It is depressing to have to classify this so specifically, yet it is necessary. After all, a mass shooting that kills just a few people, let's say two to four people, hardly is enough to create more than a minor blip on our national news cycle. After all, does anyone remember the Clackamas Town Mall shooting in Portland, Oregon on December 11, 2012? It took place just three days before the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Littleton, Connecticut, which truly seemed to shock people and generate all sorts of national and even international headlines and debate for weeks afterward. The gunman at Clackamas Town Mall, Jacob Tyler Roberts, killed two people and injured one other before taking his own life. That must have been terrifying for those who were there, and three lives ended tragically on that day.
Yet, other than maybe the people who were there, this incident did not generate many national headlines, in comparison to the ones generated from other, bigger mass shootings, such as the one at Sutherland Springs on Sunday, or the one in Las Vegas last month. In other countries, this would be a major event that would be the source of much speculation and debate, and it would be diagnosed over and over. It would shock people.
But here in the United States, we have grown so used to mass shootings, that people barely noticed it. There were no major and immediate calls for a reform of gun laws the next day. There were no celebrities producing videos saying, essentially, that enough is enough. There was no major solidarity with the families of the victims on a national, much less international, level, because again, people hardly noticed. It seems to me that for people to really pay attention to these kinds of things these days, there has to be something to really make it stand out and/or shock people. Columbine shocked people at the time, although it probably would be a lot less shocking if the same thing were to happen today. The shooting at the Orlando night club was shocking, because at the time, it was the biggest modern mass shooting in American history. That lasted a little more than a year, as the Las Vegas shooting last month surpassed that one. It is hard not to wonder how long that will remain the record.
Not all of the shootings that generate major headlines for weeks and pardon the expression, but trigger debates about gun control are necessarily because of the numbers of people killed. The Phoenix shooting a few years ago was shocking also, even though the numbers of killed and wounded were not as big as some other shootings, although probably, it was because Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords was the intended target, and was one of the victims, although she was lucky enough to survive. The church shooting at Charleston also shocked people, even though it does not rank numerically as among the top ten largest mass shootings in modern American history. The mass shootings (there were more than one) in Fort Hood, Texas, also generated much attention and refueled the gun control debate, perhaps because it happened at an Army base.
So, I decided to go ahead and put together this list of major modern mass shootings in the United States, which had the power to truly shock people, and tried to diagnose why they drew more attention than other mass shootings, as well as some speculation on the motives of the shooters, and how some people reacted, and who or what they blamed, afterwards:
Camden, New Jersey, September 5, 1949 - Howard Unruh, a 28-year old World War II veteran living with his mom, went for a walk around his neighborhood and killed 13 people, using a Luger pistol. This walk around the neighborhood later becomes known as the "Walk of Death." He gets into a gun exchange with police, and they eventually subdue him and take him into custody. He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and committed to a state psychiatric hospital. He died in 2009, at the age of 88. The last words that Unruh ever uttered before the public were these: "I'd have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets."
Texas University, Austin, Texas August 1, 1966 - This was the first modern mass shooting of it's kind. It took place in the turbulent sixties, in Texas, just a few years after the Kennedy assassination in the same state. The shooter, Charles Joseph Whitman, became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper" after climbing to the top of the university tower and shooting for over an hour and a half. First, he killed his wife and mother earlier in the day, then he killed three people in the tower, before killing 11 more, and wounding 36, from the top of the tower. Three police officers finally were able to climb to the top of the tower and shoot Whitman dead. Nothing of this kind had been seen before, so it obviously was shocking at the time. However, it did not create a trend among disturbed people and copy cats, and so it stood out as seemingly a random tragic event, even an aberration. Nowadays, it would seem to fit into our news headlines much more consistently.
Long Island Railroad Shooting, Garden City, New York, December 7, 1993 - This was the first major mass shooting that I specifically remember in my own lifetime. It seemed, at the time, to have been so random and senseless, long before those words had become overused when describing mass shootings. It seemed so strange at the time, although it would probably cause only mild surprise on a national level, and moderate news headlines these days. Colin Ferguson randomly shot and killed six people and injured 19 others. Then President Bill Clinton expressed shock, and he was one of the main politicians to call for tighter gun control measures. Others, mostly Republicans, called for the death penalty as the only appropriate punishment for a man responsible for such a horrible crime. Many black people were worried that the black community in general would be blamed for this shooting (Ferguson was black). Ferguson had gotten one of the guns from California. Ultimately, Ferguson would defend himself in trial, and was sentenced to over 300 years prison time.
Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 20, 1999 - 13 killed, not including the two shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. At the time, this was one of the biggest mass shootings in history, and the shock value was such that this event dominated news headlines for a week or two, and had many calling for tighter gun regulations. People were shocked because two teenagers worked together to produce what was then the largest mass school shooting in American history. They were also shocked because these two boys seemed to flirt with a fascination with Nazism, and indeed, this shooting took place on Hitler's birthday. People were also shocked with the seemingly passive attitude that the kids took, and the warning signs that seemed, in retrospect, clear signs that these kids were deranged, such as Harris posing for a class picture pretending to aim a gun at the photographer, and Harris also warning a fellow student that he liked not to come to school on the fateful day of the shooting. This launched a major debate about gun control, about the prevalence of what was viewed as violent music and video games among teenagers. Some people blamed musicians like Marilyn Manson, who was kind of put on the defensive, although he handled himself quite well in his own defense. Also, it was later discovered that these two kids had not even listened to or liked Marilyn Manson's music. The debate about violent music as being responsible for these kinds of shootings has largely gone away, as has the notion of video games being responsible, since many of the mostly men responsible since were older, and not necessarily into any of those things.
Church in Fort Worth, Texas, September 15, 1999 - Larry Gene Ashbrook walked into a Westwood Baptist Church during a youth rally there and indiscriminately killed seven people before taking his own life. This was the first mass shooting that I can recall at a place or worship, and there is shock that such a church could have been the target for such a horrible event. Yet, despite how horrific this particular shooting was, most people do not seem to remember it. By society's criteria, it does not seem to rank among Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, the Orlando night club, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, or Sutherland Springs. Yet, coming just months after Columbine, and targeting youth, it seemed quote shocking at the time. But things have grown much, much worse in terms of mass shootings since, and this particular shooting has kind of been forgotten.
Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 16, 2007 - A 23-year old disturbed student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people before himself committing suicide. There were two separate shootings, roughly two hours apart. The first one was in a dorm hall, the second was in a lecture hall, while classes were taking place. After that, he returned to his dorm room and changed out of his bloody clothes, then went online and deleted some emails and destroyed his hard drive, before resuming the shooting. Amazingly, classes continued to be in session despite the earlier shootings. Cho went into a lecture hall and chained the doors of the building and claimed that any attempts to open the door would set off a bomb, so that no one could escape. Then, he went from room to room, shooting professors and students. One professor, Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, actually prevented him Cho from coming into his room by holding the door closed, while his students escaped through the window. But he was shot through the door, and died. Cho sent some video and writings to NBC News, and the publication of these proved controversial, as it was deemed insensitive to the victims and families of the victims. Reaction around the world, other than shock and horror, was to be critical of what was seen as American gun culture. But nothing changed, no laws were passed. At the time, it was the biggest mass shooting in modern American history, and still ranks as the third deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, and the deadliest school shooting in American history.
Safeway Supermarket, Tuscon, Arizona, January 8, 2011 - Six people were killed and 19 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The shock value was probably because this one had political ramifications, as a high-ranking member of the government was the target of an assassination attempt here. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, had shown signs of very bizarre and troubling behavior for a long time leading up to this event.
Aurora, Colorado, July 20, 2012 - James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 38 at a movie theater during the opening night of "The Dark Knight Rises." This shooting took place not far from Littleton, the infamous site of the Columbine school shooting. It seemed shocking because of the details involved in the case. First of all, this happened at a public theater, while a movie was playing. The shooting was, at first, confused as being part of the movie itself, which is perhaps part of the reason why the number of people killed and injured was as high as it was. Secondly, the fact that a public theater could be used as a place for such a mass killing was itself shocking and set renewed concerns. Holmes himself was described as almost a genius, who had obviously gone crazy. He had dyed his hair multiple colors, possibly to resemble the Joker, if memory serves correctly.
Sikh Temple at Oak Creek, Wisconsin August 5, 2012 - Just a couple of weeks after the Aurora theater shooting, this shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, also sent sock waves throughout the nation. That was probably because the shooter, Wade Michael Page, was a white supremacist, making this a racist hate crime. Page killed six people and injured four more. This shooting happened at a place of worship, which added to the shock value. Among those who responded to this event were Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This was one of the clearest indicators that all of the talk about a post-racial America, and racism being largely a thing of the past, was obviously overblown and an avoidance of a still undeniable and glaring truth and imperfection about this country.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012 - This one seemed to have shaken the nation, and indeed the entire world, much like the Columbine shootings did back in 1999. Adam Lanza, a disturbed and isolated young man of just 20 years old, forcibly burst into the elementary school that his mother had worked in (he had killed her before this in their home), and he used her gun, an AR-15 (a commonly used gun by mass shooters) to gun down 26 people in all, including 20 very young children, and six staff members, including teachers. The very young age of the victims perhaps jolted many people, because there was a serious movement to restrict gun access after this one. Indeed, the entire world seemed shocked and horrified by these events, and for a while there, it looked like legislation might pass. But in the end, Congressional Republicans stalled the debate enough that the furor died, and (pardon the expression, but I think it fits) they shot down any and all attempts at even modestly tighter gun control laws. Still the shock value of seeing kids of roughly 6 and 7 years old being the target of a madman, seeing the services, continued to have an impact, and this particular shooting continues to stand out as one of the most extreme examples of the tragedy of easy access to gun laws, coupled with inadequacies with checks on mental health in the United States.
Church shooting at Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015 - This one proved shocking for several reasons. Firstly, the shooter, Dylann Roof, was a white supremacist who believed that this action would spark a new civil war. Indeed, he felt that whites would be inspired by his action. Secondly, this shooting took place at a church. It was not the first time that this happened, although somehow, this remained especially shocking for many people. Roof was said to have walked in and sat calmly for a short while during services, before opening fire. He killed nine people, and injured three others. There had been some controversy, obviously, regarding the Confederate battle flag, and the glorification of Confederate symbols more generally, prior to this event. However, many were truly disturbed that Roof held up the Confederate battle flag as representative of his cause, and the kind of worldview that he held, and this was around the time that many Confederate battle flags came down, as well as some other iconic symbols of the Confederate era.
Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, December 2, 2015 - This particular shooting became kind of both a political football and hot potato. A married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28 years old, and Tashfeen Malik, 29 years old, open fire during a holiday party at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. They killed 14 people, before eventually themselves being gunned down by police. Because the couple were Muslim, this was classified by many as a terrorist attack, and this was used by some, including candidate Donald Trump, as proof that we could not allow Muslim immigrants into the country.
Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, December 2, 2015 - This particular shooting became kind of both a political football and hot potato. A married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28 years old, and Tashfeen Malik, 29 years old, open fire during a holiday party at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. They killed 14 people, before eventually themselves being gunned down by police. Because the couple were Muslim, this was classified by many as a terrorist attack, and this was used by some, including candidate Donald Trump, as proof that we could not allow Muslim immigrants into the country.
Pulse Nightclub at Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016 - This shooting took place at a gay nightclub, It was, at the time, the largest modern mass shooting in American history, with 49 people killed, and 50 wounded. The shooter, Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, opened fire inside of the nightclub, and then held many hostage for several hours after the whole thing started. After almost three hours, police ram into the building with an armored vehicle, and they kill Mateen. Once again, there is shock and horror around the world, and calls for tighter restrictions on guns. Once again, nothing happens, although prominent politicians recite their "thoughts and prayers" message.
Downtown Dallas, July 7-8, 2016 - A 25-year old Army vet who served in Afghanistan, Micah Xavier Johnson, climbs to the roof of a building and fires on police officers, who at the time are watching over peaceful protests of, if I recall correctly, police brutality and racial inequality in the nation. In effect, Johnson became a sniper, shooting down and holding seemingly all advantages. Johnson's motivation was to avenge what he saw as systematic police brutality. Five police officers were killed when a sniper fires at them as they keep watch over a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas. Seven other officers and two civilians are wounded. There was a long standoff, before police finally manage to kill Johnson with a bomb squad robot. There was shock value, because police had been victimized in this one, and the Dallas Police Chief makes a public statement urging the gap between police and minority citizens to be bridged by them joining the police force and working in their own neighborhoods, to help with communication.
Las Vegas Strip, October 1, 2017 - This wound up being the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. A quiet man who nobody would ever suspect to have such evil intentions or serious mental problems, Stephen Paddock, checks into a room on the corner of the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, overlooking the area where there will be a country music concert. There was no history or anything in his past to suggest that he might lash out at this, and his own brother emphasizes this point by suggesting that Stephen probably had not even gotten any parking tickets. But on the evening of October 1st, Paddock broke the windows and started shooting down on the crowds gathered for the concert. He had a bump stock, which effectively quickened the pace of the shooting to such an extent, that he was effectively using an assault weapon. Video clips of the event reveal that the shooting sounded like nonstop machine gun fire raining down on those below. 59 people are killed, and hundreds wounded. Police are at a complete loss as to the motivation of this particular shooting, and even asks anyone with knowledge of the shooting to give them information via billboards, but everything remains a mystery to this day. This is the first major mass shooting during President Trump's tenure, and it takes him a while to really talk about it. When he does, he suggests that it is too soon to talk about gun control measures. For a while, not only Democrats, but Republicans in Congress seem willing to go after a ban on bump stocks. Even the NRA suggests that it is time to review the legality, although Wayne LaPierre later backs off, and makes clear that he was not advocating a ban on bump stocks. Ultimately, the momentum to ban bump stocks seems to fizzle out.
First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, November 5, 2017 - Sutherland Springs is a small town southeast of San Antonio, and residents described it as just about the last place you would expect a mass shooting like this to take place. It is a quiet town of about 400 people, and people describe it as the kind of town where everyone knows everyone else. Still a man, Devin Patrick Kelley, wearing what was described as all-black “tactical-type gear and a ballistic vest,” parked at the nearby Valero gas station, and walked toward the small church. He shoots in the general direction of the church, killing two people outside of the church, and goes inside and just sprays each row with bullets. In the end, 26 people are killed, 20 more injured. Among the dead, an 18-month old baby, a five-year old child, and a 72 year-old senior citizen, as well as plenty of people in between those extremes. Kelley, unlike Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, does have an extensive history of violence, having been dishonorably discharged from the Air Force after a domestic abuse incident against his wife and child (the child's skull was cracked). However, Air Force officials apparently failed to put this information in with the FBI, so Kelley's violent past does not prevent him from obtaining the gun, an AR-15. One local sees all of this and goes back to his home and gets his own gun, and shoots Kelley. There is a gunfight, and Kelley is struck in the torso and the leg. He drops his gun, and flees in his vehicle. The man chases him down, eventually successfully managing to run him off the road, but Kelley puts a gun to his head and kills himself. Apparently, there is a family dispute that probably, officials believe, served as the motivation for this particular incident. People are beginning now to recognize that many of these shooters use the same guns - the AR-15. Very quickly after the incident, President Trump quickly reiterates that it is too soon to talk about tighter gun control measures, although he just as quickly suggests that easy access to guns was not the problem here, suggesting that the local who shot Kelley might have been prevented from having a gun, and that the shooting could have been much worse as a result. He cites mental instability as the issue here. Trump and other politicians once again quickly and publicly send their "thoughts and prayers," but once again, it appears nothing will be done.
That last one in Texas just happened a few days ago, and we are still seeing the images and hearing the stories, as more details continue to emerge.
Now, let me be clear: by no means does this list above include all of the mass shootings in the United States during this time. These were just the most memorable ones, the ones that seem to have been particularly shocking on a national, and even international, scale. Many, if not most, of these, remain very memorable for most people in the nation.
One common trend in recent mass shooting seems to be developing, and it is this: these mass shooters really seem to prefer the AR-15. This was the gun used by Kelley a few days ago in Sutherland Springs, and to my understanding, Paddock used at least one of these in Las Vegas last month. It was also the gun that Adam Lanza used at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, and the same gun that James Holmes used in the Aurora movie theater. It was a variation of this gun that the married couple used in San Bernardino.
Take a look at this list above. I cannot stress enough that this much shortened list is only of major mass shootings, the ones that were so big or so shocking, that even most Americans remember them. In most countries, the horror of a mass shooting that would take the lives of, say, 10 - 15 people would be huge news, and would mobilize that country, force some kind of an action, which has happened before. Here, in the United States, we collectively barely blink or take notice of a mass shooting these days unless it reaches those kinds of numbers, or greater. Very few countries have had mass shootings on the level that we have seen them here in the United States, and none have seen them anywhere near as often. Norway had that one years ago, and France has had a few in recent years, including Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan. There was a major mass shooting in Australia in 1996, after which that country tightened gun access laws (and they have not made these kinds of major headlines since). There were a couple in Britain, but also, tighter gun access measures were passed there, and they worked. It worked in other countries, and somehow, they did not become fascist dictatorships where leaders have built prison or death camps, like many Americans fear would happen here if gun laws were tightened.
I think that we are well past the time to move beyond hollow expressions of "thoughts and prayers" by politicians, and absolutely no legislative action following. People keep getting killed in this country, and not just in these random mass shootings. Indeed, in the last half century or so, more Americans have been killed from gun violence in this country than from all of America's wars combined!
The United States stand out for the worst reasons - by far - as the supposedly peacetime country with the most gun violence and deaths by guns, year after year after year. And still, whenever we receive shocking news of yet another mass shooting, supposed leaders like Donald Trump fall back on their "thoughts and prayers" sentiment, while also quickly pointing out that, by their estimation, it is too soon to discuss tighter gun laws, and that this discussion is "politicizing" these tragedies.
Here's the thing, though: when is the time to talk about it? We just finally had time to digest the Las Vegas shooting, when the next major mass shooting took place this past Sunday, in a small Texas town. You never known when these kinds of mass shootings might take place. It could happen in a small Texas town, or in the downtown of a major American metropolis. It could happen at a school, or a place of worship, or a place of business. It could happen at a military base, and it could happen at a college. It could happen at a holiday party, and it could happen at a nightclub. It could happen when people are trying to enjoy a concert.
But it seems to happen far more often inside of the borders of the United States than anywhere else. That's the difference. And as far as I am concerned, blood is on the hands of the NRA, and the politicians who are clearly in the pay of the NRA, and do their bidding. Frankly, it is also on the hands of those citizens who believe that crap that the NRA and their paid political sponsors keep saying, and you probably know some people who believe in those arguments. I know that I do.
This is an evil, and frankly, just one of many, which seems to continually prevail in this country. But I refuse to be silent. I want to understand and, most importantly, get other people to understand what happened in these incidents. I want people to understand that, yes, mental instability is one of the issues clearly, but that somehow, these keep occuring in the United States more than other countries, and that is for a reason. The easy access to guns would be that reason. And until the measures for access to guns actually are, once and for all, tightened, we will continue to have these kinds of senseless mass shootings. And until we demand action and force politicians to change, all that they will offer will be more empty "thoughts and prayers," and we clearly need more than that.
"To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men."
~ Ella Wheeler
Some of the information used in this blog entry, believe it or not, is form my own personal memory. Some of it was taken from the Wikipedia for each of the events, while some others were taken from the below articles:
U.S. Mass Shootings, 2017:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States
MASS SHOOTERS LOVE AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLES. NOW TRUMP WANTS TO SELL THESE WEAPONS TO THE WORLD. John Thomason November 7 2017:
Rampage Killings Fast Facts Posted: Nov 06, 2017 8:25 AM EST Updated: Nov 06, 2017 8:25 AM EST CNN Library:
No comments:
Post a Comment