On November 5, tragedy struck Texas as 26 year old Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 people and wounded 20 people at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Kelly served in the US Air Force in 2010 until he was discharged. Later, Kelly was court martialed in 2012 as he assaulted his wife and child. The shooting is considered to be one of the biggest and deadliest mass shootings in Texas. According to CNN, the victims of the shooting ranged anywhere from ages 5 to 72 years old. Sadly, this adds to the long list of catastrophic events of similar nature.

There have been a number of mass shootings in the past few months — the shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 58 people in October and now at the First Baptist Church in Texas. According to the New York Times, in September of 2017, 27 mass shootings took place and in October of this year, 28 mass shootings occurred. It has come to the point where mass shootings have almost become an everyday thing. The New York Times found that in 511 days, 555 mass shootings took place — more than one shooting per day. Unfortunately, mass shootings are becoming more common day by day, but no action has been taken so far.  

In 1994, Congress outlawed assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, a firearm that allows one to hold more than the average amount of ammunition. However, in 2004, Congress made the use of firearms and high-capacity magazines legal. According to New York Daily News, during 1994 to 2004, when the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines were outlawed, the amount of Americans killed or wounded decreased by 40% compared to the amount of victims the decade before. What’s more is from 2004 to 2017, when the ban was lifted, the number of Americans affected by shootings increased by 500%. Unfortunately, not much action has been taken to put a stop to these mass shootings. Moreover, the same pattern follows every time a mass shooting occurs — the whole country mourns for a few days, there is an extensive amount of media coverage, and then the next day everyone wakes up as if tragedy didn’t strike whereas loved ones and victims are still recovering.

It has been almost a week since the mass shooting in Texas, and while residents of Texas are still hurting, the country has carried on. According to Vox Media, when the Las Vegas shooting occurred last October, the mass shooting took media outlets by storm for a few days. However, in that same week, searches related to the shooting dropped by a fraction compared to what they were before. Interestingly, as Vox Media pointed out, in 1996, in Port Arthur, Australia, 35 people were killed in a mass shooting, and the country immediately took action by instilling strict gun restrictions which led to the confiscation of 650,000 firearms. Similar actions were taken in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand after mass shootings. Unfortunately, the United States cannot be found in any one of these countries who took immediate action after tragedy struck its people.

Things may have quieted down after the many mass shooting that have occurred in the past and present, but the victims of these events will always be remembered. In the meantime, all we can hope for is change that will better protect the people of America.