The Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 – which claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children – shocked us all. In its wake, I remember my wife telling me that “this tragedy will finally result in sensible gun control laws.” But mass shootings over the last thirteen years in our country have continued. Now, they routinely fill our TV screens. According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been over 450 mass shootings in 2025.
Somehow, Rhode Island, until December 13, had been spared. In fact, it seems most Rhode Islanders have had a ho-hum relationship with gun violence. Sure, there were regular mobster murders for several decades, but friends would tell me that was “just mobsters killing mobsters. So what? And Raymond kept Federal Hill safe for the residents.”
Drug deals gone wrong? “Well, that’s just drug deals, it doesn’t affect me.”
The shootings on the Brown campus have ended our innocence with gun violence. A shooter fired 40 rounds from a 9mm automatic handgun in a matter of seconds. Two wonderful students, with a lifetime of opportunities ahead of them, are dead. Their parents face unthinkable, everlasting, debilitating grief. Nine wounded victims – the survivors – are now beginning a long journey to make sense of their trauma.
My heart is also aching for Brown, my alma mater, and for Providence, a community that I dearly love. My wife and I have called this city home for almost 50 years.
Brown is a far better university than when I attended in the late 60’s. It is much better academically. Its student and teacher diversity now reflects the country. And I am especially proud of Brown’s commitment to the Providence community. Its work in Providence in our schools, in public health, on the issue of climate change are just some of the ways in which it has committed to help Providence.
I worry, however, about the impact this mass shooting will have on the school. I can envision scores of students, if not hundreds, not returning to Brown in January. And the carping of some local media that Brown is responsible for this tragedy bugs the hell out of me. Will Brown ever recover?
Guns, especially an automatic weapon, shot those Brown students, not the lack of Brown cameras. I am weary of the routine response, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.” Or, “Providence is resilient—we will overcome this and emerge stronger.” These are not acceptable responses to automatic weapons killing innocent people in my community.
I have noticed a maddening silence in the wake of the Brown shootings. Our local, state, and national leaders have been silent about a renewed effort for more effective gun control. I am hopeful that Eye opinion editor Phil Eil’s call for renewed interest in gun control legislation will prompt some local leaders to figure out what else needs to be done.
In the meantime, Brown will be expected to expand their system of 1,200 cameras and to spend millions of dollars on enhanced security, while many of our elected leaders retreat into a false and failed sense that we have done a lot already about gun control.
What will it take to bring gun control back to debate and legislation? Another mass shooting, perhaps in a Rhode Island kindergarten? Our thoughts, prayers, and our persistence should now focus on legislative changes and more attention to community public health solutions. Ironically, maybe Brown University – in particular its phenomenal students and its School of Public Health – may be able to use this nightmare to help lead our Providence community and our elected officials for change.
In the meantime, we, as members of our beloved Providence community, should not rest in the numbness that this tragedy has brought. As a leader in the Providence Parks Department for 30 years, I know that change and accomplishments in Providence are possible, with small and persistent acts working with the community.
Let’s join forces with Brown to ensure that this tragedy does not occur again in Rhode Island. If we call ourselves a community, we have a moral covenant with our children and grandchildren to work for change.
Bob McMahon is a former city planner and the former Superintendent of Providence Parks. In his retirement he provides volunteer facilities management for the San Miguel School and St Pius V Church in Providence. He and his wife Pam Kennedy – who live in Elmhurst – enjoy architectural history and family and neighborhood gatherings. During his freshman year at Brown, he took a physics class in the same Barus & Holley lecture hall where the December 13 shooting occurred.
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