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.