In spring 2024, my 8-year-old son and my 9-year-old niece found a discarded, loaded handgun while playing along the outer edge of a ball field.

We were there to watch my youngest niece play soccer. She was 7 at the time. My brother was the coach, so he and my sister-in-law were there, too. There were probably four or five games running simultaneously, with at least 60 elementary-aged children and their families spread comfortably across the green expanse.

It was a weekday, and the game started at 6pm. It was a perfect spring evening. The field was one of several that mark a grassy strip nestled between the Potomac River and a wooded area that leads to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal path. It’s a popular area for walking, biking, fishing and boating.

It probably looked exactly like the spo

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