These past few years have been depressing, sad, disappointing and detrimental for many reasons. However, one of the main reasons is because most of the lives that have been taken due to of guns.
These mass shooting vary from the route 91 shooting to the Parkland shooting to the recent Thousand Oaks shooting. According to the Washington Post, in 2018 alone, 68 people died in mass shootings and 12,506 in gun related incidents.
Heather Melton is a widow that lost her husband in one of the most colossal mass shootings in U.S. history, the Route 91 shooting, and was really sad to hear about the Thousand Oaks California shooting. The Borderline Bar and Grill grill in Thousand Oaks is a bar where survivors of the Route 91 went to meet up and heal from previous physical and mental injuries. It was a kind of support for survivors.
Going there helped a lot of them deal with the loss and heartbreak but just when they thought they had gone past it, another legal gun owner took the lives of 12 innocent souls and injured 11.
Even though Heather wasn’t present at the bar shooting (thankfully) she was still very affected by it. She expressed, “I think all of these shootings are the result of our disconnection from each other and isolation from real human contact. Life has no meaning anymore. I think there is a lot of mental illnesses not being addressed. We are not connected to each other.”
Heather lost her soul mate in a tragic way. It was the third day and final night of the Route 91 Harvest Festival. At first, they thought they were fireworks but after a few more shots they realized what it was and Heather explained that, “He wrapped his arms me from behind and we only took a few steps before I felt him get shot. I really couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening and bullets were flying all around me. I started CPR and I was screaming for someone to help.” Two kind individuals helped her get her husband to the hospital but the doctors couldn’t save him, unfortunately.
I asked Heather what she thought needs to be done in order to tame all the shootings and she simply answered saying, “The problem is so much bigger than guns. I don’t have a solution. I am afraid we have started down a path where there is no turning back. Sick people who want to harm or kill others are going to find a way-guns or not.”
Heather Melton believes that there no solutions to mass shootings. However. Florence Yared, a parkland school shooting survivor stated at a #NeverAgain rally, had a different view point.
“The right to bear arms does not and never will overpower the individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We cannot protect our guns before we protect our children.” she said.
Whether guns are legal or not, our government needs to do something about the way they are being distributed. Too many lives have been taken from us to not do anything. How many people have to die before we change? How many people have to get slaughtered and shot until we change our gun laws?
By Rita Salamey.
***NOTE:THERE ARE NO PICTURES DUE TO THE INTERVIEWED PEOPLE NOT WANTING THEIR PICTURES IN.***