> unfathomable to me that a large portion of the populace is okay with [...] direct and terminal negative impact on children's lives.
That's because those two things aren't true. It's a lie told by statistics.
Firearm violence in that demographic is largely from places like LA and Chicago where gangs are the problem and firearms are already illegal.
If you're scared for your child's life every day they go to school, you have been brainwashed by media FUD.
Why is it wrong to have a heightened fear that it could happen at your school? That doesn't need to mean that it is your primary fear, or that you're overwhelmed with fear, only that the concern is higher now than it was X years ago.
What are we doing differently than every other country that makes us have so many more shootings in schools?
0. https://www.k12dive.com/news/2022-worst-year-for-school-shoo...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_regulation_in_Switzer...
Nobody who has visited both Switzerland and the US can fail to notice the huge cultural differences, and how they relate to interpersonal violence. In the United States, hyperaggressive encounters between individuals (mostly not involving guns) happen at a rate that would be unimaginable in most European countries.
I'm aware that there are other factors at play (such as most Swiss gunowners having military training, open carry being generally prohibited etc.), but the way people deal with each other is so starkly different that I strongly suspect it to be the main cause.
I've been told, even on HN, that this is just what freedom, free speech and "the world's greatest democracy" looks like, and other countries can 'shove it', for lack of a better term.