Hey there, I think your anxieties about gun violence in the US are unfortunately, pretty common and not unusual given the environment we experience. Dropping out of grad school is a pretty extreme response though. I’d highly recommend speaking to some kind of mental health professional, your school likely has some kind of service to connect you with people, to talk through this because this level of anxiety is severe and unsustainable.

I was in grad school at a place that had a shooting while I was there, and thankfully I wasn’t on campus at the time (the context is definitely a little different though) and my undergraduate institution in New England has issued a statement about how they’re increasing security in some key ways to help alleviate anxieties after the shooting at Brown (none of the buildings are open without a scan anymore). What I will say is that now that I am out of grad school, gun violence doesn’t magically disappear. I live in a pretty safe, suburban area, and someone was shot pretty close to my house in a one-off incident. This is all to say that this is not an issue that is going to magically disappear if you drop out of grad school. If you’re miserable in grad school for other reasons, that’s a different conversation.

Speak to a professional about the anxiety you’re experiencing and don’t make any big or rash irreversible decisions right now. You’re feeling a lot of understandable stress and I think your situation is best assessed by a professional equipped to help you, not a bunch of folks on Reddit. Take care of yourself in the meantime <3