Letter to the Editor: We can’t become numb to the horror of mass shootings
Dear Editor:
Thank you for writing this article, Henry (“Measuring time by massacres, from Columbine to Boulder,” March 26). You are right that it is horrific to measure time by mass shootings.
I am a journalist as well. We have had two mass shootings in our family now, one where Micayla was murdered in the Aurora theater shooting and another in Vegas where Stacy survived. My nephew was only two blocks away at the time of the Dayton shooting. It’s madness, indeed. I have now helped behind the scenes in 23 mass shootings to date advocating for victims (some with the father of an Isla Vista murder victim).
I remember years ago as well, when Columbine happened and I had written a column for The Hollywood Reporter (where I worked), asking for the entertainment industry to do the right thing and stop marketing violent video games to children. I feared that these kids were learning bad conflict resolution skills—“if there is a problem, you kill it.” Little did I know the fate my family would go through years later.
I don’t know the answer to this anymore, but I do feel very strongly that whatever business you are in—journalism, video games, the mental health field or gun manufacturers and sellers, or politicians who have power to help—you must step up and do the right thing for the greater good of society.
I’ve been in journalism my entire career, and for the sake of public safety, I am a proponent of and helped with the No Notoriety protocol/campaign to elevate the names of the victims and heroes, and not that of the shooter. I continue to advocate on behalf of victims of mass casualty crime.
This is not the America either of us grew up in. It saddens me greatly. We can never become numb to it, for if we do, we have lost our humanity.
Thank you for penning this powerful column.
Sincerely,
Anita Busch
President, VictimsFirst.org
