Author’s Note: Today, The Evening Look makes its triumphant return to the land of the living under horrific circumstances. I wasn’t sure that I should write this article and I’m still not sure it’s a good idea. I’m sure I could try to find some humor in this situation. I could mock Walmart or Neil Degrasse Tyson or write about how 30 to 50 feral hogs could produce better content than The Morning Watch. But I don’t want to do that. I want to do something I’ve never done before. I want to be taken seriously.
31.
31 victims. 22 dead in El Paso. 9 dead in Dayton. 3 dead the week before in
Gilroy. I wish I knew all their names—I should learn all their names. But
there’s too many of them. I looked up a list of mass shootings and there’s too
many of them. Too many children. Too many parents. Too many people. And that
doesn’t include the nameless, faceless, forgotten victims. The friends and
families. The tears, funerals, and therapy. Pain outlives spectacle. Time heals
wounds, but not the type of wounds created by an AK-47.
Now I could delve into the issue of gun control. I could tell you about how the US is alone in the world with its frequency of mass shootings. I could explain how there is no statistical differences in video game usage or incidence of mental illness compared to other countries, but there is a significantly larger number of guns in the US and access is easier. Or I could discuss the prevalence of NRA money in American politics and how the Dickey Amendment stunted gun research for twenty years. The obvious connections between the El Paso shooters manifesto and the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the Republican Party and conservative media. But you already know about that or can find it somewhere else, written and researched by a professional who has done a better job than I ever could. Instead, I offer something different, some free advice from Honest Abe and the greatest speech of all time: The Gettysburg Address.
Continue reading Four Score & Seven Shootings Ago
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