Mass shootings used to occur every few decades. As time progressed, so did the frequency of these mass shootings, it seems.
On the morning of Friday, November 1st, Paul Ciancia, 23, entered LAX airport with an assault rifle in search of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents in the airport. After opening fire, several TSA agents and bystanders were injured and one TSA agent lost his life. Ciancia was left in critical condition after being shot by police officers following the attack.
On Monday, November 4th, a 20 year-old Richard Shoop opened fire in a New Jersey mall. Though there were no injuries reported, the gunman took his own life later the same night.
Reportedly, Ciancia was sending angry texts to his father who then called police. Police arrived at Cianca’s apartment about 45 minutes after he left for the airport. Similarly, Shoop’s family and friends reported strange behavior leading up to the shooting. Shoop had several run-ins with his local police department and a history of drug abuse.
The happenings of early November have brought to the surface a very important question that we should all start ask ourselves: why is this happening?
These events happened within one week of each other. According to USA Today, 121 people have died in 26 mass killings this year, and 133 people died in 22 mass killings last year. In recent years there have been shootings in movie theatres, schools, airports, the workplace and many other common locations. In a very pessimistic light, you aren’t completely safe anywhere.
There is no way to totally prevent things like this from happening. However, seeing all these tragic events unfold can help us change the future. As a generation, we must take this barrage of heartbreak and learn to be more careful and aware.
Both of the shootings that happened in the last week were carried out by men in their early twenties, along with the assailants of the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Aurora, Colorado movie theatre, and Virginia Tech college campus shootings. Any of these men could have been a fellow student or even a friend. The bottom line is that everyone needs to be more aware of the people in their lives that may not be “acting quite right.” There are usually signs leading up to events like these and we all need to be more cautious about them. Even if the person you know couldn’t hurt a fly, tell somebody and try to get them help, because you never know how things will end up.
We all need to remember those that lost their lives in these tragedies and try to honor them by making sure these shootings stop happening.