The American establishment has displayed a continuing paranoia for immigrants/refugees and the nonexistent terror acts they are supposed to unleash upon the people of the country. However, there is a perplexing absence of horrified reactions to the rash of school shootings where students mow down others using easily obtained lethal weapons with shocking regularity. There is a continuing reluctance to take requisite action to control guns. In light of the recent most shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, the bizarre, continuing American devotion to guns and to their second amendment continues to confound.
Two teachers and eight students were killed by a 17 year old identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Ten more were injured. He meant to kill himself after his shooting spree but chose to give himself up to the authorities instead. He had once displayed this 'born to kill' t shirt on Facebook.l
Horrifying as this shooting was, it was not really surprising. So many others of this type have occurred in the recent past; that this was a tragedy waiting to happen. It is what researchers are calling the contagion effect. There is a common thread among this and previous shootings: the shooters are young, male, obsessed with weapons, seen to make disturbing social media posts. Looking at other shooting incidents, they find it easy to emulate them.
Troublingly, Antonios Pagourtzis, the father of the shooter has described his son as a ‘victim’ and not a criminal. He clarified that it was he who owned the guns, not his teenage son.
Across the board, the families of victims and millions of others have expressed frustration at the lack of actual action taken to try to prevent such tragedies in future. There has been open derision expressed with respect to the meaningless and oft repeated “thoughts and prayers” phrase; which rings hollow and ineffectual in the face of such huge tragedies.
It is a well known fact that the NRA (national rifle association) is a very powerful American institution which has resisted reform of gun ownership law and regulations. They are also known to fund political campaigns. People are angry about what they see as political self interest and expediency being privileged over the safety and wellbeing of ordinary citizens.
The hallowed second amendment to the American constitution that gives citizens the right to bear arms has resulted in easy availability and a proliferation of legal firearms unlike anywhere in the world. America tops the list of mass shootings. It tops the list of number of guns per capita of any country in the world. Americans own 48% of the estimated 650 m civilian owned guns worldwide. Gun homicide rates are 25 times higher in America than other high income countries.
There is a great deal of frustration at what many perceive as the government’s continued inaction in the face of mass shootings that continue to occur.
Numerous tweets are sharply critical of what they see as the government’s hypocrisy in expressing sympathy for the victims of shootings while pandering to the NRA and its demands.
Teens have expressed their anguish about the senseless killings as well as their own anxiety about being the possible victims of such violence themselves.
Many teens expressed the wish that if they were to die in a shooting, their body should be put on the steps of the White House or on some NRA premises to send out a strong political message.
Young people have expressed rage, helplessness and grief at the shootings as well as the government’s perceived inaction. Some tweets are poignant and heartbreaking: one simply said this: “#IfIDieInASchoolShooting then my parents would have outlived their only child”. Utterly heartbreaking was this tweet from a parent that simply said this: “been there, done that” in response.
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