This is something new for me. I'm not the stereotypical liberal college student who shares a different article about planned parenthood or white privilege every week. Instead, I read through the article, nod my head in agreement, and "like" the posts on Facebook. I'm afraid if I start broadcasting my opinion, I'll go full on rampage for the next 36 hours and never stop.
I've decided to end my silence and use the power of journalism to address a pressing issue. There's no way around it. With 204 mass shootings in 204 days in the United States, you'd think it would be plainly obvious that our congressmen should begin drafting a bill to create some gun control laws.
On July 24, The Washington Post published an article, stating that in the 204 days so far in 2015, there have been 204 mass shootings. The U.S. is averaging one mass shooting a day. I don't know whether I'm more scared or disgusted, but I am speechless.
That's right mass shootings. Not a domestic dispute between a husband and wife or a fight in a back of an ally. "The old FBI definition of Mass Murder (not even the most recent one) is four or more people murdered in one event," the The Mass Shooting Tracker creators explain. "It is only logical that a Mass Shooting is four or more people shot in one event."
And how many of these shootings have you heard about this year? Of the 204, I'm going to guess less than 10. At this point, they're rarely broadcast nationally. Mass shootings have become such a common occurrence, they don't even receive media attention. Do you see what's wrong with that?
In the state of Virginia, a permit isn't even required to buy a firearm. All that is required is for you to fill out a background consent check form and the dealer will enter the information from the form into the computerized National Instant Background Check System (NICS), a process which takes a total of roughly three minutes.
The common defense of "the right to bear arms is the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You can't take away my rights," is hardly an argument. The Constitution was created in 1787, making it over 225 years old. 200 years ago, guns held one bullet and took at least 30 seconds to reload. Today, FBI studies have shown that a novice can fire three shots in less than a second, and a trained shooter can double that.
I hope that the 2016 presidential candidates see the urgency to revamp our laws. One should never have to fear and look over their shoulder, walking into a movie theater or church, that this may be the last few minutes of their life. That at any second, any man or woman, could simply walk in and gun down nine precious lives. Nine sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters. Aunt and uncles. Friends and coworkers. This is not okay. Enough is enough.
