The Vegas shooting touches close to home for me. Not just because Vegas is a couple hours from where I live, but because people I know were caught up in the horror—and friends are reporting their friends who have been injured. A number of people from our community were at the concert, and I know one of our local firefighters was shot.
I first learned of the shooting last night on Twitter, right before it hit the TV news. At the time they were reporting two people were dead. When I woke up this morning, I heard the death toll was over fifty. It sickened me.
So many people’s lives changed in a matter of minutes. Children have lost their parents. Parents have lost their children. Spouses gone, siblings lost. For those left behind, the devastating ripple effect will forever be felt.
Each day in this country we have a mass shooting. When are we going to seriously address this epidemic?
Of the Vegas shooting, Bill O’Reilly reportedly said, “This is the price of freedom.”
But I ask you, is it really? This is freedom?