Most sources describe a mass shooting as a shooting where four or more people are killed, almost entirely an American phenomenon. Mass shooting reports have become a way of life, well, death really, for Americans, and data shows that the number generally increases yearly. Everytown.org states that between 2015 and 2022, there have been over 19,000 people in the United States that have been shot or murdered in a mass shooting. That’s only in seven years, or about the age of a second grader. Speaking of school-age children, somehow, we have grown so far away from the standard of protecting the most vulnerable class that children are seen as mere sacrifices to the gods of the second amendment.
Maybe it is, in fact, a people problem.
When the best solution politicians can provide is to offer their thoughts and prayers, what exactly are those thoughts and those prayers? Are they thinking about lining their pockets with more money? Marco Rubio, a Florida senator, or as I like to call him, Marco Poopio, has received over $3.3 million for his “campaign” from the NRA. He is the fifth largest recipient of campaign funding from the NRA. Florida ranks second in mass shootings and third in school shootings. I know Marco’s head and knees must be tired from all those thoughts and prayers he’s been doing and not just from fellating the NRA. Our country is more invested in saving guns than the kids they kill, and Marco Rubio’s campaign budget is a perfect reminder of that.
I still don’t understand the actual necessity of a high-powered assault rifle. I once heard a woman say, “if you need more than one bullet, you don’t have good aim,” and well, if you don’t have good aim, you probably should not be a gun owner, to begin with.
America’s obsession, particularly white America’s obsession with gun ownership, probably stems from the inbred desire to conquer and tame, specifically, people who don’t look like them. Manifest Destiny and Die Hard movies have really made every Billy Bob with a gun feel special. Because, let’s be real, it cannot be a fear of a government takeover when they were literally the ones trying to take over the government. Republican lawmakers are not in danger of not being elected. They’ve gerrymandered their way into positions of power, and they are not letting go anytime soon. These are the people who support the gun enthusiasts and whom the gun enthusiasts turn around and vote for. Re-enter Marco Rubio, who voted against ending gerrymandering (shocker), voter suppression and more transparency in donations in the Freedom to Vote Act.
The sheer vitriol people even receive for trying to bring light to an issue, or even worse after having lost their child to gun violence, they are then accosted and harassed and called a crisis actor, HELLo Alex Jones. If losing children isn’t a wake-up call, then what is? Maybe they will listen to their own; on May 6, 2023, there was a mass shooting in Allen, TX, a suburb north of Dallas. One of the witnesses was a former police officer, Steven Spainhauer, who, when quoted in his interview with Raw Story, stated, “I don’t know what the gunman’s problem was…I don’t know his motive, but it wasn’t mental health that killed these people. It was an automatic rifle with bullets. That’s what killed them.” He continued, “I’m a gun lover; I have guns…but these M4s, MAR15s, they’ve got to get off the streets, or this is going to keep happening.” Currently, there is a federal background check required for purchasing a gun from a licensed dealer, however, that does not cover gun purchases made at gun shows, between two people, or online.
If these guns are not the problem, then what other method is the common man using to take out his aggression on others? When was the last time you heard of a mass stabbing or a mass choking to death? You haven’t because the people with problems use guns to do their bidding.
We cannot reasonably expect other citizens to protect each other from gun violence by shooting at the bad guy over someone else’s head during a mass shooting, especially when most guns used in death inside a home are more likely to be used against someone living in the home than an intruder. Over 60% of gun owners are not even properly trained in using one. More importantly, it isn’t any else’s job, especially not a teacher’s, and a pistol can only do so much to stave off the carnage that an assault rifle can achieve in just under a minute. In fact, according to the Associated Press, only 3% of mass shooters from 2000-2021 have been shot by a bystander.
If elected officials won’t protect us or (Uvalde) police officers, the literal people paid to do so, then what’s a hypothetical person with a gun going to do? If guns are not the problem, and people are the problem, then maybe we need new people representing us.
