I'm going to start this article the way that most of the articles pertaining to tragic events start. In the most honest and sincere way, my love and prayers go out to the victims, families, and loved ones affected by the Las Vegas shooting. It makes me feel sick to my stomach to think about what happened to these people trying to enjoy a night of music and fun. It also makes me sick to think that this article is just one of many starting out with "my love and prayers go out to..." and insert an act of terrorism here.
I'm sorry. But what the hell is going on?
We hashtag an Instagram picture of the city affected followed by the word 'strong.' We change our profile pictures to the colors of that country's flag. We watch a YouTube clip of someone talking to us about the victims of the shooting or the bombing, sending us on the verge of tears. And then a week goes by and the talk gets less and less. Headlines replace talk about acts of terrorism with health care bills and pieces of legislation, perhaps Taylor Swift's new song if it's a good day and nothing too terrible happened. We turn our heads from it.
Here's a disgusting thought: A majority of the victims from the Las Vegas shooting sent their "thoughts and support" to those who lost their lives in the Orlando shooting.
Most likely they had been talking about the acts of terrorism in Barcelona and in Manchester. And now here we are — 59 of those very people are dead.
This is nothing other than an act or terrorism. Jimmy Kimmel stated on his talk show that "when it's a man in a beard, we take action, make travel bans, build walls, but when it's someone from our own country who bought a gun and killed Americans, there's nothing we can do."
Wake up. This is terrorism, alive and well in our own country. Just because this person wasn't a part of ISIS doesn't mean that this wasn't an act of terrorism.
Just as we take action against terrorism outside of our country, action needs to be taken from within our country as well. If a man from the Middle East traveled to Las Vegas and shot up a crowd of 22,000, he would be plastered on the news as a terrorist. Trump would be on press calling action to stronger travel bans or other ways we can try to protect this country.
But since the shooter was a white male, he's not labeled a terrorist? Since he was a white man, rather than strategizing laws and restrictions on guns, our congress is legitimately meeting this week to attempt to legalize gun silencers, making mass shootings like this more feasible.
Point blank, this is racist. The shooter was an American citizen. The shooter was not part of ISIS. These two things that people tend to use to make the connection to either terrorist or not terrorist doesn't matter. 59 people are dead. Make restrictions on gun control, close the loopholes that make it easy to get a gun without background checks, and for the love of God, do not pass a law stating that gun silencers are legal—especially the same week after this shooting.
This is terrorism. Take action and talk about it like it is.
