by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Today is the fifth anniversary of one of the most horrific mass shootings in the history of the United States. The shooting was not the most deadly in our country's bloody history, but, because of who the victims were, it was one of the most awful incidents in the annals of American crime.
Adam Lanza, a twenty-year-old disturbed individual with easy access to guns. began the morning by shooting and killing his mother, the woman who had taken him to the local gun range on numerous occasions and taught him how to shoot. Then he took her automatic rifle and a pistol - and several magazines of ammunition, and headed to the local elementary school five miles way in Newtown, Connecticut. Once at Sandy Hook Elementary, Lanza shot the protective glass out of the school's door and forced his way inside where he began systematically murdering students and faculty members.
Adam Lanza fired one-hundred-and-fifty-six rounds during his murderous spree. In his rampage he killed twenty first graders, all between the ages of six and seven, and six faculty members before turning the pistol on himself.
It was a crime that brought moral America to tears. The nation and the world thought that Congress would now be forced to tackle the issues surrounding easy access to guns in America. But Congress stood firm in its denial of the obvious causes of mass shootings and continued working toward easier access for guns so that Americans could "protect" themselves, a false narrative that wears more thin and meaningless with each murderous rampage.
The insanity continued in places like Charleston, Roseberg, San Bernadino, Orlando, and Las Vegas - and who-knows-where tomorrow. Each time Congress reacted with a "minute of silence" and a sincere effort to get even more guns onto the streets so that we will all be safer.
The irony is as rich and red and thick as the blood in the streets - or in the hallways of our local schools.
Congress owns that blood, and the institution and its gun-culture-enablers must be held accountable. Sooner or later gun violence will impact us all.
Citizen Journalist
Today is the fifth anniversary of one of the most horrific mass shootings in the history of the United States. The shooting was not the most deadly in our country's bloody history, but, because of who the victims were, it was one of the most awful incidents in the annals of American crime.
Adam Lanza, a twenty-year-old disturbed individual with easy access to guns. began the morning by shooting and killing his mother, the woman who had taken him to the local gun range on numerous occasions and taught him how to shoot. Then he took her automatic rifle and a pistol - and several magazines of ammunition, and headed to the local elementary school five miles way in Newtown, Connecticut. Once at Sandy Hook Elementary, Lanza shot the protective glass out of the school's door and forced his way inside where he began systematically murdering students and faculty members.
Adam Lanza fired one-hundred-and-fifty-six rounds during his murderous spree. In his rampage he killed twenty first graders, all between the ages of six and seven, and six faculty members before turning the pistol on himself.
It was a crime that brought moral America to tears. The nation and the world thought that Congress would now be forced to tackle the issues surrounding easy access to guns in America. But Congress stood firm in its denial of the obvious causes of mass shootings and continued working toward easier access for guns so that Americans could "protect" themselves, a false narrative that wears more thin and meaningless with each murderous rampage.
The insanity continued in places like Charleston, Roseberg, San Bernadino, Orlando, and Las Vegas - and who-knows-where tomorrow. Each time Congress reacted with a "minute of silence" and a sincere effort to get even more guns onto the streets so that we will all be safer.
The irony is as rich and red and thick as the blood in the streets - or in the hallways of our local schools.
Congress owns that blood, and the institution and its gun-culture-enablers must be held accountable. Sooner or later gun violence will impact us all.
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