The heartbreaking reason Mich. mom's photo went viral

A Michigan mom thought her 3-year-old daughter was just being mischievous when she took a photo of the girl standing on their toilet.

But what Stacey Feeley of Traverse City, Mich., found out within seconds of snapping the photo has caused it to go viral — breaking hearts across the country.

It wasn't mischief: Her innocent, blond-haired daughter was "practicing for a lockdown drill at her preschool and what you should do if you are stuck in a bathroom," Feeley said in a June 15 Facebook post.

The heartbroken mother couldn't believe her ears.

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She goes on to say, "Politicians — take a look. This is your child, your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren and future generations to come."

"They are barely 3, and they will hide in bathroom stalls standing on top of toilet seats. I do not know what will be harder for them? Trying to remain quiet for an extended amount of time or trying to keep their balance without letting a foot slip below the stall door?"

As of Wednesday morning, her Facebook post had been shared more than 28,000 times. The photo was posted just three days after a gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens more inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.

She could not be reached Tuesday.

Hundreds of Facebook users quickly responded with words of anger, heartbreak, shock and intense debate.

On Monday, the Senate rejected four partisan gun measures offered in wake of the Orlando massacre, including proposals to keep guns out of the hands of people on terror watch lists.

Feeley ended her lengthy post with a plea for change: "I am not pretending to have all the answers or even a shred of them, but unless you want your children standing on top of a toilet, we need to do something!"

Follow Elissa Robinson on Twitter: @lissa218