Shooter Kills (Fill In Number) Again

by Woody

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Shooter Kills (Fill In The Number) Again

In the 1920s, the “Golden Age of Sports,” tennis legend William “Big Bill” Tilden defeated his rival William “Little Bill” Johnston so frequently in major matches that newspapers were said to keep a headline set in hot-lead type:

Tilden Beats Johnston Again

In this computer age, it seems American newspapers could save time by programming a save-get key with a different, somber headline:

Shooter Kills (Fill In The Number) Again1gunviolence

Fill in the number is wrong. Fill in the names. Fill in the faces, the individuals, the loved ones, the friends, the co-workers, the fellow citizens. Fill in the “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Wednesday, once again a headline needed to be filled in: Shooter Kills 2, Wounds 1 on live TV in Virginia.

Television reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were gunned down in cold blood by a madman. Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed, was critically wounded. Before taking his own life, the maniac posted video of his heinous act on Twitter and Facebook.

Words fail me. But I will still try. This is a column I could write once a month. No, weekly. Shooter Kills (Fill In The Number) Again.

Shooter Kills 5, Wounds 2 at military recruitment center in Chattanooga

Shooter Kills 9, Wounds 1 in a Church in Charleston

Shooter Kills 5, Wounds 1 at Marysville-Pilchunck High School

Shooter Kills 13, Wounds 8 at Washington Navy Yard

Shooter Kills 20 Children And 6 Adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Shooter Kills 12, Wounds 58 at Aurora Movie Theater

This is just a short list of mass shootings in America in the last three years. Mass shootings make headlines, but according to the CDC all shooting-related deaths – homicides, suicides and unintentional – combined total more than 30,000 annually in the U.S.

In other words, the number of civilians killed by guns on U.S. soil in one year alone surpasses the 2,996 casualties suffered in the 9/11 terrorist attacks tenfold. As Pogo cartoonist Walt Kelly wrote: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

If that doesn’t numb you, those 30,000-plus annual gun-related deaths average out to about 82 lives lost each day, day after day ad nauseam.

No other country comes close to our killing fields, killing streets, killing movie theaters and killing schools.

I know this column will anger many of my readers, maybe even lose some of them. So be it. The NRA and its hard-line supporters have long been controlling the issue of gun control, derailing meaningful compromise and progress. Their thwarting all new measures has not helped thwart the shooting violence.

When our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, it took 30 seconds to reload a gun to get off a second shot. Today, in those 30 seconds a madman can squeeze off enough bullets – including bullets designed to pierce armor – to cause the headline: Shooter Kills 50.

Guns are designed to kill – animals of game, yes, but also people. Handguns are designed especially to kill people. And semi-automatic guns are designed to kill a lot of people, quickly.

Polls show the vast majority of Americans want gun-control legislation increased, but our lawmakers ignore us and kowtow to the powerful gun lobby. Since they refuse to listen to the public they serve, it is long past time to replace them with leaders who do hear us.

I don’t know about you, but henceforth my No. 1 issue when voting for any politician, from local supervisor to congressman to president, will be their stance on guns. All candidates aim to strengthening our economy and ensure national security; I want ones who don’t shoot down legislation aimed at lessening future shootings.

Democrat, Republican, Independent, if someone seriously and believably makes gun control his or her top priority at the risk of becoming an enemy of rich lobbyists, they have my vote.

We have a Constitutional right to bear arms, yes, but how many more “Shooter Kills (Fill In The Number of Lives Not To Be Fully Lived) Again” headlines must we bear to read?

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

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