Monday, 6 November, a listener on NPR’s “The Takeaway” posed an important question: Why do the media call the massacres that periodically occur in the United States “mass shootings” when they are really “mass murders”? When we use the right words, the “shooters” can be called what they are: murderers.
An example is November 5th’s murders in Sutherland Springs TX. Devin Patrick Kelly did not just shoot 46 people; he murdered 26 and wounded 20 people. That does not seem difficult to say, so I challenge the media to say it.
Using the appropriate words might even convince those who have been reticent to stand up to the gun lobby and their lackeys in Congress that it is, indeed, time to discuss gun control measures. and gun violence
After all, mass murders are not simply a mental health issue as Donald Trump likes to characterize them. Mass murderers don’t usually use knives or baseball bats or weapons that require up-close and personal contact. They use guns; and we as a nation must insist on enforcement of the gun laws we already have, close the loopholes regarding background checks, and be unafraid to enact more laws if they are needed.
Why should gun show gun buyers be exempt from background checks? Why should any private citizen be able to purchase semi-automatic weapons? Why should anyone be able to purchase a bump stock? Why the euphemism for murder and murderers? Food for thought.
Time to write your congressional representatives don’t you think?
Speaking freely 