What do we say now?
That’s the question we, as a nation, must answer following this past weekend’s shootings, bringing the number of mass shooting this year to 255, according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.
Yes, that number is from just this year. Those 255 incidents include five high-profile shootings in just the past eight days in which more than 100 people have been shot.
These numbers represent more than statistical facts. They represent people being injured and killed.
Clearly, this nation must make changes if we want to alter what’s beginning to feel like the new normal. When will we change our laws to curb gun violence? When most Americans become so callous to mass shootings we no longer even pause our day to take notice?
We hope not. We’re better than that. Americans are problem solvers. And it’s up to us to solve what seems like an American problem. Certainly there are mass killings outside the United States, like the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March that left 51 dead. But it’s not the norm, like it’s becoming in the U.S.
So what’s next? Words, as usual, but little action?
In this case, words matter, provided they’re the right words.
We hope this time, following a mass shooting, we have frank talk about gun control, background checks and this country’s morals and values. They must be discussed hand-in-hand and lead to action.
We hope we have more talk about the need for families and others to be aware of the state of their loved ones, who may for whatever reason begin to show signs of hatred and violence. They need resources to help them decide what to do.
We hope our leaders consider their words as carefully as they should consider their actions. It’s one thing to disagree with another person’s ideas, it’s another to call them, their constituents, and their locations hateful and degrading names. Ugly talk about one another has never led to a solution.
On Monday, President Donald Trump said the right words: “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
Now, we ask him and others to follow that advice and end the ugly and hateful rhetoric that simply does no good.
