Picture this: one day, the news explodes with headlines about terror, mental illness and tragedy for days on end; there are pictures of people crying behind police tape and crowds being evacuated from public buildings as police, ambulances and helicopters flood the area; there are politicians jumping on the opportunity to discuss gun control and mental illness treatment; there are statistics of victims and survivors, heroes and assailants; there are questions: "why? what could bring them to this?"...could you tell me what had happened? Yes, you could: a mass shooting. Could you tell me what specific event you were being asked to picture? No. You'd have to ask "when?" and "where?" to articulate an answer. Why? Because this has happened in America too many times to count, and there have been too many mass shootings in America in recent history to pinpoint any one without specific details. In fact, as CNN reports from a recent study, there have been 90 mass shootings in America between 1960 and 2012 . These numbers don't even include the six big headlines on shootings since then, such as those at Ft. Hood, Texas and Charleston, South Carolina. According to the FBI, a mass shooting is one that results in four or more victims and is not related to domestic or gang violence. The most recent of these occurred just on Wednesday at a community college in rural Oregon--and it seems that this one is different. America is becoming desensitized.

As the New York Times relays, a man came onto the campus in the morning and opened fire in two different classrooms, killing ten and injuring seven others. He had multiple high-power guns and enough ammunition for a prolonged shooting which were recovered after the event. Witnesses say that he specifically asked Christians in one room to stand up and shot them when they did, an unsettling similarity to the persecution of early Christians 1500 years ago. There were police on the scene relatively quickly, and the man died by gunfire in an exchange with them. As a result of this event, there have been all of the normal responses. There are headlines, there are speeches by politicians, there is a national outreach from normal civilians sending their prayers and condolences to the families. However, this situation is not exactly the same as those that came before it.

When Columbine happened, America was absolutely shocked. After Virginia Tech, we were confused and traumatized. After Sandy Hook and Aurora, we mourned. Now, this sort of event is so normalized that it seems people are simply shaking their heads and saying "another? How sad," and moving on. In response to the tragedy at Umpqua, I've even heard some people say that these events are now just a part of our society; they are inevitable. That there is nothing we can do to stop this from occurring. This is the biggest sign of our apathy; this is not the sound of a people fighting to keep each other safe. This is the sound of a people who have given up.

According to the same CNN article, America has more mass shootings than any other country in the world. In 2012 alone, we accounted for over 30% of mass shootings globally, even though our population only represents 5% of the world. That is nearly 1/3rd of mass shootings being attributed to a country that makes up 1/25th of the world. Crazy, right? This is within a three-year period, from 2011 to 2014, in which these shootings tripled. The article continues by showing that Americans are more likely to die in these events if they are in a public place such as work or school, while in other countries, these events are pretty limited to military institutions. In addition, American mass shootings almost always involve more than one firearm as opposed to just one in most other places; this is probably because America has more guns than any other country in the world (which is less surprising). How do this alarming of statistics lead us as a people to do nothing?

President Obama's address to the nation after the Oregon event really brings the truth about our detachment to light. In this speech, he says that this has happened too many times, and we are numb to it. Prayers and condolences and thoughts to the families of victims and even of the assailant, whom is usually found to have some sort of mental illness and doesn't survive the attack, are not enough to stop what's happening. We end up with the same headlines, the same speeches, and the same inaction. Eleven speeches can be counted that Obama has made after events like this during his Presidency. He hits the nail on the head in saying that it is crazy to think that after all of this, people still think it is in violation of the Constitution to do something about it. Or to at least try. He pushes for us to realize our inaction and treat this issue the same way we treat broken roads and natural disaster relief. We should make laws and we should help each other.

Another huge sign of this lack of compassion is this exact issue: the gun-control agenda. As opposed to pushing forward and asking "how can we keep these innocent people from dying?", civilians and politicians alike are now more concerned with "will they take our guns away?" As of right now, anyone can get one: the LA Times reports that the shooter at Roseburg owned thirteen legally-obtained weapons. As an American citizen, if you are more concerned with your right to own a lethal weapon than you are with the lives of innocent people who fall victim to the atrocities that come from these weapons being too easily accessible, you are the problem. As a sensible human being, it should be common sense that if you actually are a sensible human being, you will be able to keep your weapons. Our compassion is in the wrong place. We need to fight our coldness and our disregard for the options that could potentially save hundreds of lives.

Whose fault is this desensitization? The media's for sensationalizing every event? Politicians' for using the events to push their political agendas dealing with gun control or lack thereof? Americans' for not being as compassionate for each other as they are with their rifles? As I see it, it is probably all three in combination, but while anyone could analyze this with incredible depth, we don't have time to point fingers. We need to rally together for a fix.

We should not be numb, and while most people would claim they are not, our inaction in every area except security--the one thing it seems that has undergone change as a result of these type of events--shows that we are not empathetic enough to keep this from happening again. Mass shootings are not a fact of life; they are not inevitable. We should not be numb. Until America wakes up, we are going to keep hearing the same newscasts with the same headlines, we are going to keep hearing the same speeches and we are going to keep obliviously thinking that what we are doing is enough.

In memory of the ten victims of the shooting at Umpqua and all other victims of mass shootings; R.I.P.