On the heels of another deadly mass shooting, people are looking for the culprit of the problem and searching for solutions.
The number of mass shooting incidents reported and verified this year has surpassed 325. Fifteen of these incidents resulted in death. The most recent occurred on the Fourth of July, when Robert Crimo III fired upon a parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago, killing seven people and wounding several others. Before his arrest, the 21-year-old shooter “contemplated” a second attack in Wisconsin.
The Epoch Times spoke to Gregory Shaffer, a retired Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI, former member of the agency’s elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), and author of the book “Stay Safe: Security Secrets for Today’s Dangerous World.”
In an effort to curb so-called “gun violence,” the Senate approved bipartisan, landmark measures aimed at keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous people. While Shaffer agrees that certain people should not possess a firearm, he said he “cringes” when he hears the term “gun violence.” Without a person pulling the trigger, a firearm doesn’t have the ability to discharge, he said.
“Guns don’t cause violence; people cause violence.” And the root cause of it all, he said, is the fact that “evil exists” and sick people are increasingly less subject to authority and appropriate treatment.
As a result, Shaffer said, people need to practice “situational awareness” of not only their surroundings but also the people they’re in contact with on a regular or incidental basis.
A ‘Dangerous World’
“We are living in a very dangerous world,” Shaffer said. “Violent crimes are on the rise.” This year, a half dozen major cities will likely outpace last year’s record levels of violence crime, Fox News reported. These include Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington.
By J.M. Phelps
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