{"id":1489,"date":"2013-09-24T17:03:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T00:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2016-12-16T09:25:48","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T17:25:48","slug":"mass-shootings-in-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/mass-shootings-in-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Cares About The Mass Shootings in the USA?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I could be blogging about my writing life, but instead I&#8217;m writing about the mass shootings in the USA.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leonardo_da_Vinci\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1492\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/mass-shootings-in-the-usa\/attachment\/leonardo-da-vinci\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"575,867\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Leonardo da Vinci\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1492 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci-198x300.jpg?resize=198%2C300\" alt=\"Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?resize=198%2C300&amp;ssl=1 198w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?w=575&amp;ssl=1 575w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a>I am so upset over last week\u2019s <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2013\/09\/20\/justice\/chicago-shooting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">mass shooting in Chicago<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a> <\/span>(13 wounded) and <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/world\/washington-navy-yard-shooting-leaves-13-dead-including-gunman-motive-unclear-1.1456586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>(13 dead, 8 wounded) that I had to get these thoughts out.<\/p>\n<p>When a suicide bomber kills innocent people in a country across the ocean, we think he represents those who believe human life has little or no value. And yet, those who push against gun control laws in the USA, aren\u2019t they saying the same thing? <strong>When over 30,000 die in the USA every year <\/strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">from\u00a0the\u00a0firing of guns and no one does anything to change the laws, aren\u2019t lawmakers saying the same thing?<\/span> <strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">That human life has no value in the USA.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Do the lawmakers care that 13 innocent people died in the naval yard, in Washington, D.C.? Do they care about all those innocent children and teachers at <strong><a style=\"color: #993366;\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sandy Hook<\/a><span style=\"color: #800080;\">? <\/span><\/strong>Do they care about the family members who died in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2012_Aurora_shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aurora<\/a> <\/strong>while eating popcorn and enjoying a movie? Who cares about the shooting victims in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fort_Hood_shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Fort Hood<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>The people in power obviously don\u2019t or else they\u2019d turn their backs on the men who want to keep the gun laws the same. They express their sorrow and their sympathy, but action speaks louder than words.<\/p>\n<p>Why can\u2019t there be limits? Why does anyone need a lot of guns? Why does anyone need an assault rifle in a civilized country? Somehow, the NRA and their supporters have convinced many Americans that they will lose their freedom if they can\u2019t buy as many weapons as they want. How is it free to walk American streets, go to work, go to school, knowing someone, somewhere could pull a trigger at any time and shoot you dead?<\/p>\n<p>And why is it, that every time there\u2019s a mass shooting, the media plays it for all it\u2019s worth until the next big story? Not long after, the concern over mass shootings dies like all those innocent people. Quickly forgotten by all those whose lives weren\u2019t touched. Nothing gets changed. Tomorrow there\u2019ll be another one and another one and another one.<\/p>\n<p>Why not take a page from <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gun_politics_in_Australia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Australia<\/a><\/strong>, or <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2012\/12\/17\/world\/europe\/dunblane-lessons\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Britain<\/a><\/strong>, where the powers that be acted swiftly to change their laws after a mass shooting? Why not look at Japan and Canada, where incidents of mass shooting are few and far between?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Obama has said<\/strong>. \u201cBy now, though, it should be clear that the change we need will not come from Washington, even when tragedy strikes Washington. Change will come the only way it ever has come, and that\u2019s from the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My husband said this morning, \u201cWhy are Americans worrying about Syria or other threats outside their borders? They should do something about their own back yard.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I could be blogging about my writing life, but instead I&#8217;m writing about the mass shootings in the USA. I am so upset over last week\u2019s mass shooting in Chicago&hellip; <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[378,361,78,553,440,551,555,368,390,552,556,554,5],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-aurora","tag-diana-stevan","tag-fort-hood","tag-gun-control","tag-mass-shootings","tag-naval-yard","tag-nra","tag-obama","tag-sandy-hook","tag-usa","tag-washington","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-o1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3466,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2017\/uncategorized\/musings-about-immigrants-at-pier-21\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":0},"title":"Musings About Immigrants at Pier 21","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, Robert and I toured the Maritimes. We went there to see our granddaughter, who\u2019s attending Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. That city is also home to Pier 21 (Canada's Ellis Island) and the Immigration museum that shows the immigrant\u2019s experience when they land in Canada. It was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"pier 21","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pier-21.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pier-21.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pier-21.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pier-21.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/pier-21.jpg?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1331,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/three-wrongs-dont-make-a-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":1},"title":"Three Wrongs Don&#8217;t Make A Right","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"21 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Wrong Enemy, Wrong Place, Wrong Information. Three wrongs don't make a right. Ten years ago, March 20, 2003, America invaded Iraq\u2014the invasion was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom. When I first heard about it, I was trying on clothes in a dressing room of a small shop in Vancouver. From the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Iraq map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Iraq-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6803,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/life\/the-cracks-in-mental-health-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":2},"title":"The Cracks in Mental Health Services","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, in Vancouver, British Columbia, we became aware, once again, of the cracks in mental health services. They failed to help those in need and they failed to protect the public from harm. At a Filipino Street Festival in South Vancouver on Saturday, April 26, a mentally ill man drove\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cracks in mental health services","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1053,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/film-2\/what-is-it-about-guns\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":3},"title":"What Is It About Guns?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"23 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m an optimist by nature, so this has been a hard post to write. And I'm sorry for getting off the writing track here. But the senseless killings\u00a0 at the movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado this past week stopped me in my tracks. I, like many, wanted to make sense\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Film&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Humphrey-Bogart.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4546,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/surprises-at-whistler-writers-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":4},"title":"Surprises at Whistler Writers Festival","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A number of surprises greeted me at this year's Whistler Writers Festival. I was invited because I was a Finalist for the 2019 Whistler Independent Book Awards in fiction for my novel, Sunflowers Under Fire. These awards are sponsored by the Writers Union of Canada. On a trail in Whistler,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Whistler Writers Festival","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Whistler-gold-chair-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1203,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/life\/when-will-america-wake-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1489,"position":5},"title":"When Will America Wake Up?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Again,we\u2019re confronted by another senseless tragedy, this time, 20 children and\u00a0five adults killed in an elementary school in Connecticut, as well as\u00a0the shooter's mother. 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