Hallway to Nowhere

Tag: mass shooting

  • It’s Time To Stop Saying “Senseless Shooting”

    After reading about 2 mass shootings in 2 different cities within 13 hours with a total of 29 people dead, I want to suggest that it is now way past time to stop calling these “senseless shootings”. From the virulent anti-immigrant manifesto penned by El Paso shooter, it is quite obvious that this was done for a very specific reason. It was calculated to target, kill, and further inspire terror in the greater Hispanic community at large and (he hoped) encourage them to flee the country.  Not random and not senseless. The motives for the Dayton, Ohio shooter were not as clearly or as neatly laid out, but it is known that he made out a hit list earlier.  So he definitely had this on on his mind. It also was not a random, senseless act, even if those killed were. The act itself was planned.

    A mass shooting takes forethought. It requires that you gain access to the weapons, conceal the weapons, and bring the weapons to the venue where the killing will take place. This in itself is prima facie evidence that that mass shootings cannot be termed “senseless”. YOU might not get why someone does such an act, but there is always a reason. And lately? It is tied up somehow with politics. I’m getting really fed up with the “thoughts and prayers” response. I mean sure, DO THAT, but also pass EFFECTIVE GUN CONTROL LAWS WITH TEETH, TOO!

  • Another Mass-Shooting in A School

    Yesterday on a one of my social media sites I posted the Indigo Girls song Don’t Give That Girl A Gun (video posted at end of this blog) from their awesome album Shaming Of The Sun, along with the comment that it seemed apropos for so many of the recent school schootings (one of which had involved a female). I had no idea that the very next day I would view with horrow reports of yet another mass shooting at a school, my words echoing in my ears and the song playing its sound track through my mind.

    I keep asking myself: When did “mass-shooting” become a tool in the set of “appropriate responses” in the American psyche? How did this happen? The first shooting I remember remember outside of war or accidental death or natural causes was the Kent State shooting. THAT was devastating. Granted, it was not armed-citizen instigated violence, but it WAS the first non-military-against-enemy violence, (yes, it WAS military, national guard, but it was military-against-civilian), that I can remember as a young person. And for the times, four dead, four civilian dead, certainly counted as a mass shooting (then). How little did we suspect what was to come down the road.

    I just googled “mass-shootings in the U.S.” Depending on which source you use, your answer will vary from 146 to 147. Of course, that answer is now sadly out-of-date, b/c it was written JUST LAST YEAR. There have been thirty-count that-THIRTY (30) mass-shootings in the U.S in 2018, including the one that just occurred in Florida. This data comes from Gun Violence Archive, in case your’re wondering. (www.gunviolencearchive.org/mass-shooting)  Wrap your had around that for a minute and think about our (lack) of gun control. Maybe also contemplate it the next time you see a nice friendly ad for the NRA.

    I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a parent these days. To send your child off to school when this type of thing is a possibility. Or to be a student when there is the chance that one of your classmates will use the opportunity to kill you.  That was not even on the radar when I was in school. The most we had to fear was physical or verbal bullying. These kids face maybe DEATH by the mere act of attending class. I am in awe of their bravery.

  • Trump’s Response On Las Vegas Vs Puerto Rico

    Trump’s Response On Las Vegas Vs Puerto Rico

    I just finished watched Trump’s (#NotMyPresident) remarks on the the Las Vegas shooting. While I do not mean to diminish the depth of this tragedy in any way, I could help but compare his response to it to his response to the ongoing suffering in Puerto Rico. Trump was immediately on-cue and is visiting Las Vegas Wednesday, only two days after the shooting occurred. He has YET to visit Puerto Rico, though he is supposed to do so Tuesday. (We’ll see if this actually takes place.) Maria struck the island NINE days ago. Part of me cynically wonders if this has to do with the fact that the shooting in Las Vegas struck more at people who might be Trump’s people: it was a country music concert, so chances are the concert-goers were more than likely white. I haven’t seen anything about this, mind you. Whereas Puerto Rico is filled with….you know, nonwhite people. The type of people Trump likes to call names and ban from the country. Just one step up from “rapists and drug lords.” Probably bad hombres.

    Mass shootings are getting deadlier. The shooters have access to weapons that will cause more harm. (Thank you, NRA!) Usually, when the gunman is white, he is said to be a “lone wolf” and often found to have mental problems. But let the gunman be Muslim or African American, and -viola- you have a terrorist attack! Interesting, that double standard there.

    I don’t really have a firm end point here. Just something to think about.

  • Where Is My Country?

    Where Is My Country?

    I read the morning news and wonder, “Wtf happened to the US I used to inhabit? Where did my country go?” I once lived in a place that, though there might be conflict and discord, was still civilized, somewhat predictable, and I felt safe. Now daily I read reports of science being under attack, mass-shootings, the unceasing rollback of LGBTQ rights, police targeting African Americans, and more. So much more thatmerely opening a newspaper feels risky. I have to steel myself for  bad news.

    We have a POTUS (#notmypresident) who is unstable, vicious, petty, and often incoherent. No-one, not his staff, his administration, nor even himself knows he will say or do next. Other nations are understandably nervous about this. He has insulted more countries and heads of state than I care to note. Rather than going about the business of governing, he spends his time reacting to whatever catches his attention and attacking anyone (esp. women) and anything that he feels threatened him.

    Meanwhile, though the GOP controls both the House and the Senate and the Supreme Court, they have been unable to pass a healthcare bill. The infighting in the GOP and the continuing resistance from Democrats reflects the fractured state of the country and the chaotic trickle-down of instability from the WH. The polarization is so extreme that a citizen attempted a major attack on Congress members, driven largely by partisan frustration. Protests continue to roil the landscape and often turn into violent confrontations.

    The situation is dire enough that states do not feel secure in the union.  I read about movements in both California and Texas to SECEDE entirely, both being stark examples of the the left and the right. States and cities increasingly have to act on their own to protect vulnerable citizens-religious minorities (Muslims, Jews, basically anyone who is not Christian), LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, minorities, and women-in an effort to shield them from fallout from the capitol. Sometimes they do so, but often they fail and even join in the efforts to curtail their rights and safety.

    I could go on. The utterly dystopian ad by the NRA comes to mind. But I will stop here. I wrote this largely out of grief. I’m in a state of mourning for a world that seems far removed from the country I inhabited only a year ago. I wish this were just a momentary lapse in continuity. But I fear now: for my nation, my fellow citizens, and myself.