contact your locallegislators, you can say things
like I know that you get thismuch money from the NRA.
I know that's why you're notmaking changes.
It is more impactful when youprovide a detail like that.
So that's one thing you can dois contact them and give them
all that information and letthem know that you're not happy
(22:10):
Because technically rememberthey are supposed to work for
you.
I know it feels like that.
They don't.
I understand that completely,but they do so, keeping that in
mind, another thing you can doitem two you can help the
victims and their familiesfinancially or by any other
means that they request.
After school shootings.
(22:31):
There are often fundraisersonline to help victims and their
families.
We saw this with Rob Elementaryin Uvalde.
There was a whole fund puttogether by a local bank in town
there and people werecontributing left and right.
We've seen it in other ways.
So if there is a GoFundMe orsomething that got set up, you
can definitely support in thatway if you feel like
(22:54):
contributing in that manner, andit's something that you can do
If you feel like contributing inthat manner and it's something
that you can do, and rememberthat the victims are not just
those who were killed, right,right.
Jenny (23:06):
That, to me, is part of this debate.
That's really, reallychallenging is also the victim
is the 14 yearold boy whowatched this happen in his
school 100%.
Or the four-year-old who'safraid to go to kindergarten
next year, like all of thesethings.
(23:28):
All of these people.
They're all affected bysomething like this.
Caitlin (23:33):
Their families, the families of the victims, but
also the families of thechildren who are now terrified
to go to school.
I recently saw a picture of abunch of students on a bus
crying up against the windows,like that is.
That was one of the momentsthat I started crying.
I've cried a lot about theseschool shootings and each one
(23:54):
feels closer and closer andcloser about these school
shootings and each one feelscloser and closer and closer.
And you know this.
I do have a personal connectionto a recent school shooting
that really kind of tore me up,and the pictures that I'm seeing
are just absolutely devastating.
And there are more victims thanjust the people who,
unfortunately, are tragicallytaken from us and their families
(24:16):
.
This affects entire communities, and also just teachers all
over the place are reallyfeeling affected by all of this.
So that's just something tothink about.
The third thing you can do islearn more about gun violence.
You can educate yourself aboutwhat gun violence in general
actually is, what it looks likeand how it goes beyond just the
(24:39):
mass shooting context.
I think we think about that alot in terms of people, but
there are other definitions thatneed to be aware of.
So think about how gun violenceaffects women.
According to Everytown, when agun is present in a domestic
violence setting which issomething that we know
disproportionately affects womena woman is five more times
(25:01):
likely to be killed in thatsituation.
Gun violence affects I know it'shuge.
Gun violence affects people ofcolor disproportionately.
We know that, in particular,black teens have been calling
for gun reform for years andyears.
You can know the signs ofpotential gun violence.
Sandy Hook Promise hasevidence-based programs to teach
(25:23):
people to know the signs andthat's one of their campaigns is
Know the Signs and how takeactions to prevent potential
problems.
That's a lot to learn, but eventaking on one of those things
(25:47):
will help you take action.
There's too much that will makeyou upset to not start taking
action right.
Jenny (25:54):
But also, learning in itself is an action, and
learning for learning sake,that's doing something.
Caitlin (26:01):
Absolutely true, you can.
A fourth thing you can do isadvocate for policy change.
This is something that you andI typically don't discuss this
sort of thing on this show, butif you feel so moved, you can do
things to things to make change.
One of them the first one, themost important one is register
(26:23):
to vote.
If you're not registered, andif you are registered and you're
not using that power, you needto start using it.
Typically, local elections getignored.
Don't ignore local elections,because those are the ones that
really impact you directly andimmediately.
People pay more attention innationwide elections or
(26:46):
statewide elections, but yourlocal ones matter just as much.
If you're upset by what ishappening with the school board,
go to the local election andmake change there.
If you're upset with what'shappening with your city taxes,
you need to vote in your localelections.
If you're upset with what'shappening with your city taxes,
you need to vote in your localelections.
If you're upset about what'shappening in the police realm in
your city, you need to vote inlocal elections.
(27:07):
So you need to make sure you'reregistered to vote and you need
to actually take action whenit's time to vote.
Jenny (27:13):
Yeah, you do.
Like you said, that's not justconnected to safety or school
violence concerns.
That's in general, knowingwhat's going on in your
neighborhood.
Caitlin (27:24):
Right, absolutely so.
Other policy changes you canadvocate for.
You can advocate for stoppingassault weapon sales.
You can advocate for backgroundchecks on gun sales.
You can advocate for mandatorypolicies on safe gun storage.
One thing that I've recentlylearned is that you can advocate
(27:47):
for extreme risk protectionorders.
I did not know this was a thing.
Jenny (27:51):
No, I didn't either.
Caitlin (27:52):
When someone is an adult I know this in a different
context right?
Like when someone is an adultlike, legally an adult you can't
.
If you're their parent, youcan't do things that might
protect them from themselves,right?
So like, if you know that yourchild needs mental health
support, you can't check theminto a facility because they are
legally an adult and they cantake care of themselves.
(28:13):
Right, I'm putting air quotesaround that take care of
themselves, right?
Themselves?
Right, I'm putting air quotesaround that take care of
themselves.
Right, but there are thingsthat you can do to try and
facilitate additional support ina mental health realm.
This is sort of similar to that.
So, in an extreme riskprotection order, what's going
on is basically, in mostinstances of gun violence, that
(28:36):
the individual who is committingthat violence showed signs that
they were at risk of hurtingthemselves or hurting others.
A lot of the times, after somesort of shooting incident, we'll
hear stories from friends andfamily members about signs that
the shooter exhibited.
Right?
So these red flags, um, if youknow them, you can stop them,
(29:02):
right?
Um?
So an extreme risk protectionorder it's an erpo empowers
family members and lawenforcement to prevent gun
violence and gun relatedsuicides by petitioning a court
to temporarily separate anat-risk individual from firearms
.
This is a civil proceeding,it's not a criminal proceeding,
(29:26):
and you're protecting theirSecond Amendment right while
also protecting the people whomight be impacted by the person
using that firearm, so it is athing you can do.
Again, knowing the signs andthen being able to take action
on those signs is a big deal.
So that's I didn't know thatwas a thing, but that is
something that you can advocatefor is for states to have ERPOs
(29:50):
in place.
Jenny (29:51):
And that goes back to that piece I talked about at the
beginning about offeringparental support.
It is not easy to recognizethese things in your child or in
your child's friends.
We need to know that it's safeto do that.
Caitlin (30:08):
Agree.
Another policy change that youcan advocate for in your state
is Alyssa's Law.
Alyssa's Law came out of theParkland shooting at Marjory
Stillman Douglas High School.
It's legislation related to theissue of law enforcement
response time when alife-threatening emergency
occurs.
Alyssa Al-Hadif was one of thevictims of the Marjory Stillman
shooting.
She could have survived hadhelp gotten to her in time, and
(30:32):
it didn't.
Her mother started Make OurSchools Safe.
Her name is L'Oreal Hadef andshe is a big advocate of these
policies that make sure thatthere is direct communication
between educators and lawenforcement.
(30:53):
So basically, the law calls forinstallation of silent panic
alarms that are directly linkedto law enforcement, so that when
there's an emergency, they arenotified immediately.
It's a very, very importantthing to be thinking about, and
I could go on a whole tangenthere, but I'm not going to do
that.
Jenny (31:09):
But that seems like also another change that you could
make if gun reform is notsomething you're interested in.
Caitlin (31:17):
Exactly, you can advocate for these sorts of
programs.
It's unfortunate that these areneeded, however right and don't
hear what I'm saying.
Jenny (31:25):
Right, like I, I did this research because I wanted to be
able to know what my oppositionwould do.
Right, right, because I I as ateacher, I as a teacher am in
favor of changing the storyRight, and I understand that
that's going to requirelegislation.
Caitlin (31:45):
Right, I do have information about particular
technology that can be veryhelpful here.
If you would like to know thatinformation, please do send me a
message and I will send you alink of something that I think
is very powerful that you canuse.
I would also say another thingthat you can advocate for is
actual policy change in yourschool district.
Again, local elections matter,but this is when, if you are a
(32:07):
parent with a loud voice, thiswill help Learn what the safety
policies are in place in yourdistrict and in your school.
Ask those questions right, andwhen you learn what they are, if
you happen to see some sort ofinteraction where they are not
used, you need to question them.
(32:28):
Here's what I mean.
If you know your school, yourchild's school has a system in
place where you are supposed tosign in and then sign out when
you go into the school and whenyou leave.
If you are allowed to leave orallowed to enter without signing
(32:48):
in or out, you need to say isthere a reason that I wasn't
made to do X, y, z, right?
You need to make sure that youquestion it, because there are
several parents I've interactedwith who get upset when they
have to go into a building andsign their child out.
Those safety policies are inplace for a reason, okay, by
(33:09):
violating them, there's aloophole there that can be taken
advantage of and you need toquestion it.
You need to make sure you arefollowing all the school safety
policies and when they are notused in front of you, you need
to speak up.
Jenny (33:22):
Right.
To me also, that means that youneed to adhere to these
policies.
Caitlin (33:29):
A hundred percent.
Jenny (33:31):
So if your school has a locking front door, don't hold
it open for someone else.
Nope, nope, because not only doyou need to question when
they're not being used properly,you need to adhere to them and
not fight with them.
The reason that those policiesexist is because that is the
(33:51):
school's attempt at keepingchildren safe.
Caitlin (33:54):
The other thing that you can do within your school
district.
Elisa's law is coming for many,many, many states.
The Make Our Schools Safeorganization is advocating for
this to be a nationwide policy.
It's already in effect inFlorida, in New York and it's
coming in Texas.
It's like on the docket.
So you can ask what are thepolicies that you have that will
(34:16):
put you in compliance withELISA's law at the district
level, and they should know whatyou're talking about.
It's another way to, justwithin your school district, ask
those questions.
Okay, a fifth thing you can doto take action is contribute to
organizations doing the work.
Now, not everyone has time to dothese things that we've listed
(34:37):
so far, right, right, but somepeople who are lacking in time
are not lacking in cash, and Iunderstand that you might be
lacking in both.
Completely get that.
I have been there and I amstill there, so I get it.
That said, they will use everynickel and dime that you send.
So I've got a bunch oforganizations Again.
(34:58):
I've already mentioned themonce, but I'm going to say them
again here.
Every Town, protect Our Schools,sandy Hook, promise, make Our
Schools Safe and March for OurLives are all excellent
organizations that are actuallydoing the work with these
advocacy changes that we'vetalked about so far.
There are other ways to givethat don't involve cash.
Many of them have hashtags orvolunteer opportunities and
(35:21):
other meaningful ways tocontribute that are listed on
their websites.
Again, you can find those inthe show description for today.
And the last thing that you cando and this is one that I
didn't see in a lot of places,but I did find it in one
resource as I was researchingfor this Don't stop talking
about it.
I know it's sad and it'sdepressing and nobody wants to
(35:42):
think about these things, butthe reason that we are so numb
to it is because it keepshappening and we stop talking
about it.
And, yes, it becomes a hottopic immediately after a school
shooting, but then or aftersome other mass killing you know
there's that concert in Vegas,like all of it becomes a huge
(36:05):
deal in those situations.
I understand that, but then afew days later, people have
moved on.
Jenny (36:12):
Right, right.
That's kind of where mycomments about the tweeting came
from.
Right, like hashtag whoeverstrong.
Yeah it's cool, but you knowyou tweet that out once the next
day and then you don't talkabout it again.
Caitlin (36:27):
This needs to be something that's front of mind,
that's where, if you are goingto tweet about it and you are
going to use hashtags, that'swhere you can keep the
conversation going.
Jenny (36:37):
Right.
Keep tweeting about it, don'tjust do it once, exactly,
exactly.
Caitlin (36:46):
Exactly, exactly One time you changing the color of
your profile right, include alink to an advocacy route or
include a link to a to a fund.
Do something like that anddon't stop talking about it,
because and this is going to bemy final thought on this but
it's important that we continueto fight for this Um, not just
in the immediate, you know,right after this sort of thing
happens, but just keep going.
(37:06):
We can make changes if we justkeep pushing it.
Your legislators they have tolisten to you.
They have to, because if theydon't, you don't vote for them.
That's how that works.
So it's the only way that we'regoing to see any real change.
Any real progress is if youcontinue to make your voices
(37:29):
heard, and you need to be louderthan the people who don't seem
to have empathy for these sortsof situations and for the people
who are left trying to pick upthe pieces of their lives after
this kind of thing happens.
You need to be louder than them.
Those are my six things.
I'm going to recap them realquick here.
So the first thing that you cando to advocate or to make
(37:53):
change, to take action afterthis, is contact your local
legislatures.
You can help the victims andtheir families financially, you
can learn more about gunviolence, you can advocate for
policy changes, you cancontribute to organizations
doing the work, and please don'tstop talking about it.
So my call to action for thisepisode is going to be check out
(38:13):
one of the links in the showdescription and see if there's
something that you can do rightnow.
Jenny (38:21):
Right and don't let politics get in the way of
keeping our schools safe.
Absolutely true.
It doesn't matter where youland on the political spectrum.
Everyone is in favor ofchildren coming home at the end
of the day.
Caitlin (38:35):
Every single person wants that.
Jenny (38:37):
Okay, make good choices.
Caitlin (38:39):
And let's work together to make schools a safe place.
Bye, bye.
Warning.
This episode discusses schoolviolence, a sensitive topic that
may be triggering for somelisteners In the wake of recent
tragedies at Annunciation Churchand Catholic School in
Minneapolis and Evergreen HighSchool in Colorado.
We're bringing back an episodethat feels heartbreakingly
relevant.
If you're feeling helpless andangry right now, you're not
(00:22):
alone.
But here's what I know aboutthe women who listen to this
show you don't stay helpless forlong.
This episode originally fromApril 2023, walks you through
concrete steps you can take toadvocate for safer schools.
We're talking effectiveadvocacy strategies, policy
changes that actually work andmeaningful ways to support
(00:43):
affected families.
Your anger matters, your voicematters, and there are real
things you can do with both.
Let's turn your fury intoaction and honor these victims
by fighting for the saferschools our children deserve.
(01:18):
Let's get started.
Also, events that happened inDenver.
So today we have six ways thatyou can take action if you're
feeling a little helpless afterrecent school violence.
So this is a trigger warningnow.
If you can't listen tosomething like this, we totally
understand.
We just wanted to prepare youfor what we're going to be
(01:40):
talking about today.
Thank you for joining us andhopefully you learned something
that you can apply and take someaction if you're feeling a
little frustrated with what'sgoing on in schools right now.
Jenny (01:51):
Right, and if this is your first time to listen to our
show and you are looking forsomething upbeat, go back to
episode 31.
That's one of my favorites.
Caitlin (02:02):
Or really any of the other episodes we've done
recently Totally digestiblebites of like fun and learning
and we appreciate.
You know, if this is your firstepisode with us and you want to
listen, we appreciate it, butalso if you're just really
feeling like it's going to betoo heavy.
31 is great, but so are theothers, so we encourage you to
go there.
Jenny (02:23):
All right.
So with me is Caitlin.
She's a former teacher who nowworks in educational technology
and sadly that's an industrywhere a big part of it is
developing devices to keep kidsand teachers safe against
violence.
Caitlin (02:39):
It's true, yep, and I have to go light on this.
The reason that we can do thisepisode and the reason that I
can handle these heavy momentsis because Jenny, my host, is my
rainbow infused space unicorn,and she just is, and she makes
(03:00):
me feel better, she makes melaugh, and that's that's how I
can do these.
So thank you for being myrainbow infused space unicorn,
jenny.
Jenny (03:08):
I mean, I love this space part right.
I wonder is a space unicornlike used to space so it doesn't
need a helmet, or does it needa helmet?
I don't know.
Caitlin (03:19):
I think that's open for interpretation.
I think, however, the imagecomes together in your mind is
totally appropriate.
Jenny (03:25):
Okay, there's a space suit.
Well, just because this episodeis serious and it's tackling a
topic that, unfortunately, wefeel the need to address a
second time, I do think thatthere's still humor and great
things in our lives.
So, before we tackle somethingsuper heavy, let's spend some
(03:47):
time catching up and talk aboutwhat's happening in our world.
Caitlin (03:50):
Totally.
Jenny (03:51):
Let me tell you right now what I'm obsessed with.
Do it People who Google thingson Facebook.
Okay, I don't know if youremember, but like um text from
last night or my life is average.
You know, those types ofconglomerations of lots of funny
(04:12):
things, right.
Caitlin (04:13):
Um right now.
Jenny (04:15):
I am loving the questions that people have put on
Facebook, thinking that it'sGoogle.
Okay, someone in ourneighborhood group actually put
up is a one I actually saw inreal life.
This is real.
Is dallas worth visiting?
Oh no, it's like what.
(04:35):
What do you like to do?
How far away are you?
Right do you know, Like theseare all pieces of information we
need to know Is Dallas worthvisiting?
I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, probably.
Caitlin (04:51):
Also, this person is in your neighborhood.
Facebook group In myneighborhood, yes, so like
they're two and a half hoursaway from Dallas, Two hours away
from Dallas, Like oh goodness,Okay, Like what goodness Okay,
Like what is happening right now.
Jenny (05:07):
Okay.
And then we've seen people likeis it going to rain today?
What's the high?
Like you don't need to put thatin Facebook, but my favorite so
far I've seen this one.
It was in a group.
In fact, the person who postedit in the group I know
(05:27):
personally.
Oh no, I'm looking forrecommendations for the best
mobile hibachi catering companythat comes to you.
Caitlin (05:40):
Mobile hibachi.
Jenny (05:43):
Like Benihana at your house yeah okay, how many of
those places even exist in ourcity and how would you know
which one is best?
Caitlin (05:53):
yeah, this is weird.
Also, are we sure that they'renot just like asking the
neighborhood group for like arecommendation?
I mean, I guess that's whatNextdoor is for right, but like
this is so so niche.
Jenny (06:06):
Odd Like yeah, mobile hibachi catering company.
I imagine that if you Googlethat with the word Austin,
you're only going to get one ortwo results, right?
Caitlin (06:18):
If that right or all the results are going to be like
, come to Benihana and then, ontop of that, the best mobile
Apache Right.
Yeah, I think if they exist,they, by default, would be the
best Pretty much Like the factthat they haven't gone out of
business would imply that theyare the best.
Jenny (06:38):
Yes, so shout out to the person who asked that I know you
and I care about you.
But that is really funny, okay.
Caitlin (06:46):
Yeah, that's strange.
Okay, well, I'm going to throwin my current obsession.
It's going to sound a littlebit sad, but it's really not.
We you and I are both prettyopen about mental health
struggles that we've had in thepast, and I've recently started
a round of antidepressants.
And my first attempt at this uh, you know this I I had an
(07:10):
allergic reaction to and brokeout into hives every day for two
weeks.
It was horrible and I'd onlytaken the pills for like four
days.
So, like after I stopped takingthem, and now I have hives
Right and I can't stopscratching because they are the
itchiest hives.
And I didn't know that I wasallergic to them.
(07:33):
I didn't know that.
I kept swearing up and downthere's mosquitoes in this house
, Like what's good, and no, no,no, like no one else was getting
bitten, and I had these giantwelts on my.
Yeah, it was horrible, butwe've.
I stopped taking them and Iswitched to something different
and I am titrating onto them now.
(07:54):
I am clearly noticing adifference in how I'm feeling
after being on them for three orfour weeks.
Jenny (08:01):
That's awesome.
I'm so happy for you for threeor four weeks.
Caitlin (08:04):
That's awesome.
I'm so happy for you.
Yeah, it's just, it's somethingthat has been a struggle for me
for a while and I'm just veryglad to finally be taking the
right steps in the rightdirection towards making myself
feel more like myself again.
So that's a really great thing.
And if you ever want to talkabout it, if you're a listener
and you just feel like you knowyou want to be, you want us to
(08:26):
talk more openly about thisstuff, we're happy to do it.
But you know, DM us or whatever, but I'm happy to share what's
going on with me.
Jenny (08:34):
So please, name a pill and I've probably tried it.
Caitlin (08:38):
Right.
I saw a meme the other day.
It was like how it started,started and it was like kids
playing that mancala game whereyou like move the beans around
the board right, and then it'show it's going now, or how it's
how it's ended or whatever, andit's like an adult putting pills
into one of those pill sortersfor the week, which made me
(08:58):
laugh out loud because that isone of my and I have so many
pills in that thing that I use.
I have a week-long thing.
It has my AM pills and my PMpills and it's just like I've
taken so many different thingsand I'm happy to talk about them
, but I'm just really glad to befeeling better now that I'm on
(09:20):
an antidepressant that seems tobe helping me out.
Jenny (09:23):
That's awesome.
Feeling better now that I'm onan antidepressant that seems to
be helping me out that's awesome.
I'm so happy for you as someonewho just got off something that
was highly addictive and movingtowards something that doesn't
make me wake up in the middle ofthe night if I forget to take
it.
It's great when you find theright thing for you Totally.
But what's great for you mightnot be great for me, and so we
have to keep that in mind.
(09:43):
You know, give yourself graceIf your friend is on something
that's making them feel reallygreat and it didn't work for you
, that's okay.
Everybody's brain chemistry isdifferent.
Totally All right.
So here comes the best part ofthe show for me, the gem of the
week.
This is the part where you caneither laugh alongside me or at
(10:04):
me.
It doesn't matter.
But today's gem is not even somuch funny as it is like, yes, I
love it.
I woke up in the middle of thenight earlier this week and it
was not the.
Wake up in the middle of thenight and be like oh, I'm
totally'm, I'm totally rested.
Oh wait, I can still go back tosleep.
That's amazing.
(10:24):
No, it's the.
It can't be time to get up yetwhy am I awake?
And I look at the clock and itsays 2 31.
I say, okay, I got about threeand a half hours before I have
to actually be awake.
Maybe I could drift back tosleep.
Put on a podcast, do somethingto help me fall asleep.
Maybe I could drift back tosleep.
Put on a podcast, do somethingto help me fall asleep.
And then I take a drink of theglass of water on my bedside
(10:46):
table and see the one it's only1231.
Caitlin (10:53):
It was so great, that is the best.
That is the best.
I will often just lie there andI'm like I know, I know my
alarm's going to go off in 10minutes.
I just know it, I just know it,I just know it.
And then I actually, and I, soI don't look at the clock right,
and then I roll over and I'mlike, oh my god, I have an hour
and a half and it's so great,that is the best feeling like 12
(11:16):
, 31, 12, 31, all right, I canget, I can get for an hour now
this is not a problem, right,amazing, oh, I love it.
That's the best feeling.
I'm so glad that happened toyou.
It's like finding a 20 in yourpocket.
(11:49):
It's so good.
Oh, I love that.
Oh, my goodness, okay, okay,well, we are officially turning
into old people, and by we Imean myself and and maybe my
husband too, I don't know butall of a sudden, um Jeopardy and
Wheel of Fortune havere-entered my life.
So it's like we'll be like athome in the evening and then
like there's nothing on tv andand like somehow wheel of
(12:10):
fortune ends up on thetelevision and I don't know how.
But it's been really like kindof fun to just kind of go back
in time a little bit and alsopat say jack, how do you still
look exactly the same, like Idon't understand this.
Jenny (12:24):
There is a picture of him in someone's attic.
I'm sure this is a dorian graything.
It's him and john stamosthere's like right, and paul
rudd like what are you doing?
Yeah, paul.
Caitlin (12:37):
He's aging in reverse.
That's a different situation,right?
Exactly he's.
I don't know what he's doing,but something, something good,
because he's, he looks amazinganyway.
Um, so there will be times whenrise and I are just like telling
answers to the tv, as you dowhen you're watching wheel of
fortune.
Everyone does that, and we'rewatching, we look at sam and his
(12:57):
mind is just completely blown.
Like every time we get it right, he's like Whoa, how did you
know?
And it like I feel so smart andalso, at the same time, it's so
good.
I feel so smart.
I don't understand why I canguess the wheel of fortune clues
(13:17):
before my first grader.
But also it feels really goodwhen you guess it before the
person on the television, right,like that's when you're like I
am a genius, but then also,along with Wheel of Fortune, is
now Jeopardy in our lives again,right.
So, and if you really want tofeel smart, get a Jeopardy clue
right before someone buzzes inlike you'll feel like a genius,
(13:39):
okay, so that's harder for me.
I don't usually do as well.
So the other night I'm in bedwith Sam trying to, like you
know, we're, we're doing thebedtime thing and calming each
other down and all of a suddenhe just starts singing and you
know he sings a lot Like this isa thing in our house.
He will just randomly burstinto song, which is amazing.
(14:01):
It's like living in a musical.
And he'll the other day he'slike and I'm like what are you
doing?
And he just goes where is thatsong from?
Like, oh my gosh.
So he's singing the jeopardytheme song that's hilarious in
bed as he's trying to fallasleep, okay so when I was a
(14:23):
little girl, I was teachingmyself to play the piano.
Jenny (14:27):
And what is the tune that everyone learns to play?
Heart and Soul, right?
No one actually has heard thissong in forever.
They mostly just hear it on thepiano.
Caitlin (14:35):
Or if they're watching big.
Jenny (14:36):
Or if they're watching big right, the Jeopardy theme
song has the same chordprogression.
So if you are sitting at thepiano and playing Heart and Soul
as a duet and you happen tohave the top side, you should
switch to the Jeopardy themesong and blow your partner's
mind.
(14:57):
My dad taught me that there'squite a few songs that use that
same chord regression, butJeopardy is one of them.
Caitlin (15:04):
That's hysterical, yep, oh my, could you imagine like
you're just like here, let'splay together, and then you just
kind of like trip someone?
Jenny (15:11):
out.
Oh, I did it all the time.
Caitlin (15:14):
Yeah, that's really funny.
I love it.
I love it.
And then maybe your child willburst into song while you are
playing it, who knows?
Oh goodness, okay, all right,are we ready to move into some
real talk?
We got some heavy stuff to talkabout, I think.
(15:34):
So, yeah, let's do it Again.
As we mentioned at the top ofthe show, we're talking about
ways to take action if you'refeeling upset about recent
school violence.
We have some really practicaltips.
I'm going to really quicklygive a shout out to a few of the
places where I got thisinformation.
There's a Teen Vogue articleabout five ways to take action
(15:57):
after a school shooting.
Sandy Hook Promise, everytownSupport Fund, protect Our
Schools, make Our Schools Safeand March for Our Lives are all
places where I got theseresources, and we're going to
link all of these in thedescription today, and then
they'll also be in thedescription on our website, so
all of this will be available toyou if you'd like to learn a
little bit more and get somedetails, but we've got some good
(16:19):
details here that will behelpful.
Jenny (16:22):
Thank you.
I just want to say that hashtagblank strong or hashtag pray
for blank, it's just not asolution.
Okay, I understand that, likewe've kind of developed a
formula to respond to thesetypes of events that like, oh,
you put a picture up and youhashtag it blank strong and then
(16:44):
, like, you've fixed it, but Ireally think that's just part of
the problem.
Activism takes actual actionand sometimes that's going to
feel uncomfortable orcontroversial On my own.
I decided to do some researchabout prevention and what you
can do outside of change gunregulations, because I know that
(17:10):
this is a hotbed issue and forsome it's extremely emotional
and I want to be able to answerthe individuals who are very pro
second amendment and do notwant to see changes in gun
regulations.
That's not necessarily how Ibelieve, but I understand that
that can kind of end theconversation a lot.
(17:32):
So I did some research.
What I found was, truly, if youare not in favor of changing
our gun regulations right now,you have to put your money
towards mental health care.
It needs to be in both schoolsin the form of paying more
counselors.
Not just paying counselors moremoney, but paying for more of
(17:56):
them in each school, switchingto a four-day school week so
students have more time forreflection and working on
themselves, or youth programs inschools.
And then mental health in thecommunity helplines, parenting
support groups so that parentswho are noticing about their
children can come forwardwithout embarrassment.
(18:17):
And it needs to be more thanjust suicide prevention.
They need more support.
I know that you put together alist of different ways to take
action.
I just had to start withanswering what I feel is the
opposition and just saying thatif gun control is going to be a
showstopper for you, you havegot to help prevent the mental
(18:40):
health side of this.
Caitlin (18:41):
I agree, and there are plenty of people who are
responsible gun owners, who arenot okay with what's happening.
I agree.
I'm with you in that.
That's not necessarily like I'mmore in favor of stricter gun
control laws, but also Iunderstand that there are a lot
of responsible gun owners.
(19:02):
I know several, that there area lot of responsible gun owners,
I know several, and I'm notinterested in doing things that
completely polarize the entirecountry.
I just feel like this issomething that we should be able
to come together on, and so ifyou're not interested in
stricter gun control thencompletely agree that mental
health is the way to supportwhat's going on here, the way to
(19:23):
support what's going on here.
So I've got six ways that youcan take action.
The first one is to contactyour local legislators.
You can make your voice heardby talking to your local
lawmakers directly.
Everytown, which is a gunsafety advocacy group, again
(19:45):
linked in the description fortoday, offers an easy method to
contact your state senator.
It's basically like find yourstate and click and then you do
that.
That's amazing.
Ulobbycom.
Exactly.
Ulobbycom includes a featurewhere you can find the contact
numbers for your localrepresentative is really easily.
Don't just contact them once.
Contact them again, and againand again.
(20:08):
I highly recommend consideringto make a phone call as opposed
to an email or handwriting somesort of communication, In
addition to any emails that yousend.
Emails have filters and it isvery possible that someone in
(20:29):
your local legislator's officeis filtering out those emails so
that they're not a priority andthey don't get seen.
So, yes, it's in writing thatyou've sent that and that's a
great thing, but also makingadditional contact, contacting
additional ways, is important.
Jenny (20:47):
Right Double it up.
Caitlin (20:48):
Right, when I've contacted legislators, I send an
email and then I basically readthe email verbatim in a phone
call and I also add in a littlepiece of spite into the call and
I do, and I do, and I saythings like if you don't do take
(21:09):
action on this, regardless ofwho's running up against you, I
will throw every spare dollar Ihave towards your opponent.
Jenny (21:12):
Wow.
Caitlin (21:13):
Um, it's a little bit again.
It's a little bit spiteful, um,but I do follow through on that
.
So if I don't see actionhappening, I, you know I do do
that.
So the other thing is um,tiktok is a great resource for
this, but, um, there are plentyof others.
You can learn about how muchmoney is connected between the
NRA and certain politicians.
(21:35):
You can find that informationout.
It's public information.
Jenny (21:39):
Yeah, it has to be.
That's the drama that's goingdown right now is that there has
been some unpublicized amountsand that's not legal.
Caitlin (21:49):
Right.
So all of that.
When you contact your locallegislators, you can say things
like I know that you get thismuch money from the NRA.
I know that's why you're notmaking changes.
It is more impactful when youprovide a detail like that.
So that's one thing you can dois contact them and give them
all that information and letthem know that you're not happy
(22:10):
Because technically rememberthey are supposed to work for
you.
I know it feels like that.
They don't.
I understand that completely,but they do so, keeping that in
mind, another thing you can doitem two you can help the
victims and their familiesfinancially or by any other
means that they request.
After school shootings.
(22:31):
There are often fundraisersonline to help victims and their
families.
We saw this with Rob Elementaryin Uvalde.
There was a whole fund puttogether by a local bank in town
there and people werecontributing left and right.
We've seen it in other ways.
So if there is a GoFundMe orsomething that got set up, you
can definitely support in thatway if you feel like
(22:54):
contributing in that manner, andit's something that you can do
If you feel like contributing inthat manner and it's something
that you can do, and rememberthat the victims are not just
those who were killed, right,right.
Jenny (23:06):
That, to me, is part of this debate.
That's really, reallychallenging is also the victim
is the 14 yearold boy whowatched this happen in his
school 100%.
Or the four-year-old who'safraid to go to kindergarten
next year, like all of thesethings.
(23:28):
All of these people.
They're all affected bysomething like this.
Caitlin (23:33):
Their families, the families of the victims, but
also the families of thechildren who are now terrified
to go to school.
I recently saw a picture of abunch of students on a bus
crying up against the windows,like that is.
That was one of the momentsthat I started crying.
I've cried a lot about theseschool shootings and each one
(23:54):
feels closer and closer andcloser about these school
shootings and each one feelscloser and closer and closer.
And you know this.
I do have a personal connectionto a recent school shooting
that really kind of tore me up,and the pictures that I'm seeing
are just absolutely devastating.
And there are more victims thanjust the people who,
unfortunately, are tragicallytaken from us and their families
(24:16):
.
This affects entire communities, and also just teachers all
over the place are reallyfeeling affected by all of this.
So that's just something tothink about.
The third thing you can do islearn more about gun violence.
You can educate yourself aboutwhat gun violence in general
actually is, what it looks likeand how it goes beyond just the
(24:39):
mass shooting context.
I think we think about that alot in terms of people, but
there are other definitions thatneed to be aware of.
So think about how gun violenceaffects women.
According to Everytown, when agun is present in a domestic
violence setting which issomething that we know
disproportionately affects womena woman is five more times
(25:01):
likely to be killed in thatsituation.
Gun violence affects I know it'shuge.
Gun violence affects people ofcolor disproportionately.
We know that, in particular,black teens have been calling
for gun reform for years andyears.
You can know the signs ofpotential gun violence.
Sandy Hook Promise hasevidence-based programs to teach
(25:23):
people to know the signs andthat's one of their campaigns is
Know the Signs and how takeactions to prevent potential
problems.
That's a lot to learn, but eventaking on one of those things
(25:47):
will help you take action.
There's too much that will makeyou upset to not start taking
action right.
Jenny (25:54):
But also, learning in itself is an action, and
learning for learning sake,that's doing something.
Caitlin (26:01):
Absolutely true, you can.
A fourth thing you can do isadvocate for policy change.
This is something that you andI typically don't discuss this
sort of thing on this show, butif you feel so moved, you can do
things to things to make change.
One of them the first one, themost important one is register
(26:23):
to vote.
If you're not registered, andif you are registered and you're
not using that power, you needto start using it.
Typically, local elections getignored.
Don't ignore local elections,because those are the ones that
really impact you directly andimmediately.
People pay more attention innationwide elections or
(26:46):
statewide elections, but yourlocal ones matter just as much.
If you're upset by what ishappening with the school board,
go to the local election andmake change there.
If you're upset with what'shappening with your city taxes,
you need to vote in your localelections.
If you're upset with what'shappening with your city taxes,
you need to vote in your localelections.
If you're upset about what'shappening in the police realm in
your city, you need to vote inlocal elections.
(27:07):
So you need to make sure you'reregistered to vote and you need
to actually take action whenit's time to vote.
Jenny (27:13):
Yeah, you do.
Like you said, that's not justconnected to safety or school
violence concerns.
That's in general, knowingwhat's going on in your
neighborhood.
Caitlin (27:24):
Right, absolutely so.
Other policy changes you canadvocate for.
You can advocate for stoppingassault weapon sales.
You can advocate for backgroundchecks on gun sales.
You can advocate for mandatorypolicies on safe gun storage.
One thing that I've recentlylearned is that you can advocate
(27:47):
for extreme risk protectionorders.
I did not know this was a thing.
Jenny (27:51):
No, I didn't either.
Caitlin (27:52):
When someone is an adult I know this in a different
context right?
Like when someone is an adultlike, legally an adult you can't
.
If you're their parent, youcan't do things that might
protect them from themselves,right?
So like, if you know that yourchild needs mental health
support, you can't check theminto a facility because they are
legally an adult and they cantake care of themselves.
(28:13):
Right, I'm putting air quotesaround that take care of
themselves, right?
Themselves?
Right, I'm putting air quotesaround that take care of
themselves.
Right, but there are thingsthat you can do to try and
facilitate additional support ina mental health realm.
This is sort of similar to that.
So, in an extreme riskprotection order, what's going
on is basically, in mostinstances of gun violence, that
(28:36):
the individual who is committingthat violence showed signs that
they were at risk of hurtingthemselves or hurting others.
A lot of the times, after somesort of shooting incident, we'll
hear stories from friends andfamily members about signs that
the shooter exhibited.
Right?
So these red flags, um, if youknow them, you can stop them,
(29:02):
right?
Um?
So an extreme risk protectionorder it's an erpo empowers
family members and lawenforcement to prevent gun
violence and gun relatedsuicides by petitioning a court
to temporarily separate anat-risk individual from firearms
.
This is a civil proceeding,it's not a criminal proceeding,
(29:26):
and you're protecting theirSecond Amendment right while
also protecting the people whomight be impacted by the person
using that firearm, so it is athing you can do.
Again, knowing the signs andthen being able to take action
on those signs is a big deal.
So that's I didn't know thatwas a thing, but that is
something that you can advocatefor is for states to have ERPOs
(29:50):
in place.
Jenny (29:51):
And that goes back to that piece I talked about at the
beginning about offeringparental support.
It is not easy to recognizethese things in your child or in
your child's friends.
We need to know that it's safeto do that.
Caitlin (30:08):
Agree.
Another policy change that youcan advocate for in your state
is Alyssa's Law.
Alyssa's Law came out of theParkland shooting at Marjory
Stillman Douglas High School.
It's legislation related to theissue of law enforcement
response time when alife-threatening emergency
occurs.
Alyssa Al-Hadif was one of thevictims of the Marjory Stillman
shooting.
She could have survived hadhelp gotten to her in time, and
(30:32):
it didn't.
Her mother started Make OurSchools Safe.
Her name is L'Oreal Hadef andshe is a big advocate of these
policies that make sure thatthere is direct communication
between educators and lawenforcement.
(30:53):
So basically, the law calls forinstallation of silent panic
alarms that are directly linkedto law enforcement, so that when
there's an emergency, they arenotified immediately.
It's a very, very importantthing to be thinking about, and
I could go on a whole tangenthere, but I'm not going to do
that.
Jenny (31:09):
But that seems like also another change that you could
make if gun reform is notsomething you're interested in.
Caitlin (31:17):
Exactly, you can advocate for these sorts of
programs.
It's unfortunate that these areneeded, however right and don't
hear what I'm saying.
Jenny (31:25):
Right, like I, I did this research because I wanted to be
able to know what my oppositionwould do.
Right, right, because I I as ateacher, I as a teacher am in
favor of changing the storyRight, and I understand that
that's going to requirelegislation.
Caitlin (31:45):
Right, I do have information about particular
technology that can be veryhelpful here.
If you would like to know thatinformation, please do send me a
message and I will send you alink of something that I think
is very powerful that you canuse.
I would also say another thingthat you can advocate for is
actual policy change in yourschool district.
Again, local elections matter,but this is when, if you are a
(32:07):
parent with a loud voice, thiswill help Learn what the safety
policies are in place in yourdistrict and in your school.
Ask those questions right, andwhen you learn what they are, if
you happen to see some sort ofinteraction where they are not
used, you need to question them.
(32:28):
Here's what I mean.
If you know your school, yourchild's school has a system in
place where you are supposed tosign in and then sign out when
you go into the school and whenyou leave.
If you are allowed to leave orallowed to enter without signing
(32:48):
in or out, you need to say isthere a reason that I wasn't
made to do X, y, z, right?
You need to make sure that youquestion it, because there are
several parents I've interactedwith who get upset when they
have to go into a building andsign their child out.
Those safety policies are inplace for a reason, okay, by
(33:09):
violating them, there's aloophole there that can be taken
advantage of and you need toquestion it.
You need to make sure you arefollowing all the school safety
policies and when they are notused in front of you, you need
to speak up.
Jenny (33:22):
Right.
To me also, that means that youneed to adhere to these
policies.
Caitlin (33:29):
A hundred percent.
Jenny (33:31):
So if your school has a locking front door, don't hold
it open for someone else.
Nope, nope, because not only doyou need to question when
they're not being used properly,you need to adhere to them and
not fight with them.
The reason that those policiesexist is because that is the
(33:51):
school's attempt at keepingchildren safe.
Caitlin (33:54):
The other thing that you can do within your school
district.
Elisa's law is coming for many,many, many states.
The Make Our Schools Safeorganization is advocating for
this to be a nationwide policy.
It's already in effect inFlorida, in New York and it's
coming in Texas.
It's like on the docket.
So you can ask what are thepolicies that you have that will
(34:16):
put you in compliance withELISA's law at the district
level, and they should know whatyou're talking about.
It's another way to, justwithin your school district, ask
those questions.
Okay, a fifth thing you can doto take action is contribute to
organizations doing the work.
Now, not everyone has time to dothese things that we've listed
(34:37):
so far, right, right, but somepeople who are lacking in time
are not lacking in cash, and Iunderstand that you might be
lacking in both.
Completely get that.
I have been there and I amstill there, so I get it.
That said, they will use everynickel and dime that you send.
So I've got a bunch oforganizations Again.
(34:58):
I've already mentioned themonce, but I'm going to say them
again here.
Every Town, protect Our Schools,sandy Hook, promise, make Our
Schools Safe and March for OurLives are all excellent
organizations that are actuallydoing the work with these
advocacy changes that we'vetalked about so far.
There are other ways to givethat don't involve cash.
Many of them have hashtags orvolunteer opportunities and
(35:21):
other meaningful ways tocontribute that are listed on
their websites.
Again, you can find those inthe show description for today.
And the last thing that you cando and this is one that I
didn't see in a lot of places,but I did find it in one
resource as I was researchingfor this Don't stop talking
about it.
I know it's sad and it'sdepressing and nobody wants to
(35:42):
think about these things, butthe reason that we are so numb
to it is because it keepshappening and we stop talking
about it.
And, yes, it becomes a hottopic immediately after a school
shooting, but then or aftersome other mass killing you know
there's that concert in Vegas,like all of it becomes a huge
(36:05):
deal in those situations.
I understand that, but then afew days later, people have
moved on.
Jenny (36:12):
Right, right.
That's kind of where mycomments about the tweeting came
from.
Right, like hashtag whoeverstrong.
Yeah it's cool, but you knowyou tweet that out once the next
day and then you don't talkabout it again.
Caitlin (36:27):
This needs to be something that's front of mind,
that's where, if you are goingto tweet about it and you are
going to use hashtags, that'swhere you can keep the
conversation going.
Jenny (36:37):
Right.
Keep tweeting about it, don'tjust do it once, exactly,
exactly.
Caitlin (36:46):
Exactly, exactly One time you changing the color of
your profile right, include alink to an advocacy route or
include a link to a to a fund.
Do something like that anddon't stop talking about it,
because and this is going to bemy final thought on this but
it's important that we continueto fight for this Um, not just
in the immediate, you know,right after this sort of thing
happens, but just keep going.
(37:06):
We can make changes if we justkeep pushing it.
Your legislators they have tolisten to you.
They have to, because if theydon't, you don't vote for them.
That's how that works.
So it's the only way that we'regoing to see any real change.
Any real progress is if youcontinue to make your voices
(37:29):
heard, and you need to be louderthan the people who don't seem
to have empathy for these sortsof situations and for the people
who are left trying to pick upthe pieces of their lives after
this kind of thing happens.
You need to be louder than them.
Those are my six things.
I'm going to recap them realquick here.
So the first thing that you cando to advocate or to make
(37:53):
change, to take action afterthis, is contact your local
legislatures.
You can help the victims andtheir families financially, you
can learn more about gunviolence, you can advocate for
policy changes, you cancontribute to organizations
doing the work, and please don'tstop talking about it.
So my call to action for thisepisode is going to be check out
(38:13):
one of the links in the showdescription and see if there's
something that you can do rightnow.
Jenny (38:21):
Right and don't let politics get in the way of
keeping our schools safe.
Absolutely true.
It doesn't matter where youland on the political spectrum.
Everyone is in favor ofchildren coming home at the end
of the day.
Caitlin (38:35):
Every single person wants that.
Jenny (38:37):
Okay, make good choices.
Caitlin (38:39):
And let's work together to make schools a safe place.
Bye, bye.
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