You Didn't Ask...But : You Didn't Ask...But -#12 by Brett Matthew West Artwork by avmurray at FanArtReview.com |
Infatuation is best defined as an intense passion, or admiration, for something. In this case, the 2nd Amendment's right to bear arms.
According to the Associated Press and USA Today, in conjunction with Northeastern University, 2,842 citizens of the United States have been murdered in mass shootings since 2006. AP/USA Today statistics demonstrate these horrific events are currently happening on an average pace of every 6.53 days. In other words, that makes them take place about once a week. I wonder, have they not penetrated the American psyche yet? A particular reason 2023 stands out compared to other years since data has been compiled on mass shootings is one-third of the way through the calendar year there have been 17 of these nightmares that have occurred. In half of the years since statistics have been maintained on the subject of mass shootings (2006 to 2023) there have been 30 or fewer mass killings that took place each year. So far in 2023 mass shootings have occurred over a period of 111 days and taken 88 lives that can never be returned. This puts the United States on a record pace for mass killings. Don't get me wrong, because I believe each lost life snuffed out in mass shootings is indeed a tragedy. Some of the 2023 mass shootings include: -January 23, at Half Moon Bay, 7 farmworkers were killed in Northern California over a workplace grudge -April 15, dancers at the Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio outside Los Angeles, California were massacred as they celebrated the Lunar New Year -March 27, six children at the Covenant School, in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. Being from Nashville, and not all that far from this locale, this event hit home for me, so much so I wrote about that day of gloom in You Didn't Ask...But #9-Covenant. -April 1, at a Sweet 16 celebration in Dadeville, Alabama in which four partiers were killed, and 52 others injured -April 18, in Bowdoin, Maine, committed by a felon just released from prison, who killed four people, including his own parents, then opened fire on motorists on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth -April 10, in Louisville, Kentucky where 5 were killed, and 8 wounded, at the Old National Bank Among the states where mass shootings have occurred over the years are Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Hawaii, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Tennessee. That is 29 out of 50. Toss in Washington, D.C., and it begins to sound similar to a broken record doesn't it? Perhaps no one should be surprised by these mass killings, that appear to have become a way of life for the fabric of the United States, and may have made Americans immune to them. Or should people be very much concerned about them? If they are, isn't it significantly time something was done to eliminate their occurrences? The AP, the USA Today, and the FBI, classify mass killings as four or more victims not including the perpetrator of the crime. There are other variables factored into these counts as well. Among them, the FBI considers mental illness, the use of an assault weapon or magazine, and whether or not the gun possessor was prohibited from possessing the weapon. A wide variety of reasons are presented for mass killings including: -domestic violence -gang retaliation -murder/suicide -workplace violence -school shooting While the incidences of mass shootings continue, so do barriers to preventing them. Two of the biggest ones are: -Congress's reinstating a ban on semi-automatic rifles remains far away -new standards established by the United States Supreme Court for reviewing gun laws and calling into question national firearms restrictions The yearly average of mass killings since statistics began being recorded in 2006 is 31.1 incidents and 162 deceased. 2019 saw 45 mass shootings, the most in one year. In 2017 there were 60 people slaughtered when a gunman opened fire on a Country music festival on the Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. This remains the mass shooting with the highest number of fatalities in Modern American history. The reality appears to be if someone is bent on committing a mass shooting they will discover a method to carry the deed's butchery out. Is it not the role of American society to place obstacles and barriers in the path of these people to make their horrendous crimes much more difficult to fulfill? Without making this political, which is a topic for another day, if this be true explain to me why, with a handful of exceptions, very few major policy changes on all sides of the house are on the near horizon at either the state or the federal level? I'll wait for responses to this inquiry from the powers that be. But, don't hold your breath. The answers to that question may be too far off, and too slow coming, which would then propose perhaps those powers need to be replaced in order to create barriers against mass shootings? Some states attempting to combat mass shootings are taking steps like: -more gun control within the borders of those states -mandated criminal background checks to purchase shotguns and rifles -bans placed on various types of semi-automatic weapons -background checks for the youngest purchasers of guns -keeping guns from domestic violence offenders -red flag laws to remove guns from people that demonstrate signals they could be violent Red flag laws do not allow a person to be arrested if they have not committed a crime. Additionally, red flag laws do not prevent a person from purchasing a gun if they do not require a mental health hold or qualify for one. I do not profess to have the answers to stopping mass shootings. I will submit shouldn't the United States be much more alarmed by these shootings? Have these bouts of insanity become nothing more than another ingrained practice in America's conscious? One opponent to more gun control stated, "Just a handful of people each year, in a nation of approximately 335 million people, carry them out. Therefore, mass shootings are actually rare." Isn't one person who carries out a mass shooting too many? I say it is all in the numbers. They do not lie. Something should be immediately done to correct this issue. Personally, I am not opposed to gun ownership, and I know there are those who will not agree with that statement. Furthermore, I do not believe guns are inherently bad, or that they kill people. I have never seen, or heard of, a gun that picked itself up, pointed at someone, and shot them. It is people who kill people, and, that is what drastically needs to be changed. You didn't ask...but.
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Brett Matthew West
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