What would happen if politicians could imagine it was their kids?

Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

February 14, 2023

Another mass shooting last night. When does this end? When do we, once and for all, force politicians to stop this madness? We are not the only country on the planet with a lot of guns, but we are the worst at the results of them. Take a look at the BBC report on guns and open your eyes to the simple fact that there is no reason this should be happening.

Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin expressed her frustration with addressing another school shooting more than a year after four students were shot dead at a Michigan high school.

"As a representative of Oxford, Michigan, I cannot believe that I am here again doing this 15 months later," the Democratic lawmaker said at a news conference Tuesday. "And I am filled with rage that we have to have another press conference to talk about our children being killed in their schools." The Michigan lawmaker went on to call out the lack of progress on gun violence.

"I would say that you either care about protecting kids or you don't," Slotkin said. "You either care about having an open honest conversation about what is going on in our society, or you don't. But please don't tell me you care about the safety of children if you are not willing to have a conversation about keeping them safe in a place that should be a sanctuary." (check CNN for updates on this)

Take a look at this from gunviolence.org

They happen all over the country but as bad as this seems, it is only February 14th and this is what has happened already.

So what do our politicians do? Worse than nothing. They ignore it. Refuse to take any responsibility for it. They say "now is not the time to make this political" as if that is supposed to solve a damn thing when they are playing politics with the lives of all of us. Yes, all of us. 

Ron DeSantis, wants people in Florida to have all the guns they want and carry them around as long as they are not near him. Yes, to him, it is ok to allow anyone to endanger others, as long as it isn't him.

"In a story first reported by the Washington Post, emails from a Tampa Convention Center employee said that the DeSantis campaign told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement it wanted weapons banned from the downtown Tampa event. The Tampa Bay Times verified those emails in which Chase Finch, safety and security manager at the convention center, also suggested the DeSantis campaign knew the request was politically tricky, given Republicans’ embrace of gun rights." (Tampa Bay Times)

He wants to be protected from guns but doesn't want to protect kids in school or any other law-abiding citizen that chooses to not be armed, or even the other responsible gun owners that do not want their lives endangered by those with no respect for the guns or the lives of others. Imagine that!

They keep saying the results of mass shootings are tied to mental illness as if anyone with a mental illness is dangerous, and yet, they see no reason to make sure those they say are dangerous do not have access to firearms. Sorry, but blaming people with mental illness is delusional. What makes it worse is that they do not want to limit anyone and now in too many states, they want no limits at all. Imagine that! 

Well, at least they want to limit them when they are the ones in fear for their own lives. So what will it take for them to imagine their own children being killed, wounded, and scared for the rest of their lives because they did not think of them as much as they thought of themselves? I wonder what would happen if they could imagine that.

Mass murders stopped in minutes because of law enforcement

Open your eyes to what law enforcement also does

Wounded Times
Kathis Costos
June 8, 2020

According to reports from the AP there were at least 11 protestors killed during the protests for George Floyd as of June 2, 2020. We all saw the horrible images of looters, rioters destroying property, as well as what happened when police responded to protestors. We saw them being attacked, vehicles destroyed and every other horrible thing that happened.

The thing is, we also saw humanity at its best. Officers joining protestors, walking and praying with them. We saw protestors protecting officers. We saw a lot, but as much as we were affected by the images, we tend to forget that they are also affected by what they see on a daily basis. They see the bad results of what people choose to do, as well as when they choose to respond with acts of kindness.

Right now there are government officials talking about defunding law enforcement. It is almost as if they think there is no need for them to be there. It isn't as if everyplace is like Mayberry with Andy and Barney being able to protect the community.

Instead of getting rid of officers, how about we do the smart thing and get rid of bad ones at the same time we get those who need help to heal because of their jobs actually get it?

In 2019 at least 228 current and retired officers committed suicide. So far for 2020 there were 63.

We tend to forget all the times they have been putting their lives on the line to protect people.

According to statistics reported to the FBI, 89 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2019. Of these, 48 officers died as a result of felonious acts, and 41 officers died in accidents. 

According to Officer Down it was 147. For 2020 so far it has been 97.

From 2008 throughout 2010, I trained to help first responders heal because of their jobs. Crisis Intervention Teams seemed to focus on the victims, more than the responders but the need was clear to me.

Please take a serious look at just a few of the times when they showed up to mass shootings and notice how fast they responded. As bad as the incident was, it would have been much worse had they not been on their jobs willing to die for others.

Pinterest

Sandy Hook Elementary School and slaughter 26 children and educators last Dec. 14, and finally kill himself.

•9:35:39 The first 911 call to police was received.

•9:36:06, a dispatcher broadcast that there had been a shooting at Sandy Hook school.

•9:39:00 The first Newtown police officer arrived at the school. Two more officers arrived 13 seconds later. Gunshots were heard.

•9:39:34, a police officer encountered an "unknown male" running along the east side of the school.

•9:40:03, the last gunshot was heard.

USA Today

Pulse Nightclub (CNN)Here's a timeline of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, when a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53

1:58 a.m 320 people are enjoying a "Latin flavor" event at Pulse

2:02 a.m. ET: An officer working extra duty in uniform at the club hears gunshots and engages the shooter. Some 100 officers from the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the Orlando Police Department respond to the chaotic scene over the next 45 minutes.

Mandalay Bay Resort 58 people were killed and more than 850 injured when a gunman opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on October 1, 2017. 

Using multiple rifles, Paddock opened fired on the crowd of 22,000 people below him, from a distance where he would have had no ability to distinguish individual targets.

10:05 p.m.: Paddock starts shooting out the window.

10:12 p.m.: Police inside the hotel start to close in.

10:15 p.m.: Paddock stops shooting out the window.

There are many more of these times, but I am sure you noticed how much worse it could have been. Consider that the next time you want to approve of law enforcement being off the jobs they do.

"When you see it on television, that is difficult. It is a lot tougher when you are there."

Connecticut State Police Create Program to Help First Responders Manage PTSD

NBC Connecticut
By Siobhan McGirl
January 22, 2020

Dillon said he will never forget responding to the scene of the school shooting in Sandy Hook in December of 2012. Twenty students and six adults were killed. Dillon spent one week processing evidence on the scene, but he struggled to process the event on a personal level.

The state is taking new measures to help first responders who may be struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"When you see it on television, that is difficult. It is a lot tougher when you are there," said Sgt. Troy Anderson.

Anderson retired from the Connecticut State Police after more than 20 years of service, but he is coming out of retirement. Anderson is filling a newly created position, heading up a wellness and resiliency program. The veteran law enforcement officer will be tasked with creating programs and finding resources to meet the wellness needs of all six divisions of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
read it here

Mass shooting survivor wishes shooter was saved

Shooting victim donates to veterans organization

Houston Chronicle
Samantha Ketterer
February 23, 2019

Foster, also a founder of Combined Arms, said that while PTSD is a real issue among veterans, mental health-related, violent incidents reinforce a stereotype of a veteran that’s difficult to undo.

Denise Slaughter believes that the man who nearly killed her three years ago slipped through the cracks.

He was a veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder; a loving person who snapped, his parents said. He ultimately opened fire for 55 terrifying minutes on a west Houston neighborhood, firing at unsuspecting passers-by with a pistol and an AR-15. At the end of the rampage, he and one other person were dead. Six more were injured.

Denise Slaughter, survivor of a 2016 shooting, has helped the veterans organization Combined Arms equip a weight room with a donation that is also helping to build accessible bathrooms and showers. Slaughter believes that the shooter who wounded her could have been saved before he died in a standoff with police in 2016. The shooter, a veteran who reportedly had post-traumatic stress disorder, opened fire for about an hour on a west Houston neighborhood, killing one and injuring six. Two years after the shooting, Slaughter donated money to Combined Arms, an organization that helps veterans find resources they need once they return home. Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Slaughter could have been angry. Instead, her family foundation donated thousands of dollars to a Houston veterans organization, hoping to prevent other service members from ending up in a situation like the man who almost took her life.

“I think he could have been saved,” she said.
read more here