Thanks to the Washington Post, here’s a little perspective for you. The calendar included in this post shows 2022 my month so far. This calendar shows mass shootings, where four or more people, not including the shooter are involved. Not a single week in the year 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings.
I don’t know about you, but when I saw this data presented this way, my stomach turned, and I started to feel dizzy. I’m not sure if it was anxiety, fear, sadness, disappointment, or some combo of them all.
I do know something needs to be done. I don’t own a gun and don’t plan to get one, so I guess that is one way of doing my part. Just because I don’t personally possess a gun, doesn’t mean I don’t believe in my right to do so.
I understand both sides of the argument. I’m directly in the middle just trying to understand what the best solution could be. Do we know?
How do we achieve our goal? What is the goal? Do we let law-abiding citizens keep their guns? My first thought is yes! It is a right, isn’t it? People that own guns usually believe in them, and their right to bear them. That makes sense to me. And that used to be enough.
But something is broken somewhere. I don’t want to give up my rights, but how many more babies are going to die? Can we even stop it if we did give up the right to bear arms?
If criminals can’t find guns, will they use bombs? That would be worse. We can take away the method, but not the desire to achieve mass destruction. That feels hopeless.
It could be my child’s school or a school in Alaska. It could a mall in Kentucky, or a bowling alley in Maine. It could be a High School in Colorado, or a Supermarket in Rhode Island. It could be any of those places at any time. It could be planned or spontaneous. It could be for a political reason or a personal reason. Maybe there isn’t even a reason.
I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I think it is important to keep the discussion open and moving forward toward a solution. Everyone matters and I think we can all agree we can’t keep going in this direction. Something has to change. Talk it out. Let’s figure it out.
It doesn’t really matter what side you are on politically… as people we need to figure out a unified solution that works to keep all of our children and public places safe and free of gun violence.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/02/mass-shootings-in-2022/