I’m back at work today after a long 4th of July weekend. Nice to get away. Fewer flight delays than anticipated. Whew.

In the news business, we used to say that in the summer months not a lot happens. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, it’s tough to fill a newscast. Not anymore.

The news just doesn’t stop. It’s not good news either. I’m horrified by this latest mass shooting. The one in Highland Park, Illinois, on the 4th of July.

I’ll not rehash it here. By now, you know what happened. Now, it appears the shooter was looking to do another one in Madison, Wisconsin, later the same day. What stopped him apparently was that he hadn’t had time to plan it out.

Now, we learn that authorities in Richmond, Virginia, prevented another 4th of July mass shooting. Someone overheard two men talking about their plans to attack Richmond’s 4th of July celebration. They alerted police.

The two men were arrested. Police seized two rifles, a handgun and 223 rounds of ammunition. We could have had another mass shooting.

I keep asking myself, just what is going on here? What got us to this point? What is it going to take to get us out of this?

So far this year, we have had four mass shootings in this country. Highland Park, Uvalde, Buffalo and Tulsa. The Violence Project defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people are killed.

Here’s another sad and troubling statistic. Shootings are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in this country. It used to be car accidents. Not anymore. Everyday, 22 children are shot.

NBC had a story last night about how one hospital in New York is trying to address the problem. Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, has seen more kids with bullet wounds this year than in any other year.

Patients are now being asked questions like if they have heard gunshots or if someone has pulled a gun on them in the past six months? This is a children’s hospital!

Just what is going on here? I have no answers. I know this though… we have to address gun violence in this country. We have to address the number of kids getting shot.

2 thoughts on “Just what is going on here?”
  1. Russell, I am not a gun owner. And I believed in 2nd Amendment rights. But now I am coming around to listening more closely to those who believe it is time to overturn and rewrite the 2nd Amendment. As it has been pointed out, when the Bill of RIghts were written citizens and citizen soldiers carried muskets that needed to be reloaded by hand after each shot. They could not have conceived of automatic weaponry and would most probably have written the 2nd Amendment differently if they had that knowledge.
    These frequent mass shootings and mass shooting attempts seem to be copycat actions. Maybe the media should not publicize names and pictures of victims and especially the picture, history and name of the shooter. When a dozen unrelated people in Chicago are killed from gunfire over a single weekend do we display their names and pictures in the press? No. Yet the tragedy for their families is just as severe. Only when it happens in white communities and schools. We have to stop giving publicity and notariety to shooters. Its the the attention, the 15 minutes of fame, that they seek.
    My one true concern about overturning the 2nd Amendment is will it stop with this one amendment? I heard a congresswoman on TV the other day shouting that the American Constitution was written by White slaving-owning old men and therefore is no longer valid. Overturn the entire American Constitution? I would not support that but many loud angry voices would support that. It has served us well (mostly) for 235 years. The voices of revolutionaires, although not the majority, are the loudest and most violent voices. We need a new leader who will wisely guide us through this journey.
    As always, thank you for blogging and sharing your thoughts.

    1. Vincent… thanks for weighing in. I have no answers. I’m scared and worried where we are headed.

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