It’s Thursday in America. There’s been another mass shooting. The media are talking about it. We now know that 5 are dead in Annapolis, Maryland at a media outlet office. 3 are injured.

On Saturday there was a shooting of a young black man in Minneapolis by police. I mentioned it in my last post. There were many more that day.

On Sunday, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there is one whole page and part of another showing 50 died of gunshot injuries. On Monday, there were 50 gun deaths due to homicide ( suicides are not usually listed in the GVA).

On Tuesday, the count was 61. On Wednesday (yesterday) 50 Americans died from gunshot injuries.

If it’s Thursday there must be a mass shooting. If it’s any day, there must be a shooting. February 14th (Parkland) of this year was on a Wednesday. Dec. 14th (Sandy Hook) of 2012 was on a Friday. July 20 of 2012 ( Aurora) was also on a Friday. March 21 of 2005 (Red Lake) was a Monday.  Oct. 1 of 2017 (Las Vegas) was on a Sunday. June 12, 2016 (Pulse nightclub) was also on a Sunday. Aug. 5, 1992 (my sister) was on a Wednesday.

And on and on and on and on and on and on…………

Today, 2 other deaths are listed so far in addition to the 5  dead in the mass shooting in Annapolis.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL. But this is America. This is an America that has abandoned efforts to keep people from being shot. This is an America that is totally out of sync with the world. This is an America where people- almost anyone in fact- can get access to guns and go shoot a bunch of people for whatever reason they have in their heads.

This is an America that is turning its’ back on its’ communities.

This is an America where half or more of our Congress members are in the pockets of the corporate gun lobby. Money talks. Power talks. This is an America that abuses its’ citizens because of lack of action on one of our country’s most severe public health epidemics.

It’s a sick America in so many ways. We have a public health epidemic.

But it’s also a hopeful America that has now been exposed to more and more mass shootings and young students of our high schools taking the roles the adults have refused to take. That is the hope. That is the common sense we have to hope will change this America.

Supreme Court or not- there are too many guns in America and too many gun deaths and injuries. I just know that we are better than this. I am counting on the decency and morality of the majority of Americans who believe that we can have strong gun laws and still have the second amendment rights that some demand. I remind my readers that NRA members are about 18% of Americans and not that many law abiding gun owners.

So keep paying attention to what is going on. Keep demanding common sense and sanity from your elected leaders. Elections are coming soon enough. Make this an issue of great importance in the November elections. Vote like you are fighting for your life because you just might be.

 

The names of the 5 victims have been released. Say their names.

Wendy Winters

Rebecca Smith

Robert Hiaasen

Gerald Fischman

John McNamara

Peace to their families and friends.

 

UPDATE:

We know more now about the shooter whose name I will not write. But we do know this:

Another angry white man with a vendetta gets a gun and takes out his anger on innocent people. This is an all too familiar scene but it happens almost exclusively in America where guns are readily available to just about anyone. Our hearts are broken again…. and again….and again…..and again……and again. Those who witnessed the scene and survived will never be the same. The victims’ families will never be the same.

From the article:

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Gazette reporter Phil Davis said on Twitter.

Davis described the scene as a “war zone” and a situation that would be “hard to describe for a while,” in a news story posted to the daily newspaper’s website within 45 minutes of the shooting.

War zones in America. Yes. It’s true. How else can one describe what is happening on a daily basis. This is the 154th mass shooting in 179 days- almost one per day on every day of the week.

#Enough