Every day in this country 80 people die from gunshot injuries. Another 200 people are shot, leaving injuries, both physical and psychological, that last for years.
Here is a sampling of just a few of the gun violence incidents from this past weekend:
- On Friday, a police officer in Headland, Alabama was shot and killed while responding to a call about a man with a gun. Another officer was wounded and is still in critical condition. The suspect, a 53-year-old man who had recently stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was also shot and killed.
- On Saturday, two Florida sheriff’s deputies were shot and killed during a shoot-out in the parking lot of the Shoal River Gun Club. The suspect, a 28-year-old U.S. Army Reserve solider has a history of domestic violence, was reportedly “severely disturbed†that Barack Obama had been elected president and believed the U.S. government was conspiring against him. The suspect was also shot and killed.
- Semmes, Alabama police were called to a home and found four people shot. Three people were pronounced dead at the scene. The fourth, a 33-year-old-woman, was able to identify the man who attacked them. The suspect, a 37-year-old man with an extensive criminal history, was shot and killed by police after a high speed chase and shoot-out.
- In Athens, Georgia, a 57-year-old University of Georgia professor walked into a community theater near campus and opened fire with two handguns, killing three people, including his wife, and injuring two more. The man, who left the couple’s two young children in the car during the shooting, is being sought by police.
- Early Sunday morning, an ex-student of Hampton University followed a pizza delivery man into his former university dorm. Armed with three guns, he shot the delivery man and a dorm monitor before turning the gun on himself. Miraculously, all three survived.
- Four people were shot in a home in Washington, D.C. Sunday afternoon. A 42-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the three wounded were hospitalized. Police are looking for a suspect who is believed to have known the victims.
This past weekend is just a continuation of what has already been a bloody month.
- On April 3, thirteen people were killed and a number of others wounded, by a lone gunman at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York.
- In Graham, Washington a man shot and killed his five children before turning the gun on himself.
- In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, three police officers were shot and killed by a 23-year-old man wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with an AK-47.
- In Frederick, Maryland a father shot his wife and his three children, ages five, four and two.
And the list goes on……..
The question is – is it enough yet?
The gun extremists will tell you the problem is not easy access to guns, not too many guns, but rather too few armed “citizens.†They need to explain this to the families of the six police officers killed this month.
We are, as N.Y. Times columnist Bob Herbert so aptly put it, A Culture Soaked in Blood.
“Americans are as blasé as can be about this relentless slaughter that keeps the culture soaked in blood.
This blasé attitude, this willful refusal to acknowledge the scope of the horror, leaves the gun nuts free to press their crazy case for more and more guns in ever more hands. They’re committed to keeping the killing easy, and we should be committed for not stopping them.â€
Leadership is defined by tackling difficult problems and creating solutions to address them. Clearly America’s gun violence epidemic is a serious challenge. What we need in response is bold leadership, and that can’t happen soon enough.
