I hate doing this. I hate seeing everyone on Twitter talk about a certain city. I hate turning on the news in the middle of the day, when soap operas should be playing, to see that city everywhere. I hate the empty feeling when I see the body count, the tears, the childless mothers and fathers, the newly widowed and the political commentary about this city. What I hate most of all is doing it again. And again. And again. And again until it is my turn to be one those people on the news. Because at the rate this country is going, my city could be next.
Did you know that more people were killed by toddlers than terrorists in 2015? Did you know that Obama has delivered more mass shooting addresses than state dinner speeches? Did you know that in the TWO DAYS since Orlando, there have been SIX mass shootings in this country? And I’m sorry but if that fact doesn’t make you cry then you don’t have a heart.
Each time something like this happens, I want to yell at the world and tell them how easy it is for anyone to buy heavy duty guns in this country! How guns are the problem. How lax gun legislation is. Why bother doing anything now? There are still mass shootings and people are still not believing guns are the common denominator, the common variable and the common killer in all these situations. I still want to shout the same questions, though they will won’t be answered; why do you need guns? Even if it’s for hunting, do you really need an assault rifle to catch Bambi’s mother? Are you that bad a hunter? What’s wrong with background checks? And most importantly of all, WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING?
In the first 164 days of 2016 there have been 134 shootings in the US. 134. We’re not even half way through the year. This is becoming normal... and that fact might be the most terrifying statement to come out of this. Mass shootings should not be normal. And yet, I can name more cities that have experienced these types of shootings than years I’ve been alive.
If we label this terrorism that might be good. We labeled 9/11 as terrorism and determined that planes were used as weapons to kill large numbers of people. Because of this, we made it harder for people to use planes as weapons by passing legislation that restricted who could board a plane, what they could bring and how they could physically get to the plane. So if we follow the same logic and tactics (because we know this country’s history loves to repeat itself), guns are used as weapons to kill large numbers of people. Because of this, we need to make it harder for people to use guns as weapons by passing legislation that restricts who can use a gun.
But that’s not going to happen. Instead another Columbine, another Virginia Tech, another Sandy Hook, another Aurora, another Chattanooga, another Fort Hood, another Oregon college, another Washington Navy Yard, another Planned Parenthood another Charleston, another San Bernardino, another goddamn Orlando will happen. And keep happening.
