Stop excusing all these fatal man-made disasters

WE NEED to stop talking about mass shootings as if they were natural disasters, almost random acts of nature that cannot be prevented and whose effects can only be mitigated. Shootings at the Orlando nightclub, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Universities of Texas and Virginia Tech, the Las Vegas music festival, Sutherland Springs church, Rancho Tehama Elementary School, and now Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are not acts of nature. These shootings are manmade disasters. It is reprehensible, and ultimately, incredibly negligent not to mention the vital role guns play in these national tragedies. The desire to carry out mass and/or indiscriminate murder and harm is magnified time and time again by the presence and prevalence of guns in this country. Thirty-two people are dead and 17 were wounded at Virginia Tech because a student purchased a 22-caliber semi-automatic pistol online and a 9mm Glock pistol and 50 rounds of ammunition locally. Twelve people are dead and 70 were wounded in Aurora, Colo., because a man stormed a movie theater wearing body armor and brandishing multiple firearms. Twenty 6- and 7-year-old children, as well as six adults, are dead in Newtown, Conn., because a man shot them in an elementary school. Forty-nine people are dead in an Orlando nightclub because the attacker used a pistol and an AR-15 assault rifle. Fifty-eight people are dead and nearly 500 injured because a man in Las Vegas had access to a semi-automatic rifle. Twenty-six people are dead, almost half of which were children, in a Texas church because the perpetrator had an assault rifle. And now, at least 17 people are dead in Parkland, Fla., because a 19-year-old shot them with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle ....

It is long past time Americans decide which we value more: human life or gun ownership. Sadly, our government has erred toward the latter for far too long.

MELISSA GRIFFITH Albuquerque