FIVE MASS SHOOTINGS in the USA since 2021! FIVE! 28 people have died, and 9 injured.

There have already been FIVE MASS SHOOTINGS in the USA since 2021!  FIVE!  28 people have died, and 9 injured.  Not from a virus that can't be seen.  Not from auto accidents on the highway, but by men who could easily buy assault weapons and walk into a store, a spa, or other places and just shoot, kill and injure others.  


I must confess. I have never owned a gun.  I had touched a gun once when my Dad tried to show me how to clean his pistol, and I cringed.  So, I may not be the best person to write an objective blog on gun violence. 

That said, I don't think you have to be right-wing or left-wing to see that we have a problem in this country.  We make it so easy to get any gun in this country that a man in Atlanta can buy a gun in the morning and kill 8 people before the day is out.  Many want to ask women to have a waiting period for an abortion, but those "pro-life" people don't support any restraint on gun ownership or waiting periods.  Yet, the killing keeps coming.  There have already been 5 mass killings in 2021.  I won't got total this up over the years.  Can you believe there is a Wikipedia page to track our mass killings and has already been updated with the recent mass shooting in Boulder, CO.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States This is so common in the USA that we have a Wikipedia page dedicated to tracking them! 

I received a poll online that asked me if I support college kids, professors, and teachers to openly carry guns to help protect each other.  When have we seen this truly play out? In the middle of one of these mass shootings, where is the hero, some potential victim, stepping out of the aisle with a gun to shoot the perpetrator?  And yet, the NRA and those protecting their second amendment rights use the reason to "protect and defend" oneself and home as a reason to own a gun.  They use this reason and sport to support the right to purchase assault rifles because that makes hunting more of a "sport"?

Let's be clear, this appears to be a White Male issue with mass killings.  Let's be blunt, if a man of color or non-white background went into a gun store to buy assault rifles and bullets, my guess is there would be an alarm going off and calls made before the sale.  Is it another element of white privilege that we can buy any gun we want without suspicion? Or, is there something inherent in the white male DNA that causes him to snap and decide the only solution is to go out and buy an assault rifle and kill people many people.  This website, amazing that there is one, shows over half are committed by white https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/ people, and there are more "unknown" that I would lay odds are white.   And, not a surprise, a vast majority of mass shooters are men https://www.statista.com/statistics/476445/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-gender/.  As we address the covid pandemic, maybe we have a pandemic of white men and mass killings that should be addressed as well.

I listened yesterday to Joe Biden's comments on the shootings.  I must confess to feeling a tear for the victims, listening to Biden's compassionate sorrow over them, and a bit of pride to have a president who discusses the violence with compassion and what appears to be resolve to address the issue of gun violence in the United States.  Here is information on the two bills that passed the house that the president implored the senate to take up immediately https://www.factcheck.org/2021/03/facts-on-the-house-gun-bills/.

We live in a time of division.  Hopefully, we can follow Biden's lead toward a compassionate approach to working to end not just mass killings but gun violence in general.  Honestly, the second amendment (Amendment II.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the people's right to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.) nowhere says that people should be able to have an arsenal of military weapons in their homes.  Certainly, we can come to agree to restrict access to assault weapons and large magazines of bullets.  We also can do as other countries and cities in this country have repurchased these weapons to take them out of circulation.  With all honesty, the greatest risk of being assaulted at home is not by those white men who take up mass killings.  The greatest risk to people from the government's injustice is by being black or a race not white! So, let's get on the side of humane justice and safety as other countries around the world have.

My first step will be to send an email to my representative in congress to ask what he is going to do to assure these bills gain attention and are passed, as well as to my two senators. I can assure you that my expectations are quite low from the great state of Texas, but I must start somewhere.

 

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