If any of you people are like me, sports practically consume your daily life. You play them all of the time; if you are not playing you are watching, and if you are not watching, you are reading about them.
Then there are days like this.
Today, in Newtown Connecticut, 27 lives were taken and one person was injured by a 24 year old resident of New Jersey. Eighteen children, eight adults, and his own mother were among those killed.
I just do not understand how somebody can commit such a heinous crime. At this time, practically no information about the gunman’s background has been released. What has been released is that 24 year old Ryan Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary school early this morning with three weapons, intending to kill his mother and many others. No matter the issue, there is no excuse. People like this are the reason why so many people are afraid of the world. How does a man drive from New Jersey all the way to Connecticut, knowing that he is about to go murder innocent children? He’s killing people that are too young to even understand what is truly happening to them.
What makes this even crazier is that this is the second shooting to take place this week alone. Just three days ago, a man opened fire in an Oregon mall, killing two and then killing himself. Just when we are able to grasp what happened on the other side of the country, a shooting about fifteen times more deadly takes place this morning.
These are not the only two shootings to take place this year. There have also been public shootings on two other occasions this year. To put this into perspective; there have been shootings in a movie theater, a Sikh temple, a shopping mall, and an elementary school. As Americans, is there truly any place where we can feel safe?
The sad reality is that we really cannot. Shootings are not only taking place in certain areas of the United States; they are taking place on the East Coast, the West Coast, the Midwest, and in the Rocky Mountains. Over the past five years, every major region of the United States has had at least one shooting that has taken multiple lives.
The issue that needs to be addressed is the issue of protection. We have addressed the issue of national security in airports after the 9/11 attacks, but airport security is clearly not the only area that needs to be tightened. With the ways of today’s world, I firmly believe that either a security system needs to be put in to place at every public building, or the Second Amendment needs to be repealed. Most people do not use guns with any ill intentions, but too many lives are lost due to those who do have these intentions. Gun culture has begun to show its ugly side in America, especially since the Columbine shootings in 1999.
There are still numerous questions that need to be answered about both what happened today and what needs to happen in the future, but it will take much time to figure out what will come of all this.
Times like these make you realize just how lucky you are to have what you have. So when you see your family, give them a hug and tell them that you love them. As sad as this is, its true; you really never know if you will be able to say it again.
For now, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all those affected.
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