ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING......AMERICANS WAKE UP!
It seems like a daily news headline, "another mass shooting" and _____________fill in the blank of where, how many, who, and most often omitted or unknown why? Indianapolis just had another "crazy" walk in an industrial building and kill 8 people in a Federal Express facility, then he killed himself.
"American mass shootings" are increasing. More than 600 mass shootings happened in the USA in 2020. 417 in 2019. So far in 2021with 147 mass shootings as of April 16th and 11 mass murders (When 4 or more people are killed).
CNN and the Washington Post define mass shooting as "when 4 or more people are killed, not including domestic violence or robberies".
So if anything the number understates the real numbers of mass murders in the USA.
At Indianapolis, in a statement from the Sikh Coalition, a granddaughter of Ms. Johal’s, Komal Chohan, said that she had several family members who worked at the warehouse and that she was heartbroken about “the senseless shooting.”
“My our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere,” she said. “Enough is enough — our community has been through enough trauma.”
Although the motive of the gunman is unknown, local leaders said his actions generated fear similar to what many Sikhs felt after the Sept. 11 attacks, when they were confused for Muslims, and after a 2012 rampage by a white supremacist, who killed six people at a gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in Oak Creek, Wis.
4 of the eight people killed at the Federal Express facility in Indianapolis, were Sikh, many of who live in the area.
Was the shooting an "ethnic" or cultural hatred thing? Or just another emotionally sick person with a gun.
We have seen shootings in all kinds of places: Consider just a few: Here is another report a day later, showing even more shootings:
It just keeps on happening every day. Where? Where are you safe now? Perhaps not if locations of shootings mean anything.
Private homes,
Grocery stores,
Industrial buildings
Massage parlors
Elementary schools
High Schools
Churches
Colleges
Random shooting sprees like the one in Chicago
Movie theaters
Bars and restaurants
Shopping Malls
It begs the question. Are we safe in the USA these days?
Why do the American people (you and I) allow this to continue? Both President Biden and former Republican leader John Boehner have recently called our failure to do something on the massive gun shootings a "national embarrassment" on national T.V.
Democrats have been blocked by Republicans and the NRA. Although the NRA seems to be riddled with corruption stories, at it's top leadership levels, keeps putting out the same message encouraging "more guns".
WHAT DO POLLS SAY?
Americans: Pew research says 60% of American say gun laws should be made stricter
But 82% of Americans (source nationalinterest.org) oppose "gun control laws".
But a poll by US News done by NBC and Wall Street Journal said that 89% of Americans favor expanded background checks for gun purchasers.
To further confuse the issue:
1. WWW.npr.org did a survey:
90% of Democrats say to the U.S. Congress: "Control gun violence", while 69% of Republicans say "Protect gun rights".
2. It seems that Americans prefer "mass gun violence" to gun control laws, yet Americans do want stricter gun laws.
It may take the wisdom of Solomon to weave through the polls and results of what "Americans want" and figure out a law that can pass and do some good.
40,000 Americans die per year from gun violence.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico the first news reports every morning are "How many people were killed last night." Sadly Albuquerque was once considered an exceptionally dangerous place because of a perpetual high crime rate and many shooting deaths. But, it seems that the rest of the nation is following suit". said Ben Boothe a businessman, who works in New Mexico and Texas.
The young people of America have done a great job organizing efforts to create solutions relating to gun violence, but like everyone else they have been blocked by right wing political groups in Washington DC.
HOW ABOUT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE GUN PROBLEM?
Dr. Mark Rosenberg helped create the C.D.C. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, but says he was fired in the late 1990's under pressure from Republicans who opposed the center's gun research. He said: "Science and research can show how to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and at the same time reduce the toll of gun violence." But it seems that right wing politicians are still lobbied and heavily influenced by the NRA.
Research, science and study have proven effective in other areas of the American system. For example the Federal government and several states spent hundreds of millions of dollars studying motor vehicle deaths in the 70's and 80's, and the scientific results led to numerous safety measures, such as seatbelt requirements, lower speed limits and even encouraged manufacturers to implement new safety studies and adaptions to auto design. The research ultimately changed laws and practices saving hundreds of millions of lives. But Republican politicians have consistently blocked "studies of gun safety and gun issues".
Dr. Wintemute, of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, says:
"IT'S AS IF WE HAD DECIDED 'LET'S NOT DO RESEARCH ON CORONAVIRUS, CANCER OR HEART DISEASE, LETS JUST LET THE PROBLEM RUN ITS COURSE'' HE SAID. "HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE DEAD WHO WOULD BE ALIVE TODAY IF THAT RESEARCH (THAT WAS BLOCKED BY REPUBLICANS) HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO CONTINUE 25 YEARS AGO?"
CULTURAL AND HISTORIC CONSIDERATIONS:
*MILLIONS OF AMERICANS RECOUNT (AS DO I) FOND MEMORIES OF THEIR GRANDFATHER, OR FATHER, TAKING THEM HUNTING, CAMPING, JUST LEARNING TO RESPECT NATURE.
*MY FATHER DIDN'T TEACH ME TO WALK AROUND TOWNS CARRYING A GUN AND BRANDISHING IT, TO SHOW OFF.
* FATHER TAUGHT ME GUN SAFETY AND HOW TO RESPECT NATURE. TO THINK BEFORE YOU EVER SHOOT A GUN.
* BUT AS BILL RUGER TOLD ME ONE DAY (HE OWNED THE RUGER GUN COMPANY). "There are too many crazies out there, who think they must have a military style semi automatic with a large clip to show off. Mr. Ruger prized a beautiful single shot rifle, to remind US ALL, "one shot, aimed well". His company made the other guns that have become so popular, but he longed for the more respectful and thoughtful hunters, for whom hunting was a bonding experience with a son or daughter. "Any self respecting hunter only needs one shot to kill a deer." he once told me. When he said that in public he told me he got over 1000 hate letters from people in Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. He decided to sell his gun company, and told me, "There are too many crazies out there".
I am not a spokesperson for any group. But it seems to me that the American people need to decide what to do about all of these mass slaughters. It would seem that the days of people openly walking around with high powered weaponry is unhealthy for our society. Yes, take them to the firing ranges and go for hunts or shooting contests, but not to a Starbucks, or Dairy Queen or a school campus.
It also seems logical that we as an educated people would trust research, science and figure out the best measures for our society. And it seems that we have politicized this, so much it is even divisive for families.
Throwing politics and religion into any subject is like throwing gasoline onto an open fire. Those people who think of themselves like a local good guy gunfighter, in town to kill the bad guys, are a bit out of balance with an educated and progressive society.
I yearn for the day when the morning TV news and headlines, in my town, don't always start with how many people were shot and murdered the night before. What Church or Theater, or School, Post Office, or Commercial Building had a slaughter. That is going to require you an I, as Americans to decide what kind of nation we want, and as a democracy move forward. And then to get out there and work for it.
Like this grandfather is trying to do. Just look at his eyes. He is begging for you, me and our children. Begging that America will be a safer place to live.
