Have Mass Shootings Become Normal?


http://twistedsifter.com/2015/11/buildings-around-the-world-pay-tribute-to-france/

MrFinigen

http://twistedsifter.com/2015/11/buildings-around-the-world-pay-tribute-to-france/

Hannah Brigante, Ranger Review Reporter

Living in this day and age, shootings have become daily events that are part of an American’s average lifestyle. Some people are not surprised about when they hear that there was yet another mass shooting. The safety of the lives of people is questioned with every attack.

“Basically if I wake up in the morning I expect to see at least one of these three things on the news: there’s a murder in town, a child rapist nearby or a mass shooting happening.  There’s almost always something happening with someone bad going somewhere innocent and making things worse,” said Emma Boynton, 9.

An incident that imprinted on the people of Colorado was the Columbine shooting in Jefferson County on April 20, 1999. For the teachers who were asked the first shooting they remember this is the recurring one. It had made its mark on the people who had hear of it and became a horrible event in their lifetime.

“I was in Chaparral High School and they were thinking that this ‘trench-coat mafia’ was going to come to every school and I was really afraid of what would happen,” said Jordan Clark, a drama teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School, said. “These shootings that happen now are more frequent, myself and other people seem to become numb to these sort of things.”

The Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 27, 2015, had made a big imprint on the people who live in the region. For the people who follow the same faith as the shooter, Robert Lewis Dear, it had made them upset to be represented that way.

“I am a Christian and I don’t think abortion is correct, but to do something like that to other people it makes me angry as a Christian because I do not want to be represented like that. That’s not what the Bible is about it is about loving people and that is not loving others. I am not surprised because there is a lot of people and violence going on all the time and mass shootings always make the news,” Melissa Kavanaugh, a math teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School, said.

A large terrorist attack that happened this year was in Paris on November 13, 2015. There were suicide bombings and mass shootings at Rues Bichat and Alibert, the rue de la Fontaine-au-Roi, the rue de Charonne, the Bataclan theatre, and avenue de la République, that were filled with people. These were the deadliest attacks on France since World War II.

“I was sad because they committed a huge act of cowardice those people were just doing what they wanted to do and the others had taken out others for no apparent reason. I would not be shocked or surprised because it is the new normal for our world,”  Mary Gregory, a science teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School, said.

Children react to these sorts of events in different ways. Since they are too young to be able comprehend things the same way a teenager or adult would, they have a different idea of what’s going on. Sometimes the reactions of indifferent, yet they can be fearful for themselves.

“My eight year old got nervous and got a stomach ache and I had to explain to her that it does not mean that it is gonna happen to us and I had to explain where it was. She uses the word ‘active shooter’ a lot and that makes me sad,” Carrie Coates, civics teacher, said.

In the Gun Violence Archive, updated on December 2, 2015, there have been 48,179 gun violence incidents and 310 of them have been mass shootings. A survey was done and the majority said that they would not be shocked if a mass shooting came on the news. By how often they are on the news it is something constant in this day and age that may not ever be able to be changed.