Content warning: This article discusses gun violence.
Once again, the United States is rattled after a mass shooting in which 19 young children and two adults were gunned down in their classroom. Once again, we act surprised, yet there is nothing to be surprised about.
A bullet leaves the muzzle of an AR-15 at three times the speed of a bullet from a handgun with no kick when the trigger is pulled.
While the relative slowness of a handgun allows for the bullet to be stopped by a thick bone, such as in the upper leg, it could also pass through and become lodged in skin which is considerably elastic.
When someone is shot with an AR-15, it looks like a grenade went off inside the body.
A bullet from an AR-15 can disintegrate up to three inches of bone and blow apart organs, which Donald Jenkins, a trauma surgeon at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, described, “looks like a jello mold that’s been dropped on the floor”.
When a bullet from an AR-15 leaves the body, a rugged exit wound the size of an orange is left.
While this is gruesome enough on its own, I must now ask you to consider what it looked like when bullets from an AR-15 ripped through the bodies of 19 eight to 11-year-olds last week in an Uvalde, Texas elementary school. Think about the collapse and the carnage.
Think about what the children who survived saw, what they must see every night while they fall asleep, what they dream of, what they will wake up with every morning for the rest of their lives.
In Uvalde, there were “good guys with guns” who were supposed to stop the “bad guys with guns” outside and in the building itself- the police. Still, no one acted until it was far too late.
In Uvalde, the gun used was purchased legally.
In Texas, 3,309,000 adults are living with a mental illness, the vast majority of which have not carried out such a violent and heinous act.
The common thread between mass shootings is not mental illness or bullying, it is not illegally trafficking guns or too few “good guys with guns.”
The single commonality between every mass shooting is a gun— specifically semi-automatic guns such as the AR-15. This has become increasingly obvious since Columbine. With over 60% of Americans wanting some stricter form of gun control, it is clear what the majority of the people want. Now, it is in the hands of our politicians to continue taking money from the NRA and doing what is right by their people.
Meg Diehl is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Meg by tweeting her at @irlbug.
Assistant Opinion Editor
