There is nothing stopping random acts of violence within our country. True, there are laws that attempt to govern our behavior by detouring us from doing anything evil, but these laws act to punish our actions rather than prohibit.
This has never been more relevant than this year.
On July 20 in Aurora, Colo., a gunman attacked movie theater patrons at the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Total deaths: 12. America mourned and moved on, confident another incident would not happen in the near future.
Fifteen days later, America mourned again, this time for a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. Total deaths: seven. Surely this would be the last time the country would mourn for the victims of a shooting.
Unfortunately, similar incidents would follow. The Empire State Building, Perry Hall High School in Baltimore, the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and a Portland mall have all played host to shooters in the last several months.
Even Elon University faced violent possibilities when Alexis Gray drove to campus with weapons in her vehicle, including a Remington-597.22 caliber rifle. Fortunately, she was stopped before any deaths could be reported because of it. The same could not be said today for Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
A reported 26 have been killed today, 20 of which are children. Although the shooter has been identified, facts are still being sorted out and fatalities are still being counted. But one thing everyone can agree on is that America has had a very violent year.
The statistics are overwhelmingly negative for the United States. Since Columbine in 1999, there have been 31 school shootings in the U.S. In the rest of the world combined, just 14. Of the 60 mass shootings in the U.S. since 1981, 49 of the killers obtained their weapons legally, and more than half of the world's deadliest shootings in the past 50 years have been in the United States.
The United States’ biggest enemy is not lurking in the Middle East. It’s proving to be itself. The number of mass killings related to guns has continued to grow in the United States, especially when it is compared to other countries of similar political, economic and social makeup.
The mass killings within the past year cannot be completely blamed on the availability of guns within the United States. The fact of the matter is after each incident, nothing changes. Policy within our country remains the same.
If nothing else, the police have responded quickly to these violent outbreaks. But they can do nothing about prohibiting them, which is why the government can no longer afford to do nothing.
When asked about discussing the issue of U.S. gun control after today’s shooting, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “Today is not the day.” But once America has finished mourning, it will be time. Before any more deaths can come due to the slow bureaucratic process, action must be taken.