Last night I did something on Facebook I thought I would never have to do. I marked myself safe during a shooting in Richmond, VA. Was I present at the shooting? No, but friends on Facebook who live outside of Richmond do not know that, and all they know is that I live in Richmond, and there was an active shooter situation where people were injured and killed. I can't say I'm shocked. I can't even say I'm sad. I'm numb! What will it take? Really, what will it take? This particular shooting, and I need to clarify because there are so many, took place last night outside of the Altria Theater just blocks from where my daughter works every day, a place I have attended several events and was just there on Mother's Day at the very same theater. They had just had a graduation of a local high school in the theater, and people were streaming outside to find their loved ones, take pictures, hug friends, happy moments and memories to last a lifetime, and shots ring out. This story from ABC's Good Morning America shows footage of the actual shooting. A friend was their with her daughter for her graduation. Happy pre-graduation photos in cap and gown in front of the theater, and in just a few short hours the same space would be sectioned off with yellow tape as a crime scene. This is my city. This is where I grew up. This is where I live, and now I can say this is where a mass shooting took place. Woo Hoo! Not a distinction I'm thrilled to claim. The local radio station I listen to on my way to work was inviting people to call and talk this morning, a sort of open forum. This grandmother called, and one of the things she said that really stuck with me was "We just need to keep praying. That's all we can do." All due respect to her, but I'm sorry, I'm sick of that trite, unhelpful response to this happening over and over again! Now before you Christians come after me, I wasn't taking issue with praying. I pray, and I'm a Christian, but I am feeling more and more like Ghandi as time passes when he said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." If we are praying people, should we pray and have empathy for their loss, fear, anxiety, absolutely Yes! However her second statement is what riled me. "It's all we can do." Sorry, but it's not all we can do. It's all we've been doing, but it's not helping. We are the only nation that this is a massive problem. Pun intended. As a follower of Christ, and a believer in God, I search for guidance when I am troubled or have a problem that needs to be solved. I do not sit back and pray and expect God to magically fix it. Frankly, that's a little naive at best, and at worst, it's lazy expecting God to do the work, and when something fails, you have a convenient excuse that "it wasn't God's will." I love this old joke. You may have heard it: A man is in his house and a raging flood is causing the waters to rise up to his front door. A man comes by in a rowboat. "Get in," he yells to the man. The man responds, "God will save me," and waves the row boat on. The waters continue to rise, and the first floor is flooded. From the second story window, another rowboat goes by and yells for the man to get in. "God will save me," the man replies and, again, waves the row boat on. The waters continue to rise, and the second floor is now flooded, and the man is standing on the roof. A helicopter hovers above him sending down a ladder and motions for the man to climb up. "God will save me," he yells up and waves the copter away. The waters continue to rise, and the man drowns. He finds himself face to face with God in Heaven. Incredulously he asks, "God, why didn't you save me?" God looks straight at the man and says, "I sent you 2 rowboats and a helicopter." When all we're doing is praying to God and not listening to Him, we're missing our rowboats and helicopters. Solutions to this problem of mass shooting are all around us. Other countries don't have this problem. Why aren't we doing what they're doing? Why aren't we even trying to do anything? I'll tell you why. No one cares! The first mass shooting in the US occurred in 1982, according to this data from Mother Jones webpage In Miami, FL, in August of 1982, Carl Robert Brown methodically shot and attempted to kill everyone in a welding shop after having an argument the previous day over a $20.00 bill. 8 died, 3 others were injured. He purchased 2 shotguns and a semi-automatic rifle the morning of the shooting at a gun shop near his home. Since then, there have been hundreds. In 2023, alone, and we are only half way through, there have been 279 mass shootings in the US, that's including yesterday's in my hometown. And in case you're trying to make yourself feel better, and say, well, how many people died in all of those shootings? It doesn't f*cking matter! Someone opened fire into a crowd of people. A mass shooting is defined as 4 or more people shot at one time in the same relative area. I know there are people who will try to re-classify the shooting here in Richmond because the shooter knew the victim. "Well, that was personal." "That person had a grudge against the victim." And on, and on, and on. SHUT UP! That's the problem. it didn't affect them, so they don't have to worry about it. If they had been standing on Laurel street yesterday and had to run for fear that the pops they were hearing would possibly result in them being shot, they wouldn't be asking any clarifying questions. IT HAS TO STOP!!!!! There is no excuse. We can do something! Other people have done it. Hell, we've done it. The number of deaths caused by mass shootings and the number of shootings overall dropped from 1994 - 2004 when the US had a ban on Assault type weapons. Did you even know we had one? It was only signed into law if it had an expiration date, so it lasted 10 years, and the clause to make it expire would have had to be repealed by congress. That didn't happen, and it expired in 2004, and guess what happened in 2005? There was a steep and almost immediate rise in Mass shootings and deaths in those cases. From The Oregonian, average number of deaths per year from mass shootings went from 5.3 during the ban to 25 after the ban expired. Numbers do not lie! Why do we let it continue? What will cause this country to get it's act together and do something to stop this massacre? Until they start caring about people more than money, nothing will be done, and then you can plan on the fact that it won't be "if" you have some connection to a mass shooting, it will be "when"
