It’s been a little more than a year since the life we once knew went missing to the vacuous stratagems of measured spaces and protective equipment. Inside this collective time gap, our lives have been made to feel like the chapters of a Richard Preston page turner; witnesses to the terrors of nature, whose shadow remains.
And then the last week reminded us once again, what normal used to look like before we went inside.
When a gunman opened fire with an assault-style rifle at a King Soopers grocery store in Colorado on Monday afternoon, it was the culmination of a week long series of mass shootings across the nation. From Georgia to Oregon. From California to Houston to Dallas to Pennsylvania to a supermarket located just a couple miles off the campus of Colorado University.
America is waking up to the reality of what we had become as a society, and what we still are. And now we get to read about the latest failures of our local, state and federal agencies. We get to listen to the mind numbingly tone deaf rants of elected officials who use the tragic occasions to spew their rhetoric. We get to hear first hand accounts of the war that’s been taking place right here at home for far too long a time.
Ryan Borowski provided one of those first hand accounts from the front lines; a survivor of the Boulder shootings, he’ll never look at Monday afternoons or grocery stores the same way again.
“This feels like the safest spot in America, and I just nearly got killed for getting a soda . .”
It’s too simplistic to call Borowski and all the others who survive these rampages the ‘lucky ones’. Its too neat, since we do not know what they dream about, we do not know all the memories they carry with them in their waking hours. And we pray like hell that we never do.
The murderous lurk of seven shootings in seven days kept right on going this week. From Ohio to Alabama to Georgia. More lost souls to bury, more first hand accounts to read about and not a whit of hope to cling to inside all the madness.
So here we are, riders on the storm of a battle we can’t pawn off on 2020. And we’re left to wonder why it was that we yearned for a return to business as usual without considering what that used to mean. Because just as we struggle to loose ourselves from the entanglement of one terror, we step right back into the clutches of another.
It feels so damned naïve, to think about how we wanted to go back to the way things were before.
Sadly, we got it.
Be Sorry . . . Less 
B,
I cannot believe – no, that’s not true – I can, but I am so sad that you have to write about this subject once again. The one thing the pandemic did was to curtail these mass shootings. I remember thinking a few months ago that this was a definite positive side-effect.
I should have known that it was just a question of time. And how horrid that I feel that. Apparently we can all talk until we are blue in the face but that won’t fix this.
I’m glad you included the video with Ryan Borowski – because he does say it. Besides the obvious ease there is in getting guns that don’t belong in general population, the biggest issue at hand is the need for help. All these shooters need help. BEFORE they get this urge to let out all their hurt and anger.
Beautifully written.
Q
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Q,
It was temporary, as it always is in the new way of things. We forgot about how we used to consider large gatherings . . as if they came with warning labels.
What we need is a semblance of a plan. And to think it’s been a quarter century worth of headlines like this and still, no semblance of a plan. That’s akin to trampling on the memories of the lost.
I read an article a couple years ago in which the writer said mental illness had nothing to do with the shootings. As if these shootings are done with a clear and healthy mind, wtf? I stopped reading halfway through. And then this kid says it, I mean, he nails what is happening here. Has been happening, and what is STILL happening.
Thank you.
B
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I hate that it was temporary. And considering the large gatherings that occurred in the beginning of this pandammit, it’s almost surprising there weren’t any mass shootings then. Something to think about.
Yes. There needs to be a plan. Talk is cheap. Never mind the different politics and come together to make one. I was thinking it’s been a steady thing for so long. quarter of a century! Bloody hell.
Bravo stupid writer who wrote that. No way in hell any of those shootings were done with sound mind.
Yes, the kid says exactly what you and I have been talking about since we know each other.
My pleasure. Your beautiful writing really comes out when your heart is touched.
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Wonderfully done. For me, this statement hits the nail on the head – We get to listen to the mind-numbingly tone-deaf rants of elected officials who use the tragic occasions to spew their rhetoric. – Yep – and that sums it all up.
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It’s sickening, the level of indifference shown by people who have the power to change things. Not just politicians.
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I am so tired of how Republicans and the NRA and the gun nuts have turn guns into this right holier than any other. I just wrote a post laying out the legal argument as to why they’re wrong. Sadly, they’ve spent the last 50-60 years twisting the 2nd amendment into something it isn’t, and getting judges who believe in that twisted logic appointed to courts. We on the other side of the debate need to come up with some way to fight back.
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I commented on it, excellent piece by the way.
Nope, the GOP will deflect and pivot every chance they get. And they’ve had scores of chances over the last quarter century. But like I said, it’s their identity. Guns. And they’re going down with the ship. Problem is, so are we.
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Yes we are.
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As a resident of the mass shooting capital of America (Columbine, Aurora theatre, now a supermarket in Boulder as well as numerous other shootings that didn’t have the high body count but still leave us all asking ourselves WTH is going on), this week has been a heartbreaking reminder of returning to the normal. While a vast majority of people across the nation support background checks, Congress sticks its head up the NRA’s butt ignoring that reality. Not to mention outlawing weapons of war that for 10 years were banned. I used to be hopeful especially after Sandy Hook. I mean who wouldn’t try to save first graders so we never have to witness that again. And yet, too many lawmakers did what they’re best known for these days…offer thoughts and prayers or went on the attack by amplifying false and outrageous claims against victims. So shameful, but sadly, so American. We are a nation of vile conspiracy authors with a victim count that keeps rising with each new act of violence.
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You hit on two things that drive me insane about this. And I won’t call it a debate any longer, because that would infer that one side has something worthy to impart.
The GOP? It’s their identity, guns. It’s about so much more than simply being in the pockets of the NRA, since politicians have tried to curry their favor to the other side of a logical conclusion: gun control. And nope, they wouldn’t bite.
As for the authors who spew that horrible shit about these lost souls? Well, I happen to think there is a reserved parking space in hell for that kind of stuff. Just saying.
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One can only hope. Just hope that time of reckoning comes before it’s too late.
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At this point, it shouldn’t rely on hope. Sad that it does.
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Sadly so. It would seem that hope is rooming with ‘thoughts and prayers’ on a remote island.
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We need to put the voices who do nothing but stand in the way on that island.
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Amen, brother! Amen.
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I’m at a loss for words, Pilgrim. You do a great job.
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We are all at a loss, in too many ways.
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True that.
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Clearly my home state is not immune to this – in fact we’re sort of a poster child for it. Our state government has actually passed measures on the issue, but the levels of gun ownership in this state and around the country are so outrageous, that you just know nothing is going to change. The majority of Americans accept this carnage as the “price for freedom.” What a joke. Free to die at the hands of a nut with a gun.
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It’s lazy thinking.
I was discussing this with someone I know a while back and he actually said, well . . if you take our guns away, who’s going to prevent these shootings from happening?
He seriously said that. So I asked him to name me all of the instances in which a law abiding citizen with a gun thwarted an attack. I’m still waiting on that reply.
That aside, it’s reprehensible that we have not banned the sale of assault rifles or high capacity magazines. We haven’t closed all the many loopholes that make it easier to purchase a gun than a six pack of beer. That we haven’t learned the warning signs that so many of these shooters exhibit, because in too many instances they WERE in the net and we let them go.
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Loss of words, here, so thank you for providing many words that resonate and – one hopes – educate.
The more I try to understand such heinous acts, and the lack of meaningful response by those in position to address them, the more helpless, angry and frustrated I feel.
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Biden is looking to buck the established way of doing business- in other words, nothing gets done. He’s tossing with issuing an executive order on the matter of gun control legislation. We’ll see. . .
The problem in most every instance is that the individual or individuals who commit these acts were IN the net. And for one reason or other, there was precious little follow up.
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Another powerful piece straight from the heart, marc. You articulate what so many of us feel. Thank you
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It’s sad when I think to myself that I’ve written too many of these posts over the years.
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You know, when the Founders put into play, the right to bear arms, it was a very different time where a gun or a rifle was one’s only means of protection. There weren’t even locks on a door let alone a deadbolt. At best, it was secured with a piece of wood across the inside. I
I HATE THE NRA, I HATE HOW MASS KILLINGS ROLL OFF THEIR BACKS AS JUST UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES. I HATE HOW THEY RIDICULE AND TWIST A LAW THAT WAS PASSED ALMOST 250 YEARS AGO.
Those pictures you ran are heartbreaking. Why can’t the NRA be trumped out, pun intended. Is absence of empathy the new black? It would seem so Mr. Imma.
Though the toughest of themes…beautiful writing. Susannah
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SB
That’s the problem here. The gun lobby has been allowed to carry the days, plural. Because it’s sheer madness to think there have been so many of these days and each one is met with arrogance. They really don’t give a shit about the lost souls, they only care about their precious rights. Which are an illusion as you correctly point out.
I’m sad to write this kind of thing. Too many times, way too many times.
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No, it’s important to keep writing about it. Don’t stop.
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It’s just so damned maddening. But you’re right.
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Duuuuude that video right there … that hit and you my friend are on point. You speak what so many of us are thinking. Wish A LOT of Reps would actually read your post because Once again their thoughts and prayers are empty words. That won’t help anyone from dying the next time there is a mass shooting. These fools pass all these laws that make voting SO much harder (can’t even give someone a bottle of water in a voting line) but they can’t bother making laws that make buying a gun more difficult. Stupidity knows no bounds for those people. Buy a gun in the morning and kill 10 people with that same gun before dinner. They will never change, appealing to their conscience is ridiculous because they got none. They will only pass a law if it happens to them, if it impacts them directly, otherwise the money will keep coming and the only thing they’ll keep passing are thoughts and prayers which are BS coming from people who keep letting this happen over and over and over again with ZERO changes. I’m with you on this hermano. Thanks for writing it.
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It’s even worse than that, Cali.
The GOP is tied to the gun debate, like a boulder tied around their ankles and tossed into the depths. Only thing is, we’re the ones drowning.
The party is inextricably connected to guns, and it’s no longer about the money they get for being so. Bloomberg tried to change course several years back by offering Republicans who wouldn’t budge a financial reason for doing so. Nope. It’s because guns ARE their identity.
It’s sad, it’s maddening and it has no end in sight.
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I did not know that Bloomberg did that and the greediest of the greedy did not bite I imagine their constituents and NRA would not have liked that and they would have found themselves with money but no job in Congress. You’re absolutely right they are like uña y mugre. Exactly who they are and won’t see the damage unless it hits them. But keep writing, not talking about it is what keeps them going and going.
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I’d never heard that expression before but yes, this is what is going on. The GOP is anchored in place, so it’s up to us to throw them overboard.
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I like your honest writing.
It’s a shame, but there is much copy catting of America in Canada.
Yes, we have pretty great gun control laws here, so what does the mass killer wanna be do… A Mass Stabbing.
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Honestly? There’s no other way Resa.
WTF is going on with people? Well, I kinda know. Too many people feel as if they do not matter, that they are fringe in this world. And no one pays attention to the signs or they’re too busy to consider the signs. And then, well . . .
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And then, well…. A trump becomes their leader, because he sees it. He doesn’t give a shit, but he convinces them he does.
Every market has a hole where an entrepreneur can slip in with the right product.
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Trump is a putz. I wish there was a way to get his term wiped clean.
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