The Fourth of July
Today marks the Fourth of July. I had forgotten today was a holiday until I heard the fireworks and celebratory blank shots being fired sometime around midnight. I live in a poor neighborhood, so it’s slightly hard to tell the difference between the two sounds of you’re not listening carefully. Gunfire is a loud and sudden “pop”, while fireworks have a faint sizzling sound you hear before multiple quiet pops emerge.
Either way, my first thought wasn’t that of celebration or what I planned to do that day. Instead, I immediately recalled an article I had read last week that warned Americans to be safe today as we are currently in a mass shooting epidemic, and the upcoming holiday coupled with COVID restrictions finally being lifted (at least in my town) would be the perfect recipe for disaster. That’s not so patriotic. Or is it? Does it not reflect every aspect where we as Americans have failed?
Our current mass shooting epidemic is so bad, that on June 13th, a total of 4 mass shootings in only a timespan of 6 hours occurred: leaving a total of 6 dead and 38 wounded. On June 28th, just five days ago, Chicago had a very deadly and terrifying weekend in which several shootings left 5 people dead, and over 77 wounded in total. I could go on and on about the recent clusters of mass gun violence, like the ones surrounding Miami-Dade, or San Jose. But I think you get the picture.
Therefore, my activities for the day didn’t reflect going outdoors at all. Not that i was too scared of getting caught up in a mass shooting; after all, I live in a very poor neighborhood as aforementioned, where shootouts happen every night just about. I celebrated the Fourth by doing some indoor gardening, painting, and teaching myself how to build this very website. Now, I’m writing my very first post. But before my mother left for work today, I made sure to tell her that I love her, for her to be safe, and I reminded her of our circumstances surrounding gun violence.
What is this blog even about? What compelled me to make it? What do I hope to achieve from its mere existence? What am I rambling on about? Who even are you?
I am a researcher of psychology at Harvard University and I have researched mass gun violence in America for over seven years. I have studied the phenomena and researched it in my leisure time as a hobby of sorts, but now, I intend to document my research on a public platform to raise awareness of one of America’s biggest problems and what the causes of it are on a microscopic scale. This blog is intend to be a documentation of my research, to provide others with resources related to gun violence, to provide crucial updates regarding mass shootings in general as they are committed, and to give general information and facts about some of the most notorious mass shooters in history, both American and those elsewhere.
Why do mass shootings happen? What can be done to prevent them? Why so many? What are we, as a country, doing wrong — seeing as we are the only developed country with such a problem? Are guns the problem? Is it mental health? Is it that our youth is being influenced by outside sources to commit these atrocities at their schools? Do we have adequate safety measures in place for those who work in law enforcement or even for teachers and mental health experts?
The answers to these questions aren’t so black and white, but they’re not an enigma either. I hope that through my research, inspired by Dr. Peter Langman, I can play some part in the betterment of our society and the safety of everyone’s loved ones. Gun violence affects us in more ways than one, and I intend to discuss how in the near future. Until then, if you have read this introductory statement and made it this far, I would like to thank you. This wasn’t my best, most well-articulated and planned out blog post, but it’s a start. Happy holidays to those who celebrate, and be safe.
