It makes me sick to my stomach to say that this isn't my first article on gun violence here in the United States, and even uneasier knowing that it certainly will not be my last. We need to stand up and do something and we need to do it now. Once again, I'm not here to offer solutions to what I think should be done but to open your eyes to the reality of these crimes since we have been so desensitized to them over recent years.
On August 4th, a white man opened fire in a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas. This man, who does not deserve to have his name spread in the media because of the horrific crimes he committed, drove nine hours to commit the heinous act, targeting Hispanics specifically. At least twenty people have died due to this blatantly racist act of terrorism. The shooter, prior to traveling to El Paso, had left obvious indicators to his motives for his attack on social media- and all of them point back to President Trump. Love him or hate him, you have to open your eyes and realize that this attack, that caused the death of twenty people was an act of stochastic terrorism. The President is partially to blame for what has happened.
If you don't know what stochastic terrorism is, by definiton, it is described as "the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted". Donald Trump did not physically load up the ammunition, he did not personally tell the shooter to commit this act, but his constant hate speech plastered all over every media outlet has inspired this man to go and kill twenty innocent people. We cannot look past this. The shooter had written a four-page manifesto and uploaded it on a racist online message board with the caption "I am probably going to die today" less than twenty minutes before the twenty lives were taken. This was calculated, cold-blooded murder with white supremacy as the backbone of his motives.
Before twenty-four hours could even pass, another mass shooting took place in Dayton, Ohio, making it the 250th already this year. Within one minute of opening fire, the shooter was able to kill nine people, including his own sister, and was killed himself by police trying to control the situation. Although this crime does not seem to have any racial motive (according to authorities) but still goes to prove the point of gun violence in our country. Within a day, just one day, there were two deadly mass shootings in our country. Within this past week, there were four mass shootings in total with 34 innocent lives lost and many more injured. Something needs to be done. I don't know how many times it has to be said.
When speaking of these crimes, President Trump said "We've done actually a lot. Perhaps more has to be done". Perhaps? Perhaps more has to be done? These are YOUR people that are being murdered, and these are YOUR people who are murdering them. As long as more lives are lost, you haven't done enough. Remember, YOU are the President, and YOU have a duty to keep your people safe, and you are failing miserably.
Furthermore, all condolences to the families who lost a loved one over the past week due to such atrocious crimes.
