Today we woke up to the news of yet another heinous act of hate towards our nation. Early this morning, 50 people were shot and killed at a bar in Orlando, Florida. Another 53 were left in critical condition. This act of terrorism, the deadliest attack since 9/11, needs to be our final push to end these merciless killings.
At 2 a.m., Omar Mateen (29 year-old, American born citizen from Fort Pierce, Florida) opened fire inside Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando. Those present described a scene of panic and falling bodies as gunshots erupted one after another. After almost a three hour standoff, the police breached the building using an armored vehicle and shot Mateen. It is now confirmed that Mateen had pledged allegiance to and was an activist for ISIS.
The conversation currently revolves around the recurring ISIS terrorist attacks as well as LGBTQ-aimed hate violence. While we mourn for those who were present and all those affected by the attack, any act of violence like this should be addressed as an attack on civilized society not just any single group. In light of the repetitive deadly shootings that have taken place since 9/11, we have an overdue duty to eradicate such events. Our conversation needs to focus on what can be done to counteract attacks before they begin and how to provide practical, effective outlets for disturbed people to confront their outrage going forward.
We need to focus our attention on finding the root of the problem and a permanent solution. The problem, stripped of unique situational factors can be put quite simply: We live in a society where ordinary people can enter a public location upon their own volition and end dozens of innocent lives with fire-arms. We should also consider that mass shootings are historically recent phenomena. We need to be asking relevant questions such as why these attacks are occurring and what is unique to society now that incites this form of radical violence. Of course our fire-arm technology is one large contributing factor, but we can not just stand by and accept the possibility of a dangerous weapon having dangerous consequences.
We need to look beyond the individual incidents and be able to effectively prepare for the likely, if not inevitable, future attack attempts. The greatest respect we can pay to those who have suffered from violent shooting attacks is to make the attacks end here. It is obviously not a simple task, however, let’s begin by facilitating the most productive conversation possible.
