Why I’m Here
After yesterday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, I found myself wanting to put this latest event in some sort of context. The relentlessness of mass shooting after mass shooting just seems overwhelming and on a personal level, I feel this need to try and figure out what is happening and what we can do to somehow lessen the death toll.
It’s not an easy discussion to have, because each new mass shooting brings the same waves of predictable responses. Conservatives see it as a mental health problem, an argument against immigration or just another indication of the collapse of American society. For liberals, it’s primarily a gun control issue.
The problem is that while both sides have some merit (depending on the specific circumstances of the event), this knee-jerk response to each shooting just sparks endless rounds of “your side sucks.”
It doesn’t help that this march of death is taking place at a time when most Americans seem incapable of having a civil discourse about anything of importance. We’re so angry at each other and disappointed by our institutions that we don’t see a way out. I’m going to be blogging about mass shootings and I’m going to be upfront and tell you that I don’t have an axe to grind on the subject. As much as possible, I’m going to try and follow the stories of each shooting, highlighting the things I think might be of interest. I also want to focus on the shootings that don’t get as much attention from the media. The mass shootings that aren’t important enough to stop the regular news grind on the cable news networks. As for what qualifies as a “mass shooting,” that’s more or less up to my discretion. At this point, my instinct is to limit it to shootings in which three or more people or killed and/or injured. I’ll also likely stay away from gang-related shootings or ones that involve a friend or family member killing their loved ones. But everything else is fair game and if you think I’ve missed something, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at @aysrick or in email at [email protected].
