Will the Violence Ever Stop? Another Mass Shooting Leaves 3 Dead

Jacksonville police responding after a shooting at Jacksonville Landing was responded

Earlier Sunday at a video gaming tournament in Jacksonville, Florida a shooter opened fire on a restaurant where the tournament was being hosted.  The shooting took place at the Jacksonville Landing, a riverfront venue with an open-air performance space and a variety of shops and restaurants.  In 2015 President Trump even held a rally there when running for president. The tournament was a southeastern Qualifier for the Madden NFL Championship Series for Madden NFL 19.  The shooter killed two people and himself, raising the fatalities to three. Nine people were injured and an additional two were injured by the running crowds.  One person is in critical condition in a Florida hospital.

The gunman was 24-year old David Katz of Baltimore.  Sheriff Mike Williams was not open about the gunman's motives but did say he did intend for it to be this location he brought a gun to. People are shocked and the gaming community is reeling.

A player, Drini Gjoka, who was participating the tournament tweeted on Sunday that the “tourney just got shot up.” He followed up on that tweet with “I am literally so lucky,” he said. “The bullet hit my thumb.” In another tweet, he said he would “never take anything for granted ever again.”

There was a video game live stream going on when the first shots were fired.  Many viewers expressed their comments of shock and fear for the people there. The viewers were saying things such as “Is there a shooting” and “That’s a gun.” Then the live stream cut out and viewers were left uninformed and scared.

Screenshot of the video game live stream the player on the left has a red dot from the gun on his sweatshirt

“How long is it going to take for us to get guns off the street?” Mr. Williams said. “How long is it going to take for us to deal with someone who may be mentally unstable when they could have gotten the help that they deserved in the beginning? How many more people, how many more friends, do we have to lose — die — to this? When are the politicians going to wake up and stop sitting on their butts collecting checks and do something?”

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the situation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. Gov. Rick Scott said he spoke to President Trump, who offered federal resources and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives  (ATF) is responding. But is offering federal resources really enough? This shooting Sunday is the 234th mass shooting in America this year. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done fast.

Gabby Giffords' Twitter Statement

A video with some additional information

Cited Sources

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/26/us/jacksonville-madden-shooting/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/us/jacksonville-landing-mass-shooting-madden-tournament.html

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think that guns should be banned from the public?
2. Should be more questions be asked and more limitations be placed on gun buyers?
3. If you were a Florida politician what would you do about this being the second shooting this week?
4. Do you think that President Trump should be doing more about the shootings and the risk people are at? 

I chose to write about this topic because it is very important and not much is being done.  The topic is extremely controversial and with school starting soon it is going to be an even bigger issue.  Attackers are finding more and more places to attacked and something needs to be done.  There are many resolutions but none are being used.