Failure to cover daily murder undercuts serious problem of U.S. gun violence

If you want an understanding of the emotional and physical trauma gun violence produces, if your heart can stand raw misery, then find a website video of Jason Coffman, a father who gave a visceral eulogy to his son, one of 12 people murdered in the Thousand Oaks massacre.

“I’ve been here fighting for him all morning long, and we did just get the news that he was one of the [12] that were killed last night,” Coffman, told reporters.

“His name was Cody Coffman, my first-born son.”

“Only him and I know how much I love ... how much I miss, miss him,” Coffman said, as his chest heaved, taking in oxygen after suffering the ultimate sucker punch.

“Oh, son! I love you so much.”

The passing of Cody Coffman, 22, one of the dozen people who were slain when a gunman opened fire inside Borderline Bar and Grill, added another horrific chapter to the U.S. book on gun violence.

Jason Coffman displayed misery that tethers gun violence in places such as Thousand Oaks, Philadelphia, Chicago, Trenton, etc.

While some people expressed thoughts that such violence should not happen in places such as Thousand Oaks, by now we should know mass murder occurs in elementary school yards, at outdoor concerts, movie theaters, yoga studios, and these alleged least expected places. No doubt violence will be coming to a local supermarket, bus terminal, train station and other U.S. soft targets in the near future.

Telemachus Orfanos, 27, a Navy veteran, survived the deadliest gun massacre in modern American history last year in Las Vegas only to perish inside Borderline Bar and Grill. His parents, Marc and Susan Orfanos, had rushed to the bar, “holding out hope”, his dad said.

Faced with the reality of her son’s death, Susan Orfanos unleashed a fury of heart ache.

“I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts. I want gun control,” Susan Orfanos said on local television broadcasts.

“And I hope to God nobody else sends me any more prayers. No more guns.”

Misery displayed by Coffman and Orfanos connects with any parent in the midst of losing a child although news recorders rarely enter urban homes or seek interviews with city dwellers dealing with killed children.

News people fail to underscore gun violence in rural U.S. destinations. Violent crime rampages in rural counties of West Virginia, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Regardless of locale, daily murders receive minimal or no regional or national media reporting unless significant body counts occur. Broadcasts give a two-minute, shortshrift account then head onto the next news item traveling on their teleprompter.

National media members distort real gun violence coverage as they rush toward a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a church in Charleston or bar in Thousand Oaks.

While a proliferation of mass shootings occur, death counts remain dwarfed by but not overshadowed by urban and rural shootings and homicides.

While Chicago stands as the U.S. gun-violent killing capital and expects more than 500 murders in 2018, Philadelphia suffers an uptick in death as the number of homicides moves toward 300.

If 12 people killed in Thousand Oaks equals mass murder then we need a new reference for the hundreds gunned down in Chi-City. One here and two there can add up to unconscionable numbers that never receive enough national attention.

The City of Brotherly Love lost Trevonte Marks, 15, a 10th grader at Charter High School for Architecture and Design of Philadelphia one day after the Thousand Oaks massacre.

Investigators said Marks suffered multiple gun shot wounds then died after being taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

A 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man were each shot twice then listed in stable condition.

Police reported victims were on the sidewalk when at least three suspects exited a vehicle and began shooting. Assailants fired 41 shots.