On Thursday, September 6, 2018, a gunman killed three innocent people while unleashing the 250 bullets that he had in his work bag. You would think that the initial reaction to this kind of incident would be a crying outrage. However, I felt an overwhelming feeling of normality. I felt tired of hearing about public shooting after shooting after shooting.
The thought that it had happened in my home city, a place I had associated with such joy and happiness, did not allow for me to even accept it. It couldn't happen to my city; we were just a Midwestern city. I didn't want to believe it. But death struck the United States again through Cincinnati's Fountain Square shooting.
Gaining national publicity, videos surfaced of the heroic Cincinnati police officers who fought the perpetrator head on.
Regardless of your political affiliations or how you favor gun laws, this needs to stop. The ability to carry 250 bullets on one person at a single time is incredibly frightening to think about. No one needs that amount. If you are hunting, then maybe. MAYBE. However, 250 bullets in the hands of an expert marksman means hundreds of people dead. Luckily this was not the case this time, however, the outright availability of guns and ammunition needs to be looked at. It is ridiculous to think that someone can stockpile bullets or guns under the country's radar.
It is imperative to keep our country safe, and I wish that we never had to be #CincinnatiStrong.
#DontSpeakHisName is important as well. Do not make these shooters infamous for killing when they do not deserve an ounce of thought to them. What needs to be talked about is the acts that are happening, how a gun got into the shooter's hands and how we can cut down on these shootings where innocent lives are being lost.
We have to do better, America.
One of the survivors from this instance was shot 12 times. She survived. She faced death, which she should have never had to do in that horrific way, and survived. Taking a note from her book, America itself needs to face the bullets that have been shot into our country and heal. We have to heal the wounds that have already happened, and we have to stop ourselves from continuing to open the wound.
