This past weekend has been one for the books in my eyes. I woke up Saturday morning to find out one of my favorite artists, Christina Grimmie, was dead from a shooting. I wake up the next morning to find out 49 more innocent lives were taken in another shooting in Orlando, Florida. These scare me because I was at a concert Saturday night. What if it were my club? What if it were my artist shot dead? What if it were my city, loved ones, or even me. The reality of the situation is, it could have been anyone anywhere, but it was Orlando.
According to CNN, in the early hours of the morning (2 a.m.) of Sunday, June 12 at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, what people are calling one of the worst terrorist attacks since 9/11 took place. With 49 killed and 53 injured and hospitalized, this shooting out ranks the Virginia Tech (2007) and the Sandy Hook Elementary (2012) school shootings. The shooter was identified as Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, who has been suggested to "[have] leanings towards (Islamic terrorism), but right now we can't say definitely," according to Ron Hopper, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Orlando bureau. Since Pulse is a gay bar, there have also been mentions of a hate crime taking place. Orlando police finally took down the armed gunman, but the casualties had already started to add up to one of the worst attacks this generation has seen. Orlando has declared a state of emergency and set up a hotline in order for concerned families to call while trying to identify the many bodies they have on their hands.
Sources have mentioned that at this particular club, most people are leaving by 2 a.m. So, even though people get patted down on the way in, by the time of the shooting, security has stopped patting people down which made it possible for the armed gunman to enter.
This attack, even as fresh as it is, has brought many arguments back up in the world. People are already commenting on topics like gun control, gay pride/rights and terrorism. Some think guns should be banned even stronger than before because of this, others believe that this is a cause to put a gun in citizens hands to prevent this from happening. There has been talk of ties to ISIS which brings up talk of stronger security or war. Pulse being a gay club brings up people standing up for the LGBT community as well as others sharing opinions on why it was wrong for people to be in that bar. With social media blowing up sharing their opinions, trash talking others for having a different opinion, and even spreading hate towards different groups of people, our minds are in the wrong place.
Reiterating my first paragraph, the point of this issue should not be to state your opinion and fight for it. We should instead be fighting for each other. There are people dead and loved ones grieving. We should be pulling together as a nation to find a way to first comfort, love, honor, and then fix this issue. As of right now, the situation is too fresh for us as standby citizens to do anything but pay our respects to the dead. Soon we are going to have to fight together to solve this issue, laying political opinions aside, because a divided nation is not a strong one. I am personally heartbroken for the many lives lost. It saddens me to see so many innocent, and probably excellent, people brought down. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected--yes, even to those with ties to the shooter. Though I believe that what this man did was extremely wrong and should never have even been thought of, losing a loved one is never easy. To everyone effected, I am so sorry for all that has happened to you. It is a sad weekend in America.
