On Tuesday, September 23rd, a tragedy that people all over the nation have been experiencing far too often occured once again. According to the article "3 people dead in Alabama UPS shooting" (Link to Article) a recently-fired employee of UPS killed two other employees and himself in a UPS building in Inglenook, Alabama. Many suspect that the gunman targeted the two people who were killed specifically, for the victims are believed to be higher-ranked employees. A police investigation into this event is now underway.
This event truly saddens me. I think that this event was an unneccessary display of violence, and I will never understand what could drive a person to take innocent lives. While this news is horrific to hear about, it isn't that surprising. Unfortunately, shootings have become much more commonplace in recent years, and people are even starting to expect them. The Sandy Hook Elementary and Fort Hood shootings are just two examples of well-known shootings from recent years.
I am hoping that the news of this shooting in Alabama has the impact of forcing people to evaluate security measures and improve them in order to prevent these events from happening in the first place. This news will hopefully make people see that something has to be done in order to stop the unneccessary loss of life in the future.
I agree that something definitely needs to be done to curb these disturbing trends, but like many people I'm unsure what. Gun control laws wouldn't stop attacks with other kinds of weapons, nor would they stop those desperate enough to commit shootings from getting guns other ways. It could also prevent people using guns for justified reasons from getting them. On the other hand, stricter gun laws could mean that those without any other methods of getting guns besides the legal way don't get guns at all, thereby preventing a shooting. Also, if society as a whole encounters more obstacles on their way to obtaining firearms, then that means there could be less guns in circulation and less guns that could be passed off unofficially to criminals. The latter benefit seems unlikely to me as the USA as a country takes its "right to bear arms" very seriously, and there are already tons and tons of guns out there. No matter what side you're on, I think we can all agree that this isn't an easy issue in a country where the right to own a gun is the second right listed in our constitution.
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