It’s happened in schools, in churches, in malls, in supermarkets, in nightclubs, in movie theaters and, yes parades. It happened again yesterday. A million people turned out for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl Parade. It was a chance to show community pride. Get a closer look at your sports heroes. The Super Bowl is national day of anticipation and coming together. Sharing food and rooting for a team even if your team isn’t playing. But if your team is playing, it can be a very emotional experience. If your team wins, it becomes a life long memory of a great day. A couple of days later, people skip work, some schools even close and you welcome your team back to town as they show off the Lombardi Trophy and share their joy. Everyone should go home happy. That didn’t happen yesterday.
It’s a story we’ve heard so many times before. People hear shots. Some think it’s just fireworks. Everyone starts running in panic. They see someone firing a gun. They see people fall down bleeding and crying. They see police officers running toward the danger as they run away. They grab their friends and kids and hope they can get away. Yesterday, they saw a couple of men in the crowd tackle one of the shooters and hold him down for the police. They became traumatized heroes. The investigation is in its early stages. We know twenty-three people were injured or wounded. One died. Lisa Lopez-Galvan a popular Disc Jockey, a 47-year old mother of two adult children, died during surgery from a wound in her abdomen. The victims ranged in age from eight to forty-seven years old. Half the victims were children under sixteen. As of this writing, police have detained three people. Two are juveniles. Police believe there was some kind of dispute that lead to the shooting.
My guess is this will be kids settling their problem with guns they should not have had. We have become numb to this violence. It’s a daily or weekly occurrence. We are grateful we weren’t there and in a few days the news will fade away until the next time. The families, kids and parents who were victims of the madness in Kansas City will never forget. They will live with the physical and mental trauma everyday for the rest of their lives.
This rarely happens in other countries. Many have laws restricting gun ownership. I’ve written before about the gun culture in America. Everyone knows the arguments for and against. We have shown that we are willing to accept this violence and never get outraged enough to make changes. We can never assume we’ll be safe anywhere. These shootings have invaded every part of our lives. A uniquely American parade unfortunately ended in a uniquely American way.
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