Shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo: Lack of Gun Control in America

Source: New York Times

Author: Zi Ning Lau Date Published: 5 June 2022

Despite being confronted by an armed school security officer, the gunman wounded two responding police officers in addition to students and teachers. The shooting began at 11:32 AM and lasted approximately an hour. Investigators are currently searching for possible motives. According to Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Ramos had no criminal record and no history of mental illness which suggests no “motive or catalyst” (Ulloa et.al). However, interviews with those who knew the gunman suggest otherwise. His former colleagues at a Wendy’s restaurant said that they were often frightened by his behavior; he would curse at managers and customers, and even told a coworker that: “I’m going to shoot up the Wendy’s”. An interview conducted with a German girl he met online—known by her internet nickname “Cece”— provided insight into his violent tendencies. She claimed he video-called her while in a gun store, showing her a black bag filled with ammunition and at least one gun. At 11:21 AM on the morning of the shooting, he texted her saying, “I just shot my grandma in her head”, followed by, “Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn.” (Ulloa et.al). The violence Ramos exerted on young students of Uvalde led to the most deadly school shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults (Chang, Witherspoon).

The Uvalde shooting followed a racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, New York, which occurred just 10 days before the school shooting in Texas. The gunman, Payton S. Gendron, targeted shoppers at the only Black-run grocery store in the city and traveled hundreds of miles to carry out his massacre (Prokupecz et al.). The violence led to 10 fatalities and 2 injuries— 11 of the victims were African American (NPR). Though the shooting in Uvalde has not been proved to be racially motivated, both shootings disparately affected communities of color. Additionally, the two events occurred in the same month as two anti-Asian shootings; Asian churchgoers in South California were targeted on May 15th, and a Korean-owned hair salon was attacked on May 11th (Romero et.al). These events have not only deepened disagreements over gun control but have also highlighted the dangers of living as a minority in the U.S.

Even as the month of May drew to a close, shootings occurred in Iowa and Oklahoma, emphasizing the frequency of such massacres in the U.S. Essentially, these tragedies and the conversations that follow them indicate the United States’ failure to protect communities from violence and harm. The United States remains stuck in a cycle; prayers and mourning follow gun violence, but legislative change and preventative measures do not. Resistance over gun control built upon “the right to bear arms” (promised by the Second Amendment) represents a pattern of prioritizing individual freedoms over community safety. Ultimately, widespread change and various forms of action must be enacted in order to diminish gun violence. Whether it is modeling gun control after safer nations, taking minimal steps to extend purchasing processes, or banning the use of semi-automatic rifles, change must occur in order to decrease the frequency of these events. On an individual level, change must occur in the form of petitions, protests, and calls for change. To protect youth, minorities, and all communities, progress must be made on both systemic and individual levels.