So on valentine's day a gunmen butchered many people at a school in Florida. This is really really despicable and my heart goes out to those who were murdered and to their loved ones.
Unfortunately, however, this is not a stand alone incident in the USA. There have been nearly 30 mass shooting (more than 4 people) in the USA since 1.1.2018. That is insane. For a country that is supposed to be the leader in the world, they sure are leading the pack, but in a way that they should.
Now last winter (Feb - Apr 2017) I was in the USA doing a cross-country bicycle trip. Along the way we tented, camped and hung out in various places. Once we hit Texas, however, people warned us that we shouldn't randomly sleep on farms (as we had done in California) as the farm owners have the right to shoot before asking questions.
As someone who grew up in Australia (strict gun laws since the late 1990s) and lives in Germany, this left me scared shitless.
Seriously? Someone can shoot without asking questions because another human wants to rest their head for a night.
This is the "land of the free"?
Wake up the USA. Your laws our outdated and the mentality to match. And please don't give me the excuse, it's in our constitution or it's culture. I've listened to a lot of Americans over the years trying to defend this and let me be clear from my perspective: this is no longer defensible, it is an embarrassment.
Please start implementing reasonable gun controls (like checking someone isn't mentally insane) at a federal level.
And again to be clear, my heart goes out to those victims, but I wish it wouldn't need to and that they would be attending school again today like anyone else.