There Is No Place In The U.S. To Be Safe From Gun Violence

In the last couple of days, there have been two more mass shootings making the national news. In a Reno (Nevada) casino resort, a gunman killed three people and wounded three others. And in downtown New York City, a gunman killed four people (including an armed policeman) and critically wounded another.

While these are the first mass shootings to make the national news in a while, they are not an anomaly. So far this year, there has been 253 mass shootings in this country - more than one for every day. Sadly, mass shootings (a shooting in which at least four people are shot) are a common thing in this country.

It used to be that if you avoided certain high crime areas and didn't engage in high risk behaviors, then you were pretty safe in the United States. That is not the case anymore. The shootings can happen anywhere - retail stores, office building, workplaces, nightclubs, schools, churches, concerts, and any other places where people congregate. There is no place that can now be considered safe from gun violence anymore - not in large cities or small ones, not in blue states or red ones, and not in any region of the country. Innocent people are being gunned down all over the country.

It doesn't have to be that way. Other developed countries don't have anywhere near the level of gun violence that happens in the United States. That's because those countries have reasonable gun laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. 

It's different in the United States, where there are more guns that people. And our lax laws allow anyone (criminal, terrorist, or dangerously mentally ill) to legally buy any kind of gun they want - including assault weapons which can kill or wound many people in a short period of time. This is because Republican officials block any kind of reasonable laws that could make it harder for dangerous people to get a gun.

That's not likely to change anytime soon. Republicans control our national government, and they've made it clear they prefer to protect the rights of gun manufacturers and criminals over saving the lives of innocent citizens.

The gun violence carnage will continue until they are voted out of office.