In the last month alone, there have been five mass murders — shooting events where four or more people end up dead, excluding the killer.
March 16 — Atlanta, Ga.
- Soon Chung Park, 74
- Hyun Jung Grant, 51
- Suncha Kim, 69
- Yong Ae Yue, 63
- Xiaojie Tan, 49
- Daoyou Feng, 44
- Paul Andre Michels, 54
- Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33
March 22 — Boulder, Colo.
- Officer Eric Talley, 51
- Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
- Suzanne Fountain, 59
- Teri Leiker, 51
- Kevin Mahoney, 61
- Lynn Murray, 62
- Jody Waters, 65
- Rikki Olds, 25
- Neven Stanisic, 23
- Denny Stong, 20
March 31 — Orange, Calif.
- Luis Tovar, 50
- Leticia Solis Guzman, 58
- Genevieve Raygoza, 28
- Matthew Farias, 9
April 7 — Rock Hill, S.C.
- Robert Shook, 38
- James Lewis, 38
- Dr. Robert Lesslie, 70,
- Barbara Lesslie, 69
- Adah Lesslie, 9
- Noah Lesslie, 5
April 15 — Indianapolis
- Amarjeet Johal, 66
- Jaswinder Kaur, 64
- Jaswinder Singh, 68
- Amarjit Sekhon, 48
- John Weisert, 74
- Matthew Alexander, 32
- Samaria Blackwell, 19
- Karli Smith, 19
Read their names. Say their names out loud. Don’t let them be forgotten in this seemingly unstoppable tsunami of mass shootings. Do not let this become normal. Do not become numb to the horror.
There are more guns in circulation in the United States than all the years these victims lived combined. Actually, there are more guns in circulation in the United States than there are people: 400 million guns for 330 million people, according to the Brookings Institution. In contrast, the European Union has 513 million people and less than 80 million guns. Also, the U.S. has more violent gun deaths than Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, according to NPR.
Tell us again that there isn’t a gun problem. Look at those names above — those ages, those lives cut short — and tell us the right to own any type of gun and as many of them as you want with zero regulation is more important than all those lives lost and all the lives yet to be taken by gun violence.
And after that, if you still oppose any and all commonsense gun reform — that means enforcing the rules we already have and making sure people who have a clear record of being a danger to themselves, or others, can’t get them; background checks for all gun sales, including private sellers; penalties for sellers who neglect to run a background check (which can be done instantaneously through local law enforcement); and tighter restrictions on high-capacity magazines — we have one question for you.
Why is your “freedom” to own whatever firearm you want more important than everyone else’s right to live without the fear — and too often the reality — of being shot in public?
