I Don’t Want to Just Be Lucky, I Want to Be Certain
Written by: Regina Belotti, March Fourth Volunteer
I consider myself so lucky. I am so grateful for so many things in life: my husband, my children, my home, friends, and community. I have been given so many amazing gifts, including never being personally impacted by a mass shooting.
About 10 years ago, I remember hearing about a shooting in a movie theater and I immediately thought, “How could someone do something so terrible?” My next thought was, “Do I know someone who could have been there?” The answer was yes. I had a friend who lived not far from there. Could she have been there? I immediately contacted her, and luckily she was not there, but knew of people who had been in the area. I was so relieved, but moving forward every time I heard of something similar the same thoughts crossed my mind. “This is so terrible. Do I know anyone who could have been there?” For me, frequently, the answer was no, but for so many that has not been the case.
About a year and a half ago, after getting home from a day on the road for work, my husband called me to ask if I had been in Boulder that day. I hadn’t, but I had been many days the week before. A gunman opened fire in a grocery store, killing many, including a police officer. My immediate thought was, do I know anyone who could be there? And then again, the answer was yes. I knew so many people who could have been there. I reached out to everyone I could think of that may have been. One shared that she had been in that store an hour before getting blueberries for her elderly mother, and another chose to go to the one a little further away that day because she had been at a friend’s house, but no one I knew was there. Once again, I was lucky. I realized I had taken my infant into that store before and never once thought about my grocery store safety strategy. I’m often nervous to bring my children to places like Target, even with a safety plan, for fear they would cry if we ever had to hide and I wouldn’t be able to keep them quiet, or I couldn’t get them out of the cart fast enough to keep them safe.
Then, this past Fourth of July, our family learned of a shooting at the parade in Highland Park. Immediately, my thought was, “do I know anyone who could have been there?” Again, the answer was yes. As I have before, I contacted the people I knew who could have been there, and by serendipitous luck, they were all safe. Then, a close friend shared that her friend lost a family member in the shooting. Later that day, we learned that the gunman had dropped his cell phone about half a mile from my home. We were out of town spending the holiday with family, but what if we had chosen to stay home and what if the gunman had carried out the plan he debated. Would I be so lucky? Would my community be so lucky? But when does luck run out, and why do we have to ask this question? This was my sign that I couldn’t continue to think to myself, “this is so terrible, how could this happen?” and then hope that everyone I knew was safe.
March Fourth has one simple goal: to federally ban assault weapons. March Fourth is a nonpartisan organization, and this is a nonpartisan issue. This is a life and death issue. I am a part of March Fourth because I don’t want to just be lucky, I want to be certain. I want to be certain that I have done everything in my power to raise my children and live my life with my family and friends in a place where we can all be safe going to school, to a parade, to a concert and not need a safety plan in case of a mass shooting. I am a part of March Fourth because I feel it’s my responsibility as a mom, a wife, a friend, and a neighbor to do what I can to accomplish this mission to federally ban assault weapons. We know that there are so many things in life that can happen that we can’t control, but why would we not work together, and unite to create a safer environment for everyone we know, and even those we don’t?