Gun Violence Hitting Close to Home

Last week gun violence hit closer to home than usual. There was another school shooting, this time in Maryland. A friend was held up at gunpoint walking home in Philadelphia. And the Panera on Nassau Street was the scene of a five hour standoff between a 56-year old veteran with a gun and local police, SWAT teams, FBI, and anyone else with a gun.

Following Saturday's March for Our Lives in Princeton many protesters papered the closed Panera storefront with their posters creating a memorial. After reading about it on Planet Princeton Don and I drove into Princeton to see it.

The streets were much quieter at 7:15 pm than they were at 2 pm. People paused to look at the shrine, many (like us) taking pictures. It was somber. 

We then walked to Hinds Plaza where the protest had taken place only a couple of hours earlier. It was clean and quiet. A few people, huddled in winter coats, sat at the tables. There was no trash. No shrine to what had taken place earlier that day.

We didn't stay long, just long enough to feel the vibe. It was somber. Sleepy little Princeton was back to being a sleepy town. 

Panera is closed following the police standoff on Tuesday

I think of this every time I go through airport security

As if thousands of people weren't there two hours earlier