Wednesday marks the 565thmass shooting of 2023. A mass shooting is where 4 or more people are shot/injured/killed. So far there are 18 victims. 3 are still in critical condition in the hospital. The killer is still on the loose. I’m going to take a shot in the dark and assume that this individual did not receive all the services he should have. According to reports, he spent time in a mental health facility. Did he receive consistent care? Did he have a record? I’m sure more information will be coming. I hope they find this asshole. He was distraught and “hearing voices” according to reports. However, he is now hiding. So lucid enough to choose to elude police and hide. This tells me he knows what he did was wrong. He is hiding in fear or shame, or who knows. Victims include a father and son who were bowling together. Several victims were in a cornhole tournament for deaf athletes. Two men were reportedly charging the shooter when they were shot and killed, after ensuring their families were out of harms way. A father and son were bowling. I just can’t. I can’t fucking imagine the horror.
I know I have said this and I’ll keep saying it until my fucking eyes bleed. We have more shootings daily than entire countries have over an entire year, or several years. Japan, it’s been decades. We have more toddlers killing people with guns in one year than Japan has had shootings in over a decade. YES, we have a larger population but our DEATH RATE is 10x higher than the second place industrialized nation. For example, Japan had 10 shooting deaths in one year. Since our population is 3x a large as Japan, we should have 30 a year right? Nope. We have 323 people being shot a day. We have 23 kids being shot a day. We have the most guns of any nation, we beat them by 100s of millions of guns. We officially have more guns than people in this country.
MORE GUNS== MORE DEATH. Good guys with guns== more people dead from guns. Remember Uvalde? Would you let the cops hold you back if your kids were in that school? Remember the good guys with guns who have been shot by police when they show up to the crime scene?
I’ve said this before too—I do not have problems with the responsible, intelligent, trained gun owners who keep their guns away from children. Who keep their guns properly stored. However, 8 children every single fucking day are shot by family fire. Which is a improperly stored and/or misused gun in the family home. 8 kids a fucking DAY. We have had 565 MASS SHOOTINGS!
Gun deaths are not the same as dying from cancer or heart disease or emphysema. I’m so sick of hearing these arguments. “Well this many people die from cigarettes”. Cigarettes are a vice, a choice, PLUS cigarettes are required to have extensive warnings on them, you have to be 21 now to buy cigarettes. You can be 18 to buy assault weapons and shotguns. You have to be 21 to buy a handgun. You can BUY A FUCKING AK-47 BUT NOT CIGARETTES if you are 18, 19 or 20. What the absolute fuck? Several states do not require any training or permits to carry. Maine is one of them, that is where this most recent, and DEADLIEST of 2023 mass shooting took place. Guns do not have stickers on them that say “This weapon was made for killing humans. Please be careful.” Gun companies have advertisements for guns for kids. That’s legal and that’s fine. They exist, google it. They are advertising directly to children. A gun for them! Smaller, easier to hold for their tiny hands! That makes me so depressed, I need to excuse myself to vomit.
I literally cannot stop crying. I’m already an emotional person, but getting these daily updates on mass shootings and children being gunned down is horrifying. I refuse to stop researching and/or reading though. I should have to go through this. It’s nothing compared to the horrifying destruction the actual victims suffer. So over 300 people a day are shot and about a 1/3 die. So take that 300 and think of their families. Their friends. Their coworkers. These are the ripple effects. It affects entire towns, neighborhoods, communities.
When the 2nd amendment was ratified in 1791, 18th century muskets were being used. The people that ride or die the 2ndamendment, what are your thoughts about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Do you know what document that was in? I can’t even pursue happiness in a bowling alley or a cornhole tournament without the risk of being gunned down by someone who had a history of mental health issues and who was hearing voices weeks before this happened, and who is currently in hiding and being hunted by the police and the FBI. I am eager to discover when and how he obtained these guns.
It's always been strange to me how many “prolife” people are actually progun as well. And we have the right to own guns. However, women do not have the right to their own bodies. If Jesus existed and knew about these shootings, trust, he would be anti-gun. Why would he support the right to own guns? Why would he support a rich, racist, rapist? I can’t help but think these people are evil. How can you think Trump is good, guns are good, fetuses are good, but them pretend to be Christian and/or godly?
If every single church took in just 1 homeless person, homelessness would not exist. Your move churches.
When this “person” is caught, he will be caught, he’ll either go down swinging and get killed himself or he’ll end up waiting for his day in court. Can you imagine going to that courtroom if your loved one was one of the people shot and killed? Can you imagine? I can’t. All I think about is the courtroom when a man tried to charge at the shooter. He was upset that his mother was shot and killed. The judge actually let the man calm down and stay in the court room. I just can’t imagine staying still and calm. I really can’t. I can’t imagine doing that if I was just there to observe, and no one I loved was a victim. I just can’t imagine it. No one should have to.
Clearly, we need stronger regulations, because unfortunately most people are not storing their guns properly. If they were we wouldn’t have 8 children being shot a day because of that. Need stronger rules. I shouldn’t be able to buy a gun, and not a cigarette or a beer. I shouldn’t be able to buy a gun, but not be able to rent a car or reserve a hotel room.
I’m going to keep blogging about shootings until my eyes bleed. I hope I’m never involved in one, and I hope no one I love is, but I will continue to be aware that it can happen, anywhere and at anytime.
Mass shootings- 565 so far in 2023. 645 in 2022. 688 in 2021. 610 in 2020.
People don’t choose to be shot. People choose to go bowling. People choose to go to the movies. People choose to indulge in vices. Guns change. So should laws. IT IS THE GUNS YOU ASSHOLES!