By Tyrone L. Heppard
July 20, 2012 I was watching the late night AC360 on CNN at 4:25 when they cut out and flashed the ‘breaking news’ logo across the screen. Initially, I didn’t think much of it; these cable news channels love calling anything “breaking news” just to grab my attention for a few seconds.
“Jesus, what’s going on now,” I thought to myself. Did a high-profile Wall Street guy turn himself in? Was Bashar al-Assad captured in Syria? Did Mitt Romney finally release his tax returns? That would be news that could make me smile.
But when they showed live video from the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, I knew that something was seriously wrong. It turned out that a 24-year old named James Eagan Holmes had shot up innocent people who were with friends and family watching the new Batman movie. Right now as I type these words, there are reports that 12 people were killed and over 50 were injured. The youngest victim was around 4-months old.
Of course, this is a tragedy, and there’s no room for politics when something like this happens. Democrat or republican, everyone feels sickened and saddened when innocent people are killed for absolutely no reason. In addition, when events such as these take place, citizens and politicians; the elite and the working class alike are all compelled to offer their prayers and deepest condolences.
Although, while everyone’s heart is in the right place, we all fail to recognize the obvious: something like this happens all of the time. First there was Columbine in 1999. Then there was Virginia Tech in 2009. We can’t forget Tucson, Arizona where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head last year.
I’m from Binghamton, New York. You may or may not remember the American Civic Center shooting in 2009 where a Vietnamese immigrant opened fire killing 13 people and wounding 14. Add all of the senseless acts of violence that have taken lives all over the country (Recently in Sanford, Florida with Treyvon Martin), and my country has a problem that I just can’t ignore.
You can now throw in the Century 16 Massacre to the list - with the dubious honor of being the largest domestic genocide in American history – this year.
What infuriates me more than someone being so reckless and downright diabolical, is the fact that we as a nation have yet to do anything about gun control in this country.
Whenever something like this happens, as a country, we all go through the motions: the news covers it for about a week. People offer their prayers and condolences. Victim’s families are interviewed (most of the time they say they don’t understand how something like this can happen or that they didn’t see it coming). “Experts” tell us how we should feel, and we all shake our heads before we all go on about our business.
For me as an individual, this is the last straw. I’m deeply disturbed about what has happened; especially because there were children involved (I often say to myself in these situations, ‘do what you will to the adults, but leave the kids alone.’). But it’s painfully apparent that our “prayers and condolences” aren’t enough to stop these kinds of violent acts in our country. The only people who can do anything proactive are our politicians; and they refuse to do anything.
As a liberal, I can point fingers at republicans and the NRA. I can rant about how their ‘lust for guns’ are the problem and they hold the 2nd Amendment too close to their chest.
However, despite allegations from Tea Partiers that Obama has a plan to take everyone’s guns away, democrats haven’t touched the issue. The fact of the matter is that no one has (to quote pro wrestler, Mick Foley) the testicular fortitude to do anything about the obvious problem: it’s WAY too easy for ANYONE to get their hands on a firearm. I think it’s disgusting that the people charged with protecting the safety and interests of country shy away from doing so for a paycheck.
Politically speaking, democrats and republicans are equally guilty. And as an aspiring journalist, I don’t hesitate to say that the media isn’t helping at all. As a citizen, I think it’s important – perhaps now more than ever – that we need to discuss gun control in the US. It’s honestly that simple.
Psycho-analysts are always quick to say the people who commit these crimes were ‘psychotic’ or ‘needed help’, and they tell us that we need to watch for ‘signs’ to alert authorities if we suspect someone is ‘unhinged’. What about our laws? What about the fact that anyone one of us can walk into a gun shop and, so long as we don’t have a criminal record or a history of mental problems, we can walk out with a police-issued shotgun or assault rifle?
What about the fact that all of these people who killed in the name of the voices in their heads were living among us? Anyone who was close to the people who commit these atrocities says close to the same thing: they didn’t think [so-and-so] was capable of [insert massacre here].
I don’t know what to do, America. I like guns just as much as the average male in our country, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to buy an AR-15 or a Remington or a Glock. I’m no professional. I’m no soldier. I’m no cop. I’m no expert. I’m just an American. I’m just a dude who’s too sick and tired of hearing about families and friends losing their lives. Why? Because as someone who’s been through it before, I’m not just going to ‘go on with my life’ as the TV psychologists tell me to. I’ve tried that before. Personally, it doesn’t work for me.
So this is for Dave; the kid I never got to go to SUNY Cortland with. This is for the parents who will never see their sons or daughters again. This is for the little kids. This is for the comm majors, and the human beings that will never get a chance to embrace the American Dream; or live for that matter. We’ve ‘dealt’ with the loss of our friends and loved ones for far too long. I don’t have a solution, but I do think that those of us lucky enough to be alive need to take a minute to reflect and remember. This isn’t the way people need to go. I’m tired of people telling me to get over it.
July 20, 2012 I was watching the late night AC360 on CNN at 4:25 when they cut out and flashed the ‘breaking news’ logo across the screen. Initially, I didn’t think much of it; these cable news channels love calling anything “breaking news” just to grab my attention for a few seconds.
“Jesus, what’s going on now,” I thought to myself. Did a high-profile Wall Street guy turn himself in? Was Bashar al-Assad captured in Syria? Did Mitt Romney finally release his tax returns? That would be news that could make me smile.
But when they showed live video from the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, I knew that something was seriously wrong. It turned out that a 24-year old named James Eagan Holmes had shot up innocent people who were with friends and family watching the new Batman movie. Right now as I type these words, there are reports that 12 people were killed and over 50 were injured. The youngest victim was around 4-months old.
Of course, this is a tragedy, and there’s no room for politics when something like this happens. Democrat or republican, everyone feels sickened and saddened when innocent people are killed for absolutely no reason. In addition, when events such as these take place, citizens and politicians; the elite and the working class alike are all compelled to offer their prayers and deepest condolences.
Although, while everyone’s heart is in the right place, we all fail to recognize the obvious: something like this happens all of the time. First there was Columbine in 1999. Then there was Virginia Tech in 2009. We can’t forget Tucson, Arizona where Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head last year.
I’m from Binghamton, New York. You may or may not remember the American Civic Center shooting in 2009 where a Vietnamese immigrant opened fire killing 13 people and wounding 14. Add all of the senseless acts of violence that have taken lives all over the country (Recently in Sanford, Florida with Treyvon Martin), and my country has a problem that I just can’t ignore.
You can now throw in the Century 16 Massacre to the list - with the dubious honor of being the largest domestic genocide in American history – this year.
What infuriates me more than someone being so reckless and downright diabolical, is the fact that we as a nation have yet to do anything about gun control in this country.
Whenever something like this happens, as a country, we all go through the motions: the news covers it for about a week. People offer their prayers and condolences. Victim’s families are interviewed (most of the time they say they don’t understand how something like this can happen or that they didn’t see it coming). “Experts” tell us how we should feel, and we all shake our heads before we all go on about our business.
For me as an individual, this is the last straw. I’m deeply disturbed about what has happened; especially because there were children involved (I often say to myself in these situations, ‘do what you will to the adults, but leave the kids alone.’). But it’s painfully apparent that our “prayers and condolences” aren’t enough to stop these kinds of violent acts in our country. The only people who can do anything proactive are our politicians; and they refuse to do anything.
As a liberal, I can point fingers at republicans and the NRA. I can rant about how their ‘lust for guns’ are the problem and they hold the 2nd Amendment too close to their chest.
However, despite allegations from Tea Partiers that Obama has a plan to take everyone’s guns away, democrats haven’t touched the issue. The fact of the matter is that no one has (to quote pro wrestler, Mick Foley) the testicular fortitude to do anything about the obvious problem: it’s WAY too easy for ANYONE to get their hands on a firearm. I think it’s disgusting that the people charged with protecting the safety and interests of country shy away from doing so for a paycheck.
Politically speaking, democrats and republicans are equally guilty. And as an aspiring journalist, I don’t hesitate to say that the media isn’t helping at all. As a citizen, I think it’s important – perhaps now more than ever – that we need to discuss gun control in the US. It’s honestly that simple.
Psycho-analysts are always quick to say the people who commit these crimes were ‘psychotic’ or ‘needed help’, and they tell us that we need to watch for ‘signs’ to alert authorities if we suspect someone is ‘unhinged’. What about our laws? What about the fact that anyone one of us can walk into a gun shop and, so long as we don’t have a criminal record or a history of mental problems, we can walk out with a police-issued shotgun or assault rifle?
What about the fact that all of these people who killed in the name of the voices in their heads were living among us? Anyone who was close to the people who commit these atrocities says close to the same thing: they didn’t think [so-and-so] was capable of [insert massacre here].
I don’t know what to do, America. I like guns just as much as the average male in our country, but that doesn’t mean I have the right to buy an AR-15 or a Remington or a Glock. I’m no professional. I’m no soldier. I’m no cop. I’m no expert. I’m just an American. I’m just a dude who’s too sick and tired of hearing about families and friends losing their lives. Why? Because as someone who’s been through it before, I’m not just going to ‘go on with my life’ as the TV psychologists tell me to. I’ve tried that before. Personally, it doesn’t work for me.
So this is for Dave; the kid I never got to go to SUNY Cortland with. This is for the parents who will never see their sons or daughters again. This is for the little kids. This is for the comm majors, and the human beings that will never get a chance to embrace the American Dream; or live for that matter. We’ve ‘dealt’ with the loss of our friends and loved ones for far too long. I don’t have a solution, but I do think that those of us lucky enough to be alive need to take a minute to reflect and remember. This isn’t the way people need to go. I’m tired of people telling me to get over it.
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