On Aug. 9 there were 44 people injured in mass shootings and 1 death. This does not include shootings where 3 or fewer are injured or killed, nor suicides, successful or not. There were 3 children killed that day.
So, the horribly sad story of a 5 year old’s murder, which was reported by CNN, and in which the shooter has been arrested and charged, is only one family’s grief from that day. It is only trending because it is being used as a tool for racist division, hijacking the #sayhisname hashtage.
Do not be pulled into a false racial/biased media clickbait narrative about this tragedy.
Instead, recognize the other ongoing health epidemic that America refuses to unite to defeat: #gunviolence.
We have solutions as easy as masks but similarly we have become divided over the wrong things. If you #backtheblue, then do what the sheriffs and police chiefs have asked for, for years:
- support national standards to diminish guns crossing state lines due to different rules,
- universal background checks,
- ban all assault style weapons for home use,
- establish waiting periods for purchases, universal registration,
- mandatory gun safety training and retesting for license renewal,
- exclude felons and family violence perpetrators from ownership,
- establish guidelines for reporting mental illness that precludes someone who cannot safely own and use a gun from having one.
I, though not the first to do so, suggest taxing ownership (like the tobacco tax) and put that money into public hospitals and community health centers. The majority of Americans and the majority of gun owners agree with most of the above. Who doesn’t? Gun and ammo manufacturers. If you want to honor Cannon Hinnant– help get guns out of the hands of criminals.
References:
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
Please note: I do say the young boy’s name because he deserves to be remembered. The hashtag for #sayhisname is meant to identify the ongoing and unspoken, under- and unreported victims of police brutality who are Black. The appropriate use of this hashtag should remain committed to the seeking of and end to life-threatening police encounters for simply being a suspect who is Black, safe apprehension, approporiate and due process in the arrest of suspected criminals who Black, justice and equal treatment under the law of Black people without prejudice, bias, racism, or prejudgement. I am glad the accused shooter has been apprehended, charged, and will stand trial. I am especially glad that as a Black man, he was arrested alive and unbeaten. I am prayerful that the process of justice will bring some small measure of comfort to his family and friends. I am MOST hopeful that activism will see that their son will become one of the very last children to die of gun violence in the USA. Then his death will not be in vain. So be it. So it shall be. So it is.
bevfriedlander 