Since 2018, there have been nearly 2,000 school shooting incidents in the United States, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. I will repeat that one more time: there have been nearly 2,000 school shooting incidents in the past 8 years. That is an average of 250 school shootings each year. The general length of a school year is 180 days. There have been more school shootings than days of school.
Following each shooting, society moves on quicker and quicker, dismissing the event as the “new normal.” School shootings are not normal. Gun violence is not normal. It seems that even after a week of “mourning” and “prayers,” there is no change; there is no reform; there is no action. And a week later, it is completely forgotten, leaving families torn apart forever.
Even I will admit that school shootings have begun to feel like a normal occurrence, and each new notification about an act of gun violence seems like just another Wednesday afternoon. The 2025 documentary short film “All the Empty Rooms” attempts to tackle the desensitization that many in society are faced with when it comes to gun violence, allowing viewers to witness the raw emotion that victims’ families face following a deep tragedy.
The documentary follows families that have lost a child to gun violence in school, capturing images of their rooms, with many remaining the same since the day of their passing: the opened cap of toothpaste, the dirty laundry, the lined-up stuffed animals on beds. These children left their homes in the morning to attend school like any other day, just as millions of others do each and every day.
I am sure that I am among many when I say that even I, living in one of the safest cities in the country, have experienced the terrors of gun violence. It was Dec. 17, 2021. I was sitting in the corner of my 8th-grade science classroom at the end of the day, waiting excitedly for the bell to ring and winter break to officially begin. There had been a circulation of shooting and bombing threats on social media across the country, urging students to stay home that Friday. Ongoing campus construction led to the accidental fire alarm, yet my first thought was not that it was an accident; my first thought was not that there was a fire. While my teacher ran outside to ensure it was an accidental fire alarm, my classmates and I truly believed we had to go on lockdown. The United States is the only country in the world where a 13-year-old has to worry that a fire alarm warns of a school shooting.
This year, the first day of school focused on building connections with peers and teachers. But when I first walked into each classroom, my focus wasn’t on the team-building activities, but rather the quickest way to get out of the classroom in an emergency where I had to leave. In case of a threat of gun violence, how would I–sitting in the back of the room–get to the door quickly enough? I speak for myself with these thoughts, and I am in no way saying that these questions are universal, but I know that I am not alone in these worries.
Students spend 2,340 days of their youth in school, and that does not include secondary education. Being terrified of a place where we spend so much time is not normal. It is an embarrassment that we live in a country where a five-year-old has to learn to crouch under a desk before being able to spell their own name. This stigma that school shootings are normal needs to be broken, since with it, society is unable to see the change that needs to be made. It is important to be part of the change. Watch “All the Empty Rooms.” Learn about the victims and their families. Feel the sadness and emotions that come with these tragedies. Break the stigma.
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