United States Shootings

Mass shootings seem to be happening all over the country; from the Century 16 movie theater shooting in Aurora to the recent shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The theater shooting, on July 20, 2012 affected me because it is my State. Most people think that a shooting won't happen where you are but as the Aurora shooting showed me, it can. I have shopped at that mall before, and I have passed the Century 16 movie theater many times.  To know that 12 people died there is sad. Then we have the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting where nearly thirty lives were lost and most of those were children on December 14, 2012. They didn't even have a chance to live their lives yet, because they were so young. And even worse, it was right before Christmas, which for most people is a time of joy, and time spent with family. I hope that many people, like me, will continue to pray for these families through their times of sorrow. I also hope that most people would be willing to pray for the shooters that God will just touch their hearts and show them what is right.

Over the past few years, there have been several shootings; in Pennsylvania among the Amish community, which also took the lives of a number of children, the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado among just a few.  In 2000, two students were killed while leaving a school dance, by a 19 year old, in Savannah, Georgia. A 41 year old nursing school student killed three female professors in 2002, in Tucson Arizona. In Blacksburg, Virginia, a Virginia tech student killed 33 people and wounded 15 more in 2007. School shootings are not a new phenomenon. One of the first school shootings was in New York in 1867 when a 13 year old boy shot and injured many of his classmates.

Many of these school shootings could have been prevented, in my opinion. With more awareness about mental illnesses, these shooting wouldn't have happened. Many of the shooters were mentally ill, including the one in Sandy Hook. With more awareness, we could provide the help that these people needed. Mental illness isn't bad or shameful; it is just a chemical imbalance in the brain that can almost always be treated with medication and/or therapy.  My friend's family have a history of mental illnesses, but with the help of medication and therapy, they live normal lives and you would never know anything was wrong.  Also, another way that could help is by spending more time as a family. Many kids these days live with one parent in a broken home. If these kids could spend more time with their parents, have an opportunity to talk to them and their parents had a chance to get to know them well, they would be less likely to kill people when things feel like they are falling apart.  

"Cry Out to Jesus" by Third Day, I feel fits with whats going on, especially with the opening line "To everyone who's lost someone they love long before it's their time. You feel like the days you had were not enough when you said goodbye." I'm praying for all of their families. Please Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmVxRl5bc4Y

Sources:
"Aurora Theater Shooting." - The Denver Post. The Denver Post, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.

 

Candiotti, Susan, Meredith Artley, and David Ariosto. "Connecticut School Shooting Claims Nearly 30 Lives, Source Says." CNN. Cable News Network, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.

"Third Day-Cry Out To Jesus." Youtube. ThirdDayVevo, 24 Oct. 2009. Web. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmVxRl5bc4Y.

 "Time Line of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.
"List of School Shootings in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 04 Jan. 2013.