On October 25th, a bowling alley in New England was filled with recreational bowlers and their families. Meanwhile, shoppers at a nearby Walmart were purchasing various items.
By the end of the day, their worst fears came true. A stranger entered their lives, armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, and started shooting at will.
The shooter killed 22 people in three different locales, and his actions terrorized several Maine communities.
And the worst part about this … isn’t the shooting.
It’s the aftermath.
It’s the aftermath of family who saw their loved ones go out for a night of fun – and are today planning funerals.
It’s the aftermath of those who had to “shelter in place” because of a “code red” shooting that took away other patrons, one by one.
It’s the aftermath of workers who bravely hid their customers wherever they could, lest the shooter find them and exact his twisted desires of slaughter and carnage.
It’s the aftermath of police and first responders who rescued as many people as they could – and who later found the shooter and took him alive.
It’s the aftermath of elected officials arguing that “now is not the time to discuss gun control so soon after a tragedy like this.” Yeah. The same elected officials who wouldn’t discuss gun control after Parkland. Or Las Vegas. Or Newtown. Or Virginia Tech. Or Columbine. Or Simon’s Rock. Or Uvalde. Or a church in South Carolina. Or a movie theater in Colorado. Or a nightclub in Orlando. Or the massage parlors in Atlanta. Or the Walmart in El Paso. Or a subway car in Brooklyn. Or a shopping center in Buffalo.
It’s the aftermath of right-wing blowhards with online radio shows and fringe YouTube channels who will claim that the Maine shootings were a false flag, a hoax, a fake story created by actors to cover up some other nefarious deed orchestrated by Hunter Biden.
It’s the hypocrisy of these same blowhards who gleefully posed in Christmas card pictures as they and their families held AR-15 rifles in front of their Christmas trees.
It’s the aftermath of saying “thoughts and prayers to the community,” knowing that thoughts and prayers offer little solace to families who will never see their sons or daughters alive again.
It’s the aftermath of people looking for the name of the shooter and questioning if he was in the country illegally or if he was a minority that might have been radicalized by the Islamic State. Because if that was the case, then those people could use that as part of their own twisted political agenda. The same jackasses who wear AR-15-shaped pins on their jacket lapels as if it was some sort of fraternity initiation logo.
It’s the aftermath of us saying, “What can we, as a nation, do about tragedies like this?”
It’s the aftermath of knowing it will happen again. No matter how many drills, no matter how many rehearsals, no matter how many times we check identifications at the front door and how many times we inspect bookbags before entering class.
That’s the worst part. Knowing that it will happen again.
And when it does … we will see heroes that will save as many people as they can.
And we will see angels that will save the people that the heroes could not.
And we will go through this vicious cycle once again.
If we don’t stop this vicious cycle now …
It will indeed prove how short our memories are.
And you know what the most fucked-up thing about this is?
This is the FOURTH TIME since 2018 that I’ve shared this blog post. I’ve only changed the location of the shooting, the town/city/state of the shooting, and a couple of microscopic updates. But it’s the same damn post.
It shouldn’t be this easy to write a blog post as painful as this.
And I don’t want to have to write this again, three days or three years down the road.
And unfortunately … part of me knows this post will appear again in 2024. Or in 2025. Or maybe three weeks from now.
Ugh.
Chuck The Writer 
This mornings news says they are still looking for the shooter
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Chuck: Where did you hear they caught the guy? Media reports say 16 people killed as recently as 2 hours ago. They’ve ID’d a person of interest, a military reservist who spent time in a psychiatric hospital for 2 weeks earlier this year. Those reports say this man, 40, is at large.
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Yeah, I had bad information re the guy getting caught. I’ve fixed the blog post.
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In reflecting on the devastating mass shootings that have plagued the U.S., it becomes clear that the heart of the issue isn’t solely about guns—it’s fundamentally about our society’s hesitation or failure to adequately address severe mental health problems. It’s less about the tool and more about who wields it.
We need to reevaluate and ask ourselves why individuals with dangerous mental health conditions are allowed such access to firearms.
On a side note, seeing someone sport an AR-15 lapel pin makes me seriously question their mental well-being. Let’s shift our focus from the instrument to the root cause and work towards a safer society for all.
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I have to agree with you, Chuck. If all of the new gun bans since 2018 haven’t made any difference it’s time to bring back insane asylums. Why did they let someone who was hearing voices telling him to shoot people released after 2 weeks? Was he given a prescription and some thoughts and prayers and sent on his way? Why are you not concerned that there are crazies who will punch you in the head or push you in front of a train just wandering around everywhere?
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I’m in the BOTH AND camp. Treating mental illness, sure, but that’s easier said than done. Who knows when an airline pilot might take magic mushrooms and want to crash an airplane?
Meanwhile, the assault ban, which ended in 2004, kept weapons of war out of the hands of most, though not all.
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Chuck, I was wondering if you’re still wearing your AOC t-shirt since she and her “squad” voted against the House resolution condemning Hamas?
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