We create most of our suffering…
Dalai Lama
Daily shootings are becoming the norm in the US, and it’s tragic, heartbreaking, and frightening. What’s most troubling to me is that all these deaths and the suffering of the families and survivors did not need to happen.
The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 young children and two adults dead. That’s 19 young lives that were taken, 19 youngsters who will never see another birthday. We have been living with the specter of mass school shootings in this country since Columbine.
The Uvalde shooter legally purchased two AR-15 rifles soon after turning 18 on May 17 and May 20 from a local federal firearms licensee.
I was living in Colorado when the Columbine Massacre occurred in 1999. Both my daughters were in grade school at that time, and after hearing the news, I and every other parent rushed to pick up our children early that day. We were in shock. We could not believe what had happened. Two 12th graders murdered 12 students and one teacher, and afterward, the perpetrators committed suicide.
Since then there has been Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Roseberg, and the Red Lake shootings.
Our nation by far has the highest rate of school shootings in the world. For example, between January 2009 and May 2018, the US endured 288 school shootings. Second place was Mexico with 8, and third was South Africa with 6. This year alone, there have been 27 school shootings in the US, with over 200 mass shootings in all.
What type of guns was most prevalent during such shootings? Automatic and semi-automatic weapons, most notably the AR-15. the AR-15 rifle, or variants of the AR-15 rifle, has been used in 11 mass shootings since 2012. These include Parkland, Sandy Hook, Orlando (the Pulse nightclub shooting), Aurora, Colorado (the Century 16 theater shooting), Midland Odessa, Sutherland Springs, and Boulder Colorado.
We also cannot forget Las Vegas, Nevada. On October 1, 2017, a shooter used 23 different weapons to murder 58 people attending a music festival. A total of 23 guns, including several AR-15 rifles were found in his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay.
The AR-15 rifle first hit the market in the 1950s, and by the 60s manufacturers were producing variants of the firearm. For gun proponents and NRA enthusiasts, AR-15 rifles and assault weapons are meant to kill victims in large numbers.
Sadly, in 2004 the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994 was lifted. This act banned the manufacture, use, and sale of semi-automatic assault weapons. The Act also banned large-capacity magazines that enable shooters to fire more bullets before reloading.
Since the ban was lifted, mass shootings involving weapons such as the AR-15 rose dramatically.
Gun advocates falsely claim that the “liberals” and Democrats want to take their guns away. That’s simply not true. No one is pushing for a ban on hunting rifles, shotguns, or pistols. What is at the center of this issue are automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons. Assault weapons are weapons of mass destruction. Assault weapons are not meant for hunting or target shooting: They are meant to kill lots of people all at once.
Gun advocates also bring up the Second Amendment, which reads: “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
Sorry guys. The only guns around over 200 years ago were flintlock pistols and muskets, able to hold a single round at a time, not rifles that can unleash up to 60 rounds a minute.
We have created our own suffering in this country with our obsession with guns and the Second Amendment. When will it end?