Let’s put shootings in perspective, work together

Those 18 school shootings so far of 2018 are not what one may think.

For example, in eight of them, the shooter was under 18 and so could not have possibly obtained the weapon legally; we don’t know who the shooter was, or the shooter’s age, in six more. Five didn’t happen during school hours. Some were on college campuses, one on a campus that closed months earlier.

You’ll see these numbers a lot, because the media know exactly how to manipulate and deceive the American people into thinking the NRA is bad (it actually just wants to let people keep their guns and keep people educated about guns) and and that this is epidemic. Don’t believe everything you read.

I’m not saying these shootings aren’t bad. I just don’t believe they should be the nation’s No. 1 priority, given how many more people die from car crashes or drug overdoses.

We need to fix many things in America, but we need to work together to do that.

__________

Mass shootings aren’t the ‘price of freedom,’ and Republicans have to say so

Want to keep gunmen out of our schools? Do these three things

Arm teachers, but not with guns

Response to school shootings should target the guilty, not the innocent

First Congress divided us. Now it’s killing us

__________

We need to put our political differences aside to collaborate on the safest way our kids can go to school.

We need to stop attacking each other in person and online. Yes, this is politics, but it doesn’t have to be.

We need to be so unified that other countries are taken aback.

What we need now is unity.

We need people who will stop protesting the president. We need people who care about all of our citizens. We need people who love one another, unconditionally, no matter who they are or where they came from. We need people who will stand up and say “this is wrong” and explain how to make it right.

We need to work together to achieve unity, while still embracing diversity. We need to be one. To protect each other. To defend each other.

This is what America should be.

While these tragic shootings lay just behind us, we need to find an actual solution so they never happen again.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published March 9, 2018 at 8:27 AM with the headline "Let’s put shootings in perspective, work together."