Panicking Mother

UPDATE: Parents of said classmate have [thankfully] been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and allowing access to firearms by children!

I had to watch my 8 year old daughter get on the bus to school today after her classmate brought a pistol in his backpack to their third grade class yesterday. Someone tipped them off so the safety officer took the weapon with no incidents, that's all we are being told.

This is the second week in a row that a student has brought a handgun into the elementary school, the only way the parents have found out is from emails sent from the school and the county later that day. No texts or calls during the day. I've emailed the principal with no response yet.

We live in a rural area in Virginia, our public school was built in 2020 and the student in question was white (found out who it was from another mother) so this is not an "inner city" issue before anyone brings that nonsense up.

How do I stop fearing my daughter's face will end up on the news one day as a school shooting victim? I feel utterly helpless to protect her.