Shooting. The word that has become engraved into our vocabulary as Americans. There has been another shooting in x place with y amount of victims and this many injured. And the devastating part is we have become used to it.
Back around the time of the San Bernardino shootings, I read an article by CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin about being live on air and receiving breaking news, and having to report it. She mentions towards the end of her article, how the BBC looked at the San Bernardino shootings and called it “Just another day in the United States of America.” How sad that is because it is strikingly accurate.
This past Saturday morning I woke up to a Twitter headline that said singer Christina Grimmie had been gunned down and killed after her concert. The next morning I awoke to that red and white breaking news banner on CNN that read “50 killed in Orlando nightclub shooting.” My heart breaks and anger fuels in me. How does this keep happening? What is happening to this place we call home that seems to be constantly filled with another act of violence? It is coming to the point where there are so many shootings that it is hard to keep up with. Just a few weeks ago the UCLA shooting took place and two people were killed, but I still feel as if I don't have all the details. We have become numb to the tragedies, violence, and deaths.
So what is going on? What is our issue? Terrorism in our homeland? Gun regulation? Mentally ill people? Hate? Homophobia?
Who do we look to blame? Ourselves, the government, religion?
All of these questions I wish I had the answers to. What we do know is the pain, and the people lost. We know the chaos and fear that fuels through the hearts of Americans all over the country after an event like this one happens.
On June 12 when speaking of the Orlando shooting, Rep. Alan Grayson said on CNN “It is becoming too easy to kill people in America today.” And that is just it. It is horrifying the lack of effort it takes for anyone to go out, buy a gun and commit a catastrophe. The regulation on guns NEEDS to be changed and WE need change. Keep in mind, the shooter of Orlando bought his assault weapon legally. Yes, the shooter who committed the largest mass shooting in history purchased his gun legally. So to say “guns aren’t the problem, people are” anymore just isn’t acceptable. If it wasn’t guns, violence wouldn’t be what it is. Americans need to come together and fight for what we believe in, better, more rigorous gun regulation. We said after the Fort Hood shooting in Texas never again, then the theater shooting in Aurora, then after Sandy Hook, then so on and so on. Haven’t we learned that it isn’t going to get better unless we make the change?
Terrorism and violence is made to make up fear, but we must not succumb to that fear. All we can do now is stick together and remember what country we live in, the United States of America. As our country, and the families of those in Orlando grieve, we cannot dread tomorrow but dream of transformation in this place we call home. And hope another day in America, won’t be like this one.
