Umqua College Campus Shooting Strikes Up Same Conversation

By Matthew Bruner on October 6, 2015

On Thursday there was yet another shooting on a college campus. A gunman terrorized Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, leaving 10 dead and many others injured.  According to authorities, the shooter was heavily armed and opened fire inside of a classroom.

Brady Winder, 23, was next door in a writing class when he heard the shots.

“We heard one shot,” Winder said. “It sounded like someone dropped something heavy on the floor, and everybody kind of startled. There’s a door connecting our classroom to that classroom, and my teacher was going to knock on the door, but she called out, ‘Is everybody O.K.?’ And then we heard a bunch more shots. We all froze for about half a second. Everybody’s head turned and looked at each other, trying to just grasp what was happening, and someone said, ‘Those are gunshots.’ We hard people screaming next door. And then everybody took off. People were hopping over desks, knocking things over.”

The campus went into lock down and authorities responded promptly. It’s believed that the shooter was killed during a shootout with police. Witnesses claimed the shooter asked people about their religious beliefs prior to shooting them. Sheriff John Hanlin addressed reporters, refusing to say the name of the shooter.

“Let me be very clear, I will not name the shooter,” he said. “I will not give him the credit he sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act,” Sherriff Hanlin said.

His statement is admirable and should be considered by other media outlets. Instead, he urged the media to honor the victims of the shooting.

As terrible and shocking as this story is, even more shocking is the fact that this is the 45th school shooting this year. Forty five times we have heard a similar story, and they seemingly fall on deaf ears. Echoes of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and FSU still ring through the minds of many people. Gun control is one of the toughest debates our country faces, though in light of the shooting in Oregon and the other 44 incidents, it’s high time politicians address this issue.

President Obama spoke at the White House after the shooting, which appears to have tragically become a normal part of his presidency.

“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough,” President Obama said. “It does not capture the heartache, grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted somewhere else in America.”

President Obama also urged Americans to consider “whether this cause of continuing death for innocent people should be a relevant factor” in the gun control debate.

Locally, politicians are lobbying for a bill that allows concealed carry permit holders to have their weapons on campus. This bill has failed to pass several times in the past, and many there are students supporting both sides of the issue. Without delving too much into it, it’s worth noting that Oregon is currently one of seven states in the country that allow the carrying of concealed weapons.

The fact of the matter is that the ease of acquiring guns is an overwhelming problem. If you look at any other country with strict gun control policies, you will see a remarkably low number of incidents involving firearms, in fact it’s almost non-existent.

This shooter will be glorified by the media, these victims will be remembered by their families and these gun control policies will remain in place, unless we collectively do something about it. Americans need to decide whether or not they want these stories to continue, whether or not they want to live in constant fear of sending their children to school. As CNN and other notable news sources start to drop this story from their daily cycle, people will forget and fall back into their routines, until the next shooting occurs and the same discussions are held again. There’s an expression that says to not write checks that you can’t cash, if we don’t act on these discussions of stricter gun control laws then we might as well not even have them in the first place.

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