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gun violence

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That was not alright, alright , alright

People are applauding the way Matthew McConaughey refused to be reduced down to the partisan label of “anti-gun” during a recent guest appearance on “The View.”

McConaughey had initially been brought on the show to discuss his new children’s book, “Just Because,” but host Sunny Hostin later praised the actor for being “so outspoken against violence, and gun violence in particular,” referencing his previous impassioned speech in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

Hostin then asked McConaughey if he had given any more thought to holding a political office. Previously in 2021 the actor publicly announced considering running for governor of the state of Texas, but then decided to focus on his family.
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Corey Hixon's father was killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018.

When we debate guns and gun violence in this country, we tend to get bogged down in statistics and often argue over semantics.

There is zero question that the U.S. is a complete outlier among developed nations when it comes to gun deaths, and even more of an outlier when it comes to mass shootings. No other high-income nation puts their children through active shooter drills at school. None of our peer countries have firearms as the leading cause of death for children and teens like we do. (In fact, it's not even in the top five causes of death in any other high-income nation.)

And yet, no matter how many times we experience gunmen massacring schoolchildren, no matter how many shocking or sobering stats we see, a not-insignificant portion of our country either denies that there's a problem or denies that there's anything we can do about it.

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Trevor Noah has his finger on the pulse of American culture.

Trevor Noah's scripted comedy is great, but his off-the-cuff commentary during commercial breaks is often where he truly shines. The comedian has a way of sensibly framing hot topics and getting to the heart of important issues. For someone who didn't grow up in the U.S., he also seems to have his finger directly on the pulse of American culture and is able to accurately describe us to ourselves.

In a "Between the Scenes" segment, Noah expressed his bafflement at how America is the land of the possible when it comes to everything except stopping gun violence.

"One of the strangest things about conversations involving guns in America," he said, "is how quickly America goes from being the most hopeful and almost impossible-chasing nation to a nation that just believes nothing is possible all of a sudden."

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Democracy

A man told me gun laws would create more 'soft targets.' He summed up the whole problem.

As far as I know, there are only two places in the world where people living their lives are referred to as 'soft targets.'

Photo by Taylor Wilcox on Unsplash

Only in America are kids in classrooms referred to as "soft targets."

On the Fourth of July, a gunman opened fire at a parade in quaint Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people, injuring dozens and traumatizing (once again) an entire nation.

My family member who was at the parade was able to flee to safety, but the trauma of what she experienced will linger. For the toddler with the blood-soaked sock, who was carried to safety by a stranger after being pulled from under his father's bullet-torn body and ended up losing both of his parents in the massacre, life will never be the same.

There's a phrase I keep seeing in debates over gun violence, one that I can't seem to shake from my mind. After the Uvalde school shooting, I shared my thoughts on why arming teachers is a bad idea, and a gentleman responded with this brief comment:

"Way to create more soft targets."

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