I remember vividly when I heard about the Sandy Hook mass shooting. My son was in pre school and I was picking him up. My daughter wasn’t born yet and every teacher at his school was nervous. 26 people in that school died. 20 of them were 6-7 years old, which was older than my son at the time. 6 were faculty. The shooter also murdered him mom before he went to the school, and then proceeded to commit suicide after this horrific massacre. I was shocked.
I remember seeing coverage all over the news. Thoughts and prayers were given by so many politicians. Preachers and rabbis and influential people were praying. Hell, Barack Obama, the most powerful person in the world, was on stage crying. And who could blame him, I was crying. This isn’t America I told myself. This isn’t normal. And like with any problem, you want a solution. You don’t want your kids growing up like this. 26 people died. And at that point, I was sure both Democrats and Republicans would come up with a solution.
Since Sandy Hook, there have been over 900 mass shootings in America, 212 this year alone. Keep in mind we were locked down for the pandemic for a good 18 months. 900 mass shootings. Almost all with assault weapons. Almost all with thoughts and prayers after. And almost all with the same response.
“There is nothing we can do about it.”
Legislators love to blame mental illness for mass shootings. Well, other countries have mental illness and minimal if any mass shootings.
Then they blame violent video games. Parenting. Political stances.
They blame everything but the access to guns. And by golly, that’s the only difference between us and the rest of the world.
Mass shootings are everywhere. Schools, malls, movie theaters, churches, synagogues, mosques, supermarkets, Walmart, night clubs, and so many other places. We arm people full of hate to murder innocent people. Some are murdered for their race, some for their religion, some for their gender, some for who they love, and some just for the fuck of it. Almost all use assault weapons they got legally.
THEY GOT LEGALLY!
And I would think it would be easy to make some laws for this not to happen. I would think people would want to ban assault weapons to save innocent kids.
That is the problem. I am thinking too much.
It has been 10 years since Sandy Hook. I have a teenage son and a 9 year old daughter. They know exactly what to do when an active shooter comes into their school. And yes, I am scared every day they go.
Yesterday I heard about the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. 19 kids and 2 adults were murdered with an AR-15, just like in all school shootings. I heard legislators give thoughts and prayers like they have for the past 10 years. I heard Republicans say there is nothing they could do about it like they have for the last 10 years. I heard Democrats say they don’t have the votes for gun control, like I have for the last 10 years. And yesterday, I wasn’t shocked that there was a school shooting. That’s what I expect in America.
I was angry. And I will do whatever the fuck I can to get people who give a fuck about gun control elected in my area and the rest of the United States.
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