On October 1, 2017, a man opened gunfire on a crowd of people attending Route 91 Harvest country music festival. As of right now, 58 people have died and more than 500 people are injured – making it the worst mass shooting in the United States modern history.
Stephen Paddock, 46, shot from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel with long range weapons. The police broke into his room during the last few minutes of the active shooter situation with explosives and to which he would then die by his own hand.
This being the most fatal and most devastating mass shooting in the modern history of the United States, there are many questions on my mind regarding politics. But of course, I have sadness and other humanitarian concerns as well.
First, I would like to say that this event has caused me a lot of pain – even though I have no direct connection, other than basic human sympathy. I woke up to find this news and watched a social media video - where gun shots rang through the air while Jason Aldean was performing - and immediately felt panic and sadness.
The first thought I had was “Oh my gosh, they were just listening to music.” They were only there to enjoy themselves and connect with the artists that were performing at the large festival. They were only having fun and the amount of innocence that filled the Vegas strip is astounding, and to have someone, inexplicably, start shooting into a crowd of people for no apparent reason shocks me.
The next thought I had was “Wow, what has this world come to?” Even though this question is always running through my head when something bad happens, this time is different. The last time I felt this amount of sadness and confusion was with the Sandy Hook shooting, where Adam Lanza killed over 20 kids and teachers at an elementary school.
Finally, the next thought surrounded the fact that I am an avid concert goer. I have been to outdoor concerts like this before where there are a lot of people and a lot of open space, so it’s scary to think that an area of innocence could be a target to someone.
Right now, the United States government needs to make a move. There has been too many mass shootings in the past 20 years, and for there to be no proactive action to limit the use of automatic weapons makes me wonder how far these fatal events need to go. Last time it was 50 innocent lives. Now it’s 58. The numbers will continue to rise if no action is taken – and more lives will be senselessly taken.
I understand the argument for firearm usage in regards to protection and recreational use, however, no one should own an automatic weapon made for major combat – weapons purposefully made to kill a large amount of people in a short amount of time. That is not recreational. Humans are not target practice and guns are not toys.
It’s time to change and time to actually fight for the lives that have been taken.
