No one imagines being in the middle of bullets, in the middle of chaos, running for your life, looking for a hiding place, not moving, covering your body with the blood of a family member, a friend, someone from the community to appear wounded, not making a sound, playing dead, not breathing. Is it time to be thankful for not being in that situation? Will we be thankful today that it wasn't one of us or one of our own? What is happening in the country? What is happening to us?
Just on the evening of November 19th, amidst music, color, and dancing inside a gay nightclub in Colorado, a 22-year-old gunman opened fire on patrons, killing five and wounding 25 more before heroic patrons subdued him and police were able to arrest him.
The young man named Anderson Lee Aldrich had at least two weapons, one of them a long one.
The tragedy has been repeated once again. Once again with connotations of hate. Once again against vulnerable groups who should not be afraid to walk or enjoy their day without the fear of being next.
This Thanksgiving, millions are celebrating being together, being able to stay alive despite a pandemic that has taken and continues to take many. Now, more than ever, hate crimes against those from minority communities are on the rise. Racism is added to the crimes that abound daily in the country.
According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, there had been at least 606 mass shootings from January to mid-November of this year, 20 of them resulting in five or more deaths, including the Nov. 22 attack at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, and the Nov. 19 shooting at a Colorado nightclub.
The lack of consensus on what constitutes a mass shooting complicates efforts by government, nonprofits and news organizations to document the scope of the problem, The New York Times said in an article that revisits the issue in the country.
They say that each group defines mass shootings differently, depending on the circumstances, the number of victims and whether they are killed or injured, and whether the shooting occurs in a public place.
For perspective on how the situation has been worsening, the Gun Violence Archive notes on its website that there were 269 mass shootings in 2014, 335 in 2015, 382 in 2016, 346 in 2017, 336 in 2018, 417 in 2019, 611 in 2020, and 692 last year.
Since 2020 alone, the year the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been 1,909 mass shootings, in which 200 people have died and 97 have been injured.
If these figures are not outrageous, I don't know what is. The situation is aggravating. The situation has gotten out of control and it seems that the country's legislators are unable or unwilling to do more to regulate the use of weapons, since currently in several states it is more difficult for a minor to buy beer than to acquire a weapon.
"Mass shootings are, for the most part, an American phenomenon. While they are generally grouped together as one type of incident, they are multiple and the basic definition is that they have a minimum of four victims shot, injured or killed, not including any shooter who was also killed or injured in the incident," the organization notes.
Regarding what happened in Colorado, US President Joseph Biden said that the citizens of his country "cannot and should not tolerate hate."
“Places that are meant to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never become places of terror and violence. Yet, it happens all too often. We must eliminate the inequalities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people,” she said.
But hatred has spread to other parts of society. Yesterday, November 23, six people were killed by gunfire from a man who opened fire on Tuesday night inside a Walmart in the city of Chesapeake, in the State of Virginia.
The mass shooting triggered an intense police mobilization, which arrived at the scene a few minutes after 10:00 p.m., when the first calls to emergency services were registered.
That same day, local police chief Mark Solesky confirmed that the perpetrator was an employee of the store and that, according to all indications, he committed suicide with the gun he used to carry out the attack.
Five more people were injured by the perpetrator and are hospitalized.
This Wednesday the establishment was still open at 10:00 p.m., as a large number of customers came to buy supplies and gifts to celebrate this "Thanksgiving Day." They were overcome with fear when they heard the shots that the perpetrator and manager of the establishment fired at his colleagues in the rest area.
Today, the families of those six people and others around the country are mourning what is happening and it seems that there is no end to it. Is it time to be thankful for being alive or to reflect on what is happening? Will those who legislate finally do something about stopping the sale of weapons? How many more shootings and murders are needed before the country can finally give thanks?
Pamela Cruz. Editor-in-Chief of Peninsula 360 Press. A communications expert by profession, but a journalist and writer by conviction, with more than 10 years of experience in the media. Specialized in medical and scientific journalism by Harvard and winner of the International Visitors Leadership Program scholarship from the U.S. government.
Twittter: @Pamesmiamiga
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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