The Unwanted Numbness I have to Another Shooting in America
My first memory of hearing about a mass shooting was in 2016, when 50 people were murdered and 53 were injured at the gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando Florida. Hearing this was devastating to my 11-year-old self who had no idea how cruel this world could be and how full of malintent one individual could be.
One year later, I recall listening to CNN as it reported that 58 people were killed at a music festival in Las Vegas. Imagining 58 people with 58 stories and thousands of memories having their lives taken in an instant hurt. was unfathomable. The joy that had once taken the music festival stage being immediately drowned out with pain and sorrow was an unfathomable scene.
I remember in 2018 when 17 high school students and teachers were murdered at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. This one hurt the most because one of the victims, Alyssa Alhadeff, was a friend of mine from sleepaway camp. These stories were no longer far away. They were true, obtainable, and staring me right in the eye. There was no turning off the TV to escape the nightmare; it was far too real.
I recollect later in 2018 when 11 people were killed while attending synagogue in Pittsburgh. This one hurt because this shooter made a place of community, hope, love, and Judaism, into one of hate. He turned this safe haven for people already plagued by anti-semitism into a disaster zone.
I remember in 2019 when 23 people were shot and killed in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. This one hurt because 23 individuals lost their lives. 23 families lost a mother, son, father, sister, cousin, aunt, or uncle.
I remember a few weeks ago ago when 8 women were killed 15 miles from where I live in Atlanta, Georgia. This one hurt because it was targeted at the Asian community and was so close to home. To see how much Asain racism has spiked since the beginning of the Coronavirus breaks my heart.
I remember a shooting that happened a few weeks ago when 10 people were killed in a grocery store in Boulder Colorado.
This one did not hurt. This one did not hurt because today, I am numb to mass murder in America. This one did not hurt because I was not surprised; it was just another day in the United States. Another day where someone could purchase a deadly weapon with practically no restrictions and walk into a public space and leave blood on the floor. This one did not hurt because it was nothing new.
I wish I was hurt. I wish hearing this news made me want to fall to the ground and crumple into nothingness at the thought of 10 innocent people getting food to feed their families and then dying in a single instant. But I feel absolutely nothing. I heard the news, frowned, and continued on with my day as if nothing had happened. What's odd about this is I do not think there is anything wrong with me (at least not in this sense). I do not find it at all odd that I feel nothing because I think most people, except for those directly affected by the shooting in Colorado, felt practically nothing. No one I spoke to about it seemed particularly shocked or even saddened. It is our new normal.
But that is a truly terrible thing. To have mass murder be “whatever” is one of the greatest tragedies a civilized society can face. So where do we go from here? How can we halt this disastrous pattern of daily murder being ordinary?
First, here is a brief rundown of America’s most influential gun restriction laws to show you how easily some people can access a deadly weapon.
You must be at least 18 years of age to purchase shotguns, rifles, or ammunition. To purchase weapons with a deadlier price such as a handgun, you must be 21 or older.
The only people restricted from purchasing firearms are fugitives, those confined in a mental institution, those with prior felony convictions, and those who have been caught with possession of drugs in the past year.
While background checks are required to purchase a gun, these background checks are meager at best. Most of the time, they take “under ten minutes by phone or online'' and even if someone was originally denied gun ownership, their application can be reevaluated per request and “FFL holders can act at their own discretion if the research proves inconclusive.”
Only 12 of the 50 states in the US require permits for purchasing guns, and only three of those—California, Connecticut, and Hawaii— ”require permits for the purchase of rifles and shotguns.”
Worst of all, our laws have left open a major gun ownership loophole for those who should not be able to access murder devices; not every individual providing the gun in transfer requires a Federal Firearms License, and therefore not every prospective gun owner is legally required to go through a background check. This allows for people unfit to access firearms and is oftentimes the reason why guns are used in an irresponsible and even deadly manner. Essentially, any individual can sell a gun without a license from “[their] home, online, at a flea market or at a gun show” so long as the sale is not a regular business activity. Someone could even sell a gun without a background check straight out of their personal collection. So essentially, someone can purchase a gun without any background checks legally in the United States and this loophole practice, according to a 2017 survey by Harvard and Northeastern universities, “accounts for around one in five gun purchase interactions.” Furthermore, guns can be given as gifts to adolescents under the age of 18 by a guardian so long as there is written permission.
But this does not have to be the way. It is possible for America to tighten gun laws to ensure less deaths without completely stripping Americans of their Second Amendment right.
Australia is proof of a country that restricted guns and as a direct result have had far less deaths caused by gun violence. It has now been 25 years since Australia’s worst mass shooting due to the strict gun restrictions under the National Firearms Agreement which bans rapid-fire guns from “civilian ownership except under certain, restricted license” and requires guns to be individually registered and tracked. These laws, without banning gun ownership as a whole, have drastically decreased both murder and suicide by gun and have made Australia a far safer country. Americans must realize that our safety can be increased and shootings can be decreased without being deprived of their constitutional rights.
Or, we could sit in the numbness and allow this to continue. We can continue to allow blood to be shed among us as we lose our American brothers and sisters. We can allow bullets to be shot even as you are reading this article. As American citizens and voters we have the power and authority to enforce gun restrictions and ensure that the blood stops rushing and hearts keep pumping. We have the power to prevent the numbness that has become commonplace, we have the power to save each other’s lives.
By Ruby Kaufman