Caroline Lozano/ Assistant Opinion Director
On the night of Oct. 1, tragedy struck when a Nevada resident began shooting at a crowd attending a Las Vegas country music festival, killing at least 59 people and leaving more than 500 injured.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history — a title once used to describe last year’s horrific Pulse Nightclub shootings.
Of course, it comes to no surprise that the tragic events have reignited a variety of political discourses, particularly with gun control legislation and the ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the most repugnant news I’ve read so far involves that of a CBS company executive Hayley Geftman-Gold, who was fired Monday for writing a Facebook post that criticized the victims, calling them “Repugs” who are undeserving of sympathy because of their stance on guns.
Hearing about such arrogant, unfeeling comments and attempts to create a political statement on gun control in the light of innocent deaths infuriates me to no end.
Regardless of our political views and stances on today’s issues, we should always remember that the victims and their families come first before anything else.
Whether or not the attendees at the festival were white, Republicans, pro-gun advocates — or all three — regular people suffered during and after the events that took place on Sunday.
People who were mothers, fathers, relatives and friends of someone lost their lives in the blink of an eye. No one was “asking for it.”
Their families and friends, in turn, shouldn’t have to hear about debates going on about the topics arising from such events — let them grieve for their loved ones. Let them pray their prayers and heal emotionally.
It’s not that I’m saying gun control and any other discourse relevant to the events that have transpired shouldn’t be thoroughly discussed.
On the contrary, I’m very open to the idea of a valuable discussion about such matters because they been affecting us for quite some time now.
I also understand that raising awareness about the issues in a straightforward manner is a form of coping for some people as they hope through meaningful conversation, something will change and tragic events will drop to fewer numbers.
However, when a tragedy has just occurred and the immediate response is to talk about stricter gun control legislation, I consider it to be vastly inappropriate and disrespectful to everyone affected.
There’s a time for political dialogue, the days following a tragic event is not that time.
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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Photo taken from Flickr.
Graphic Credit: Maytinee Kramer