When is it enough?

** TRIGGER WARNING- Discussion about mass shooting in America**

When is it enough.  Sandy hook- 27 innocent lives taken- most of them children- that wasn't enough to stop this madness? To say we need to think about how we provide access to guns and what types of guns we allow in this country?  

Today we woke up to another mass shooting. This time at a FedEx Facility in Indianapolis.  Why 9 years after Sandy Hook and 21 years since Columbine are we still allowing this to happen in our country? We need to not allow ourselves to be desensitized to this. 

I am staring my list of remembrance with the first mass shooting that I vividly remember. 

 Red Lake, MN 2005

Red Lake, MN 2005 10 Murdered 1 Suicide

Goleta, CA 2006 7 Murdered 1 Suicide

Lancaster, PA 2006 5 Murdered 1 Suicide

Blacksburg, VA (Virginia Tech) 2007 32 Murdered 1 Suicide

Crandon, WI 2007 6 Murdered 1 Suicide

Omaha, NE 2007 8 Murdered 1 Suicide

Kirkwood, MO 2008 5 Murdered by gunman, Gunman killed by Police

Dekalb, IL 2008 5 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Henderson, KY 2008 5 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Alabama 2009 10 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Fort Hood, TX 2009 13 Murdered

Binghamton, NY 2009 13 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Manchester, CT 2010 8 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Carson City, NV 2011 4 Murdered, 1 suicide

Minneapolis, MN 2012 6 Murdered, 1 Suicide 

Aurora, CO 2012 12 Murdered

Oak Creek, WI 2012 4 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Newtown, CT (Sandy Hook Elementary) 2012 27 Murdered, 1 Suicide 

Washington Navy Yard 2013- 12 Murdered

Herkimer, NY 2013 4 People Murdered by gunman, Single Gunman killed by police

Santa Monica, CA 2013 5 Murdered by gunman, gunman killed by police

Bell, FL 2014 7 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Marysville, WA 2015 5 Murdered 

Charleston, SC 2015 9 Murdered 

Roseburg, OR 2015 9 Murdered, gunman killed by police

San Bernadino, CA 2015 14 Murdered

Orlando, FL (Pulse Nightclub) 2016 49 Murdered 

Las Vegas, NV 2017 58 Murdered Hundreds Injured 

Sutherland Springs, TX 2017 26 Murdered 

Parkland, FL 2018 17 Murdered

Nashville, TN 2018 4 Murdered

Santa Fe, TX 2018 10 Murdered 

Annapolis, MD 2018 5 Murdered

Pittsburg, PA 2018 11 Murdered

Thousand Oaks, CA 2018 12 Murdered

Sebring, FL 2019 5 Murdered

Aurora, IL 2019 5 murdered, Gunman killed by police

Virginia Beach, VA 2019 12 Murdered, gunman killed by police

El Paso, TX 2019 22 Murdered

Dayton, OH 2019 9 Murdered, gunman killed by police

Gilroy, CA 2019 3 Murdered

Springfield, MO 2020 4 Murdered, 1 Suicide

Milwaukee, WI (Coors shooting) 2020, 5 Murdered, 1 Suicide 

Atlanta, GA 2021 8 Murdered

Boulder, CA 2021 10 Murdered

Indianapolis, IN 2021 8 Murdered, 1 Suicide 

And these are just a few. How many of these people would still be alive if we had more stringent gun laws in this country? These are people's children. They are parents. They had friends and families. They were senselessly murdered. When is it enough?  

If you are interested in learning about the shootings that don't make national headlines, please take a moment to look at the Gun Violence Archive. 

The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one with four or more people injured or killed, not including the perpetrator, counted more than 600 such shootings in 2020, compared with 417 in 2019.

That carnage has continued into 2021, with 147 mass shootings as of April 16. (The archive, a nonprofit organization, has counted 11 mass murders, which it defines as four or more people killed, in 2021.)

Signing off for now

-C