On Nov. 5, 26 people were killed in yet another mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Roughly 20 other people injured, ranging from 5 to 72 years old in age. The shooter was Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26 year old security guard at Summit Vacation Resort in New Braunfels.
Kelley was found dead by gunshot in his vehicle after a brief chase, but officials are still unsure if the gunshot wound was self-inflicted or not. The shooter had a past that marked a ton of red flags leading up to the shooting.
According to multiple public records, Kelley had a history of domestic abuse and animal cruelty. While he was in the Air Force, he was involved in various cases of domestic abuse against his ex-wife and his stepson. In 2012, Kelley was placed in confinement at Peak Behavioral Health Systems in New Mexico due to being seen as a threat to himself and others.
Kelley managed to escape days after being admitted, according to El Paso Police Department documents and records. After being called to find Kelley, officers were told he snuck firearms onto Holloman Air Force base and had a history of threatening his commanders. Following his escape, he was discharged for bad conduct after he pleaded guilty to assault charges.
In 2014, Kelley was then arrested for animal cruelty after a neighbor witnessed him punching, grabbing and dragging a dog by its throat. Kelley wasn't placed in jail for the incident but was issued a summons, meaning he had to show up to court and testify.
On Nov. 8, Vice President Mike Pence blamed “bureaucratic failures” for Kelley’s ability to obtain a gun. The United States Air Force publicly acknowledged its failure to relay information about the shooter’s previous conviction to civilian law enforcement. This mistake could have saved the lives of those killed, because it could have prevented him from being able to buy the guns used in the shooting.
The shooting in Texas is the 307th mass shooting to happen in the United States this year. After each of these shootings, and every shooting before them, there’s been the argument about whether or not it’s the right time to talk about gun control. As a country, we don’t talk about guns and violence the right way - we always think about “when” rather than “how.”
It’s stooped to us only looking at mass shootings as the problem we need to solve, but it’s much deeper than that; we need to start looking at everyday gun violence too. If we looked deeper into fixing gun violence on the smaller scale, we might be able to progressively solve the amount of mass shootings that occur in America.
The ability to lower daily gun violence is well within our reach as a country, through more vigorous prosecution of gun trafficking and misuse and universal background checks. More people die from casual gun violence than from mass shootings. Roughly 60 percent of gun-related deaths also come from suicide, according to the New York Times.
A huge argument that’s heard in these situations is that because of the second amendment, “the right to bear arms,” we aren’t allowed to enact better gun control laws. Gun control is not the equivalent of taking everyone’s guns away. According to the Los Angeles Times, federal courts have ruled in favor of gun control laws in 95 percent of second amendment cases since 2008.
When these mass shootings keep occurring, we are only looking at a fraction of deaths that happen in the United States. The final error in the gun control debate is how we, as a country, misunderstand the control we have over gun violence. Obsessing over the mass shooters in these cases will not bring back the lives lost.
According to CNN, 55 percent of Americans want stricter gun laws, and that number is slowly growing. It is taking countless of lives lost for people to see that there truly is a problem with the way guns are obtained in the United States. As far as the Texas shooting goes, there is absolutely no reason Kelley should have been able to purchase the guns he used in the shooting. This is further proof that something needs to be done, and we need to start by talking about it.
Investigators working at the scene of the mass shooting that killed 26 people.
The shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, was a member of the Air Force before being discharged for bad conduct and domestic violence.
A memorial of 26 crosses being held in Sutherland Springs in honor of the victims killed on Nov. 5.
