Thirty four days ago I told you that 59 people were dead and you don’t care. Thirty four days. That’s all it took for yet another mass shooting to occur and grab your attention again. But this time it was kids, about half of the victims were children . This time it was families. This time it was close to home for us Texans. This time the shooting was twice removed from myself, meaning I know someone who knows the victims of this terrible crime. This time a daughter was late to church to see her father give a guest sermon only to arrive to a dead father, mother, brother, pregnant sister-in-law, four nieces and nephews and her childhood best friend. Her brother lost his wife, brother, mom, dad, three kids, one on the way and has two more injured kids, all in a single Sunday afternoon. Will this time be enough to show the world this has to stop?
We have already grieved and forgotten about the 59 who lost their lives in Vegas. Now here we are a mere 34 days later and 26 more are dead. Killed by a man who legally bought guns despite previous domestic assault charges on his wife and son, whose skull he cracked and was discharged from the Air-Force for bad behavior. How was this man allowed to buy a gun? How could someone who already had a past of violent behavior be authorized to legally purchase a weapon? How could have these charges not been entered into National Criminal Information Center database by the Holloman Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations?
At least this time the law should have blocked this man from being able to purchase a gun, however error still made him legal to purchase one. So many red flags went up prior to the shooting for gunman Devin Kelley, and five years had past since the time of his domestic violence charges, five years where this mistake could have been caught but it wasn’t. The Air-Force says it is going do a comprehensive review of their databases to ensure other cases has been reported properly in addition to complete review of Kelley’s case.
At the end of the day we are all deeply saddened by what happened in Sutherland Springs, Texas. So many lives were lost, families torn apart, and hearts have been broken. At this point we can beg and plead to see changes made to the way our government and government entities handle gun control and violence, but most of all I think we are all tired of seeing the same thing happen over and over. We have it at a mall, an office, church, nightclub, pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school, college campus, military base, street corners, everywhere. When will enough finally be enough? When will we stop accepting this is the norm?
Only time will tell I guess. However, in the meantime we can look to the good samaritans that are around us each and every day. Yesterday it was Johnnie Lagendorff and Stephen Willeford. But they aren’t the only ones. They are everywhere, and that’s where we should place our faith in the meantime, in the good. The good people, who care for their communities and loved ones, the people who would stick their neck out for anyone, these people give us hope, that one day enough will be enough.
If you would like to donate to the Holcombe family who lost 9 loved ones and an unborn baby, you can do so here.