It's 2016. America is entering a new and bloodier era of gun violence. Yet, before you fall into the Islamophobia trap, it's important to first look at the past, and to remember how we got here. This is a history lesson on America's mass shooting and gun control problems. This documentary was birthed from the Umpqua Community College shooting, and Obama's response to it. The San Bernardino shooting 2 months later solidified it. If you agree with this video, tell people about it. Spread the word. If you don't agree...then feel free to say why. Additional Reading: 1.) Obama's Reaction to Umpqua Community College https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yca-uwxCsWg 2.) Gun Deaths vs Terrorism Deaths http://goo.gl/fYxex0 3.) The Columbine Effect http://goo.gl/mWxwqW 4.) Social Media's Emerging Role in Mass Shootings http://goo.gl/KIlZZF 5.) The 2nd Amendment and Absolution http://goo.gl/iHfWw3 6.) Mass Shooting and Terrorism http://goo.gl/jP7OSS 7.) The Dunblane Massacre: Gun Control Changes http://goo.gl/zEoq1z 8.) The Port Arthur Massacre: Gun Control Changes http://goo.gl/UnKKMr 9.) The NRA's Impact on Congress http://goo.gl/mON0R2 10.) "Open Carry" and Law Enforcement Challenges to Protect Citizens http://goo.gl/tZk3TM -------------------- Columbine's Undeniable Historical Impact I. Pre-Columbine Prior to 1990, shootings were relatively spaced out and infrequent, often with low fatality counts. Major Events: 1 Aug. 1966 (16) 1968 University of Texas 18 July 1984 (21) San Ysidro McDonald's 20 Aug. 1986 (14) Edmond Post Office 17 Jan. 1989 (5) Stockton Schoolyard 16 Oct. 1991 (23) Luby's Cafeteria -------------------- II. The Late 1990s School Shooting Epidemic Halfway through the 1990s there was a spike in the frequency of Middle and High School shooting events that resulted in fatalities, culminating in the Columbine massacre in the decade's final year. 15 Nov. 1995 (2) Richland High School 2 Feb. 19996 (3) Frontier Middle School 19 Feb. 1997 (2) Bethel Regional High School 1 Oct. 1997 (2) Pearl High School 1 Dec. 1997 (3) Heath High School 24 March 1998 (5) Westside Middle School 24 April 1998 (1) Parker Middle School 21 May 1998 (2) Thurston High School 20 April 1999 (13) Columbine High School -------------------- III. Post-Columbine In the Post-Columbine era, shootings are often multi-faceted events using high powered weapons.These events usually are highly planned and well executed attacks designed for maximum fatality and maximum publicity. In numerous cases, the shooters are known to have studied Columbine and the Harris/Klebold techniques. A common link between events in this era is the ease of gaining a high fatality count through use of ambush style weapons. A second link seems to be the diversity of locations in which these events occur, and a third link is the frequency of these major events is increasing, as the cooldown time between them is growing shorter. Major Events 21 March 2005 (9) Red Lake High School 12 Feb 2007 (5) Trolley Square 16 April 2007 (32) Virginia Tech 5 Dec 2007 (8) Westroads Mall 3 April 2009 (13) Binghamton Immigration 5 Nov 2009 (13) Fort Hood Army Base 8 Jan. 2011 (6) Tucson 5 Aug. 2012 (6) Sikh Temple 20 July 2012 (12) Century 16 Theater 14 Dec. 2012 (26) Sandy Hook Elementary School 16 Sept 2013 (12) Washington Navy Yard 17 June 2015 (9) Charleston 26 Aug. 2015 (2) WDBJ 1 Oct. 2015 (9) Umpqua Community College 2 Dec. 2015 (14) San Bernardino -------------------- IV. Going Forward It's...not going to be pretty. This has been an escalating situation for decades now. With the emergence of social media, shooters are able to not only boast about shootings, they have the means (as was demonstrated in the WDBJ shooting) to post their own views of the event for instantaneous mass public consumption. Whereas in the past, a shooter's relevancy was dependent on whether or not the news outlets picked up on the story...we are now in an age where the shooter can dictate the conversation through the internet and social media. This, in turn, emboldens potential shooters and gives them even more cause to act. On top of that, we are already seeing a convergence of shooting events. Whether an attack is ISIS, or ISIS inspired, or domestic terror, or workplace violence, or school shooting, or "etc", shooters are studying the same events. So attacks are starting to become indistinguishable from each other, as more and more the shooters are researching the same attacks. In 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot up their school with heavy artillery, had explosives that failed to detonate, and wanted to kill people "to kill". And killed 13 people. In 2015, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik shot up a holiday party with heavy artillery, had explosives that failed to detonate, and wanted to kill people "for the Islamic State". And killed 14 people. Different people. Different locations. Different motivations. Identical techniques. This is where it's going.

• published: 02 Jan 2016
• views: 1626