I write this article with fingers that shake, and a heart that breaks for all the victims of the senseless gun violence that took place this weekend.
On Saturday, the 27th of September, at 9:30 pm, a man opened fire from a boat off the coast of Southport, North Carolina. The shooter used an assault rifle to shoot at an outdoor bar venue, taking the lives of three people and leaving eight others with injuries. The alleged shooter was apprehended by the Coast Guard within the hour.
Only 13 hours later, at 10:30 am on Sunday, the 28th, a separate tragedy befell the town of Grand Blanc, Michigan. A gunman drove his truck through the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, opened fire onto the church-goers, and set fire to the building. Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40-year-old resident of Burton, MI, was identified as the shooter after he was killed in a gunfight with local police. It is confirmed that at least four individuals were killed and eight more were injured, but officials expect that number to rise once the wreckage of the church has been cleared.
We are in a crisis.
Gun violence is a cancer that sickens the United States more than any other country in the world. It does not matter how you classify it. For example, you can classify a mass shooting by the number of deaths; at least four. And if you did, you would find that the U.S. has had 109 mass shootings from 2000 to 2022, per the World Population Review. This figure is larger than the next five economically comparable countries combined (35) and multiplied by three (105). You can also classify by the number of deaths and injuries equaling or surpassing a total of four. When this is the case, CNN reports we have had 324 mass shootings in 2025 alone.
When such tragedies occur, the empathetic and rational person looks frantically for a place to channel their disgust. In today’s climate, we find comfort in pointing the finger at anyone who isn’t us. You’ll hear people blame the political left, the right, immigrants, members of the queer community, the shooters, the guns, the media, and many others. This futile scapegoating is only a desperate attempt to distance ourselves from truly despicable acts of domestic terror to which we fear that deep down, we are complicit. The blame can only be placed on ourselves. It is the fault of every politician we put in public office who has ever taken a dollar from the National Rifle Association. It is the fault of our constituents, who cannot get out of their own way for long enough to draft effective and agreeable gun control legislation. It is the fault of those who use fear to divide us for power and status. It is the fault of those who are complicit in their silence. It is the fault of all those who invalidate mental health emergencies. It is the fault of anyone who told you that thoughts and prayers were enough. How many children must die in their classrooms before we realize religion can’t stop bullets? Right-wing extremist and Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk said in 2023 that “it’s worth [the] cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment” (The Independent, 2025). He died of gun violence on September 10th. Shame on us for turning mass murder into a nuanced debate topic. Nobody is bigger than this epidemic. So the question becomes: who are you willing to sacrifice for the right to own military grade weapons? For me, it’s not a hard question to answer. The answer is nobody. Not loved ones, not mild acquaintances, not strangers, not my fellow Americans, and not my fellow humans.
It is our fault for reading the headlines in the news and thinking, “That won’t happen to me.”
It already has.
We cannot just sit and wait, hoping that the next national tragedy is the one that finally inspires change. We must be proactive in the pursuit of a fundamental restructuring of the policies that currently fail to keep us safe. Please get in touch with your representatives and urge them to support universal background checks. Demand that they work to ban assault rifles. Call out the individuals who have sold their humanity for a quick check. Call out the politicians that have accepted over $64 million from gun rights PACs between 1990 and 2024.
Donald Trump will not protect you.
He accepted $1.4 million during the 2024 election cycle alone. Ted Cruz was bought as well for just a shade over $522,000. In 2024 alone, 222 of the 535 members of congress accepted money from pro-gun lobbyists at the NRA, the Dallas Safari Club, the Delta Defense LLC, and many more (OpenSecrets.org, 2025).
We need to get out and vote. Vote intentionally for people who value your livelihood over their bank balance. Vote for those who back the common-sense gun control policies that work successfully all over the world in countries such as Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Donate your time and effort to local advocacy groups. There are several prominent ones in Connecticut, such as CT Against Gun Violence, Mothers United Against Violence, and The Sandy Hook Promise. Don’t let the next headline get drowned out by the noise of an ever-intensifying zeitgeist. We need unrest. You should feel personally insulted by the current state of affairs. Attend protests and show those in the ivory towers that we can’t take it anymore.
Check in on your loved ones. Check in on your not-so-loved ones. Recognizing mental health struggles and offering those in need the necessary resources to heal is paramount.
Don’t let gun violence turn good people against each other. Now is the time for unity. It’s not too late to prevent the next mass shooting.
