The Reality Of Violence In America

R.I.P.(just the latest in a long line of innocent victims…)

Is This What America Is About

Only six weeks into the year 2018 and there have already been 18 school shootings.., the latest happening February 14th - Valentines Day, a day that represents love, was replaced by evil and ripped to shreds by yet another gun men armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle... Granted a school shooting is deemed any gunshot going off near a school, some being a suicide, accidental mis-fire (not a mass shooting like we just witnessed in Florida), so definitely, that number 18 is slightly misleading… But there have been 20 people killed and more than 30 injured… And, Im sure we all can agree.., that even one child getting killed -- shot, anywhere, is one too many -- and when it happens at school, a place for learning and bonding with new friends, a place they should all feel extremely safe -- there is a big problem.

Most recently, 17 young people, students in a Florida high school were killed and another 14 injured — not by some foreign terrorist.., but by an American, a young American who had an axe to grind, a score to settle -- who knows what was going through his mind… A young man, of 19 years old, living in a state where he is not old enough to legally have a beer.., was able purchase an assault style semi-automatic weapon and kill 17 other young people, also injuring at least another 14…

And while there are statistics being argued by our opposing political parties, by regular people with different view points (all valid and all worth listening too) in communities all across this country -- eventually, after all the thoughts and prayers -- all the condolences to the grieving parents, brothers, sisters and friends.., after all the news coverage stops -- we all move on, we forget… We do all those dead children such a disservice, just by going on with our lives.., maybe because it's easier than getting in the trenches and figuring out, not only why this happens -- but how to stop it, if we even can…

MASS SCHOOL SHOOTINGS (last 20 years in America)

▪   2018… Stoneman Douglas High School  -- 17 killed, 14 injured
▪   2015… Umpqua Community College  -- 9 killed, 9 injured
▪   2014… Isla Vista -- 6 killed, 14 injured
▪   2014… Marysville -- 4 killed, 3 injured
▪   2013... Santa Monica -- 5 killed, 2 injured
▪   2013… HCTC -- 3 killed, 0 injured
▪   2012… Chardon High School -- 3 killed, 3 injured
▪   2012… Oikos University -- 7 killed, 3 injured
▪   2012… Sandy Hook Elementary School -- 27 killed, 2 injured 
▪   2008… Northern Illinois University -- 5 killed, 17 injured
▪   2007... Virginia Tech -- 32 killed, 17 injured
▪   2007... Colorado YWAM -- 4 killed, 5 injured
▪   2005... Red Lake -- 9 killed, 5 injured
▪   2002… Appalachian School of Law -- 3 killed, 3 injured
▪   2002… University of Arizona College of Nursing -- 3 killed, 0 injured
▪   2001… Santee school -- 2 killed, 13 injured
▪   1999... Columbine High School -- 15 killed, 24 injured
▪   1999… Costa Mesa school -- 2 killed, 5 injured
▪   1998… Westside Middle School -- 5 killed, 10 injured
▪   1998… Thurston High School -- 4 killed, 25 injured

(2 or 3 of these shootings happened near or on the campus of schools but were not necessarily school shootings)

20 mass school shootings -- 165 students killed -- 174 injured

The Horror

While all of these these shootings are horrific.., the shooting of kindergarten children at Sandy Hook Elementary School is just beyond tragic -- the killing of children ages 6-7 years old, by a killer using a semi-automatic assault style weapon -- a Bushmaster XM-15.., is hard to even comprehend…

What is it in America.., that drives someone, often a young adult to pick-up a weapon capable of killing so many, in the shortest period of time…

Why is this so unique to America…

Atrocities like the ones above.., and even much worse happen everyday all over the world -- and they are just that, atrocities! But what is that makes these school shootings so American… To be clear, this is not a post about gun control, the second amendment or even mental health… It is about children, as young as 6 years old being gunned by a fellow American, very often barely an adult themselves… It is about the young lives lost.., and the many lives destroyed, the scars that those still alive have to bear -- many times at the hands of a military-style weapon (not always).

Americas gun violence is 25x that of other high-income nations…
The gun-related suicide rate is 8x that of other similar nations --
WHY???

While this post is meant to inspire discussion and some possible answers, if there are any -- it is really a call to action… The time for discussion has long past, something -- ANYTHING.., has to be done. The killing of children and young adults, people with their whole lives ahead of them, certainly demands that we get our heads out of our asses -- and do (not talk about) something!

Is it that access to these assault-style weapons has grown dramatically?
Is it the lack of mental health care?
Is it violent Hollywood movies?
Is it even more violent video games?
Is it bad parenting?
Is it our divisive politics?

What is it… Is it all of the above and more… Is it the fragmenting of our culture and morals… What it definitely is -- is a complex issue, that needs to be addressed before the next massacre of young people. Too often we all line-up behind our own specific ideas of why this happens and we dig ourselves in and refuse to listen to anything else… Are our own egos more important to us than lives of our children… Are we so stubborn and pig-headed that we are are willing to let these kind of horrific events continue… Has our humanity grown so cold we can't sit down, together as a whole.., and actually try and solve this -- and if it has, what kind of world have we created...

I was stirred to write this post after watching a female freshman in high school, completely breakdown describing how she lost 8 friends to the latest of these tragedies --
just heartbreaking...


REFERENCE:
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302242
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302242
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_massacres_by_death_toll


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