Two More Shootings Today

[Content Note: Guns; injury; death.]

In Brooklyn, a group of men got into an argument and at least one of them starting shooting, injuring another: "The victim was shot in one leg during an argument with two other men on Atlantic Avenue near Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn — outside the mall and across the street from the Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders. Dozens of police officers rushed to the scene after multiple people called 911. Medics took the victim to Methodist Hospital in stable condition."

In a UPS facility in San Francisco, the incident was significantly worse: "A UPS employee opened fire at a San Francisco package delivery facility on Wednesday, killing three employees and then himself as officers closed in, police and the company said. San Francisco assistant police chief Toney Chaplin said a news conference that two others were wounded in the shooting that prompted a massive police response in downtown San Francisco. Police have not determined a motive."

Fucking hell. Fucking hell.

My condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of the deceased. I hope those who were injured have the resources they need to heal.

I am just so goddamned sad and angry — especially because I know there have been other shootings across the country today of which we haven't even heard, and there will be more before the day is done.

I hate this. I hate all of it. The deaths; the injuries; the indifference; the grief; the patterned news of trickling details about the shooter — his name, his motive, his history of violence; the calls for more guns; the "madman" theories; the accusations that calling for gun reform is "politicizing" the deaths; the graphs showing how many mass shootings we've had in the U.S. this year; the debates about what "counts" as a mass shooting and whether enough people died this time for it to qualify; the apathy around domestic violence as a predictor; the reflexive talking points about what constitutes terrorism (and who gets called terrorists); the quick and insistent forgetting of the victims but not the steps in this choreographed routine we perform again and again and again.

I hate it. It doesn't deliver justice for the dead; it doesn't prevent more victims. It's just endless grief, with no hope of respite, because we have a Second Amendment that was written by long-dead white men.