Shoot. Bury. Pray. Repeat. (5/7/2019)

Today (5/7/2019):  More gun violence and this time so close to home.  Time for more “thoughts and prayers?” 

Here we go again... Shoot. Bury. Pray. Repeat. 

After spending some time contacting all the people I knew in the area of the STEM School in Highlands Ranch to make sure that their children were safe, I had flash back to the Columbine shooting (the 20^th anniversary of which was just over 2 weeks ago).  And then, I started listing off the school and mass shootings that have happened in the United States since then.  Ready to be horrified???

1. Columbine High School Shooting, Littleton, Colorado – April 1999: 13 Dead

2. Atlanta Shootings, Atlanta, Georgia – July 1999: 12 Dead

3. Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, Fort Worth, Texas – September 1999: 7 Dead

4. Xerox Killings, Honolulu, Hawaii – November 1999: 7 Dead

5. Tampa Hotel Shootings, Tampa, Florida – December 1999: 5 Dead

6. Wakefield Massacre, Wakefield, Massachusetts – December 2000: 7 Dead

7. Lockheed Martin Shooting, Median, Mississippi – July 2003: 6 Dead

8. Living Church of God Shooting, Brookfield, Wisconsin – March 2005: 7 Dead

9. Red Lake High School, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota – March 2005: 9 Dead

10. Goleta Postal Shootings, Goleta, California – January 2006: 7 Dead

11. Capitol Hill Massacre, Seattle Washington – March 2006: 6 Dead

12. West Nickel Mines Amish School, Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania – October 2006: 5 Dead

13. Tolley Square Shooting, Salt Lake City, Utah – February 2007: 5 Dead

14. Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia – April 2007: 32 Dead

15. Crandon Shooting, Crandon Wisconsin – October 2007: 6 Dead

16. Westroads Mall Shooting, Omaha Nebraska – December 2007: 8 Dead

17. Kirkwood City Council Shooting, Kirkwood, Missouri – February 2008: 6 Dead

18. Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois – February 2008: 5 Dead

19. Atlantis Plastics Shooting, Henderson Kentucky – June 2008: 5 Dead

20. Carthage Nursing Home Shooting – Carthage, North Carolina – March 2009: 8 Dead

21. Geneva County Massacre, Geneva and Samson, Alabama – March 2009: 10 Dead

22. Binghampton Shootings, Binghampton - April 2009: 13 Dead

23. Fort Hood Shooting, Fort Hood, Texas – November 2009: 13 Dead

24. Hartford Beer Distributor Shooting, Manchester, Connecticut – August 2010: 8 Dead

25. Tucson Shooting, Tucson, Arizona - January 2011: 6 Dead

26. Seal Beach Shooting, Seal Beach, California – October 2011: 8 Dead

27. Oikos University, Oakland, California – April 2012: 7 Dead

28. Seattle Café Shooting, Seattle, Washington – May 2012: 5 Dead

29. Aurora Shooting, Aurora, Colorado – July 2012: 12 Dead

30. Sikh Temple Shooting, Oak Creek, Wisconsin – August 2012: 6 Dead

31. Accent Signage Systems Shooting, Minneapolis, Minnesota – September 2012: 6 Dead

32. Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut – December 2012: 27 Dead

33. Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California – June 2013: 5 Dead

34. Hialeah Shooting, Hialeah, Florida – July 2013: 6 Dead

35. Washington Navy Yard Shooting, Washington D.C. – September 2013: 12 Dead

36. University of California Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, California – May 2014: 6 Dead

37. Marysville Pilchuck High School, Marysville, Washington – October 2014: 4 Dead

38. Charleston Church Shooting, Charleston, South Carolina – June 2015: 9 Dead

39. Chattanooga Military Recruitment Center, Chattanooga Tennessee – July 2015: 5 Dead

40. Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon – October 2015: 9 Dead

41. San Bernardino Attack, San Bernardino, California – December 2015: 14 Dead

42. Kalamazoo Shooting Spree, Kalamazoo County, Michigan – February 2016: 6 Dead

43. Orlando Night-club Shooting, Orlando, Florida – June 2016: 49 Dead

44. Dallas Police Shooting, Dallas Texas – July 2016: 5 Dead

45. Cascade Mall Shooting, Burlington, Washington – September 2016: 5 Dead

46. Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooting, Fort Lauderdale, Florida- January 2017: 5 Dead

47. Las Vegas Shooting, Las Vegas, Nevada – October 2017: 58 Dead

48. Sutherland Springs Church, Sutherland Springs, Texas – November 2017: 26 Dead

49. Rancho Tehama Shooting, Rancho Tehama, California – November 2017: 5 Dead

50. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida – February 2018: 17 Dead

51. STEM School, Highlands Ranch, CO – May 7, 2019: 1 Dead

Statistics (and some simple math) tell us that children and teenagers compose about 1/10 of the fatalities in mass shootings.  Almost 300 guns have been obtained by authorities in these shootings, and over half of them were obtained legally.  The AR-15 rifle has been increasingly used in such shootings.  It is estimated that more than 8 million of these weapons are owned in American households.  I am not being antagonistic (as I really want to know – and “hunting” is not an answer as no one needs to hunt to ensure their family is fed and if you are “sport” hunting, an AR-15 is taking the “sport” right out it) in asking why does anyone need an AR-15 rifle in their home?

It isn’t just drug dealers and criminals that are the problem.  Anyone or any age or mental status can easily obtain a gun.  I wonder…  If your doorbell rang and you opened the door to find a stranger standing there, maybe he’s 55 years old or maybe she is 12 years old, would you give them a gun if they asked for it?  Or, let’s say that you listened to your child’s heartbreak and wiped their tears as they talked about how bullied they were and how they couldn’t take it anymore.  Would you pat them on the head, hand them a gun and walk away?  Or maybe you come face to face with an grandma-esque elderly woman in an apron that is obviously not making the correct mental connections to reality or a GQ gentleman who despite his well put together appearance is suffering some sort of distress that you cannot name, but they ask you for a gun.  Would you, no questions asked, pass them an AR-15, shrug and walk away?  Is your “don’t tread on me” stance protecting your right to feel self-important and have that gun in your safe, but sacrificing our children, their lives and innocence plagued with concerns of the possibility of feeling their flesh ripped apart from bullets in a classroom where they are endeavoring to get an education?  Is that really who we are? 

But don’t be fooled.  The effects are much more far-reaching than the horrific events themselves and those who are injured or killed.  Earlier this year, two teenagers that survived the Parkland shooting as well as the father of a Sandy Hook victim, took their lives as a result of the psychological trauma the events left them to deal with.  The heart-break and scarring goes deep – deep into the structure and resulting deterioration of our society.  Whether you want to admit it or not, this is OUR problem because the question “why me?’ is no longer left to just the victims and their families, but rather, the question we all face is now “when me?”…  “WHEN ME?” 

Our current course is not working people!  At least, it isn’t working for me, and I know it is not working for the youth of our country.  I am not ok knowing that children don’t feel safe in school.  I’m not ok with our innocent children being shot and killed at school.  I don't know how a parent is supposed to "remind your child that they are safe at school" when this keeps happening.  It keeps happening and we are doing nothing to stop the cycle.  Shoot. Bury. Pray. Repeat. 

Today’s shooting in Highlands Ranch, CO happened in a K-12 school.  That means there were over 1800 children on campus.  And while the shooting happened in the high school aged classrooms, there were children of all ages there - we are talking about kids as young as 5! Five years old people!!!  One student ran for his life and was found by a resident in a neighborhood sitting by a mailbox with a gun-shot wound in his back.  I am not ok that a child knows what it feels like to be shot while in school where he is supposedly safe!  Shoot. Bury. Pray. Repeat.

Our system is diseased and in desperate need of reform.  It is possible.  We saw the government in New Zealand act – wasting no time in taking action to prevent further mass gun violence becoming a plague upon their society as it is ours.  Why can’t we escape our cycle - Shoot. Bury. Pray. Repeat.

It is way past time to for us to work to ensure that pride, politics, greed, power and money are taken out of the equation.  We are putting our future – our children up for slaughter for what?  Power and money hungry people that are looking out for themselves?  Is your child’s life worth someone’s vacation house, or yacht, or golf trip, or property investment?

I refuse to believe that it is hopeless….not yet….but we all have to care enough to do more than just complain.  We have to individually participate in making change, educating others and taking a stand for what is right, even if it isn’t popular.  I learned early in my life that standing by and watching wrong-doing without doing anything to stop it made me just as guilty of said wrong-doing if not more-so as I knew it was wrong and didn’t stand up to stop it.  We have to be better. 

But how can we ever be better and drag ourselves out of the mire we are in if our leaders are not only pulling us back into the mud, but creating and slinging the mud itself?!?  Shit rolls downhill.  Our country is being bent over and fucked in the ass by one of the most narcissistic, corrupt, dishonest, power and money hungry human beings that I’ve ever known.  And still , he does all these things shamelessly, believing he is untouchable.  And what is worse is that we are treating him as though he is actually untouchable. Seriously, what will it take? He lies, he cheats, he abuses people the environment and animals, commits adultery, practices and encourages prejudices, talks out of both sides of his mouth...and the inexhaustible list just goes on and on.

I don’t know about you, but I am beyond sick of this.  I cannot stomach the same ol’ anymore.  My heart is broken and bleeding.  Stop this ride, I want to get off! 

My Shattered & Bleeding Heart - Autumn Boyet-Stinton 2019