May 24, 2022

It was an ordinary Spring day in America. The sun was shining. Birds were singing. People were busy with their plans for the day.

Students and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas celebrated the day with an awards and promotion program. The next day was the last day of school. Everyone was excited about the summer break ahead.

Nadine Thompson was busy at home doing her Spring cleaning. Only her bedroom was left to clean. She planned to sit down on her sofa and watch her favorite TV programs when she finished her work.

Thus begins The Day Nadine Thompson Sat Down. It was a day filled with terror and death. It was a day of sorrow and heartbreak. It was the day Nadine examined her soul and conscience and decided she had to stand up against gun violence in America.

This book is formatted in the style of a children's picture book. 32 pages, 8.5 inches by 8.5 inches. Heavy on pictures, light on text. The pictures are meant to catch your attention and lead you to the story of the devastation of murders committed by people using AR-15 style rifles. The words of the politicians here are quotes from their own press conferences, interviews with news outlets, their own social media feeds, and their press releases.

Ordinary people doing ordinary things on any ordinary day...and yet they are massacred by a single person using a single weapon of war.

Acknowledgments:

The pictures used here are stock photos from canva.com. This book was designed using canva.com. Quotations are from news articles in the Texas Tribune. Research for this book included reviewing sources including: Reuters News Agency, the Associated Press, Politico.com, the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, and the Texas Tribune.Verification of the research was provided by the U.S. Department of Justice report on thecritical incident review of the law enforcement responseto the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Nadine Thompson is a fictional character, based on an army of gray-haired women who believe children should be safe from weapons of war.

Author's Note:

Like Nadine, the fictional character of this book, I have been sitting and watching while our nation uses the Second Amendment as an excuse to allow weapons of war to be used by civilians.

Politicians seem befuddled as to what action should be taken to provide safety to children in their classrooms, shoppers in grocery stores, and worshippers in their churches.

They talk about making more mental health services available, arming teachers, and loosening the already lax laws on guns. They talk about good guys with guns. They offer more thoughts and prayers even though those don't solve the problem.

But few of them propose a ban on weapons of war.

Banning AR-15 rifles for civilian use seems, to me, to be a logical first step in ending massacres in ordinary places that should be safe on any ordinary day.

These murders have to end.

Like Nadine, I have examined my heart and conscience. And like her, I have decided to stand up.

I fervently hope this book encourages you to stand up as well.

Sincerely, Peggy Browning

"Women grow radical with age. One day an army of gray haired women may quietly take over the Earth.." Gloria Steinem-