There is a gap between ritual words and real actions in the wake of school shootings and gun violence. The first school shooting recorded was in the 1600’s and they have not stopped but increased dramatically over history.

When the Thoughts and Prayers response began is difficult to determine but many believe it’s first use was after the 1999 Columbine shooting when a nearby school displayed a banner reading “Our thoughts and prayers are with you” somehow this seems appropriate to me given time and place.

The shift towards politicians and public figures offering ‘thoughts and prayers’ condolences began in the 2000’s and really increased in 2010, frequently with very little public criticism.

After Sandy Hook in 2012 people became angrier and began to question if “thoughts and prayers” were enough and began advocating for legislation.

In 2015 President Obama said, “Our thoughts and prayers are not enough.” in response to the Umpqua Community College shooting. This was when offering thoughts and prayers began to be criticized by people who wanted (and still want) more significant change.

In 2017 after the Las Vegas mass shooting the voices wanting more than “thoughts and prayers” became more strident. This quote from religious leaders and Advocacy in Everytown ” Thoughts and prayers heal hearts but elected officials change laws-and we need both to save lives.”

Missio Alliance/ “Parkland and the Continued Problem with Thoughts and Prayers” in an editorial from February 2018 “all thoughts and prayers are not created equal. Some lead to transformation. Others lead to sentimentalized apathy.”

There are so many more quotes I could share but I’ll end with this one.

“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying” ( in school) Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. August 27th, 2025.

We could make progress towards common sense gun legislation, mental health advocacy, identifying flags on social media can also prevent shootings. We need leaders who are not cutting mental health funding, domestic terrorism funding and bending the knee to gun lobbyists. The knee jerk reaction of “You’ll never take our guns ” is political, profitable, tiring and outdated. Instead, our country seems willing to accept the fact that kids are being killed in schools and on the streets. Any of us can be shot in our churches, grocery stores, music venues and walking down the street.

There have been 382 US mass shootings since January 1, 2025. This data is compiled by mass shooting tracker whose definition is a single outburst of violence in which 4 or more people are shot.

I did my best to compile accurate information. We live in the time of “what is true” it’s difficult to discern and important that we do our own research. I have added a list of resources below.

In the meantime, we have bullets and blood, political posturing and no movement towards change.

• theviolenceproject.org Statistics from 1966-the present.
• k12ssdb.org School shooting k-12 1966 to the present.
• sandyhookpromise.org Data, information and a way to help.
• massshootingtracker.site Data regarding mass shootings
• Chat GPT was also used as a resource.

This is a whole cloth quilt created with a color removal technique that creates complex patterns in cloth. The grungy color spoke to me and seemed fitting for this piece. The red looping stitch was embroidered by hand and represents blood in the water. French knots were used to show rivets on the metal frame of the bridge. Machine stitching was used to create texture and movement.

40×45