In this column, over the past several years, we have ranted about serious topics, and a few not-so-serious. We’ve tried to provoke thought, with a little satire and a lot of tongue-in-cheek.
Yesterday brought back a life and death topic (mostly death) that just doesn’t ever seem to go away. Mass shootings have already returned to our schools after kids just got back from summer vacation. This time, a 14-year-old killed two other 14-year-old students and two teachers, and wounded nine more. A 14-YEAR-OLD KID…
Of course, the pace of mass shootings never slowed, but with schools in recess, our students could avoid active-shooter drills for the summer.
The generally accepted definition of a mass shooting is four or more people shot in a single incident (not counting the shooter). We are on a pace for almost 600 mass shootings in 2024, which will be a slight decrease from the two previous years. A quick calculation puts that at approximately twelve mass shootings per week in the U.S.
So, what should we do? What can we do?
Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING. Oh sure, we’ll issue all the word-salad responses of expressions of shock and horror, with a note of how “senseless” this all is.
Then, each politician will share their shock and anger and talk a bit about the potential that will never be realized by the victims. That will be followed by our “prayers for the survivors” and they’ll all condemn the killer as “a monster.”
Many people will wring their hands and say, “we must do something,” but everyone knows we won’t. The advice will follow that we should “not act too quickly” and to “let our emotions cool before making rash decisions we’ll inevitably regret.”
That’s it!! We’re done. We have done all we can and it’s time to move on.
In fact, after a January 2024 school shooting in Iowa, where an 11-year-old student was killed and seven others were wounded, Donald Trump may have set the realistic standard for mass-shooting responses.
While campaigning there at the time, Trump undoubtedly realized that any attempt at change was futile, so he gave the most honest response a politician has given in these situations: “We’re really with you as much as anybody can be. It’s a very terrible thing that happened. It’s just terrible. That’s just horrible. It’s so surprising to see it here.”
He continued, “But we have to get over it. We have to move forward. To all the relatives, and all the people who are devastated right now, to the point they can’t breathe, they can’t live, we are with you all the way.”
I know if I had just lost my 11-year-old, or had a child wounded and impacted for the rest of his life, that honest assessment would have a calming effect. I would now go ahead and “get over it.”
But hey, what else can we do? We must “get over it” and quit making the unrealistic plea that “something’s gotta change.” Because it won’t. Nothing will change. We have proven that time after time. We always talk it; we never walk it.
Kamala Harris, in an unscripted speech yesterday, referred to the Georgia shooting, and noted that “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
But it does. Because nothing changed after the murders of six teachers and twenty 6-year-olds at Sandy Hook in 2012. Nothing has changed after each of the many, many, many mass-shootings since Sandy Hook.
So, to our political leaders, let’s get to it. It’s time to mourn the victims, pray for the survivors, and get over it. Then, let’s get ready to do it all again next month, or next week, or later today.
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes opinion columns regularly.
Tweets @curtmacrae — comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com
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