On Wednesday afternoon, a gunman carrying a semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla. For Americans, it was a familiar sense of horror.
The shooting now occupies a place in a grim tally. It is one of the ten most deadly mass shootings in modern American history. Three of those shootings have taken place in the last five months.
The violence in Florida was also the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 attack on an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. which killed 26 people, most of them first-graders.
Faced with yet another shooting – and the prospect of continued inaction by lawmakers – Americans expressed their shame and anger.
Philip Mudd, a former agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, began to weep on CNN as he discussed the shooting.
Wow, Philip Mudd, a former FBI agent who has interviewed terrorists broke down crying talking about the latest school shooting pic.twitter.com/Kp4rMfcS3L
— Salvador Hernandez (@SalHernandez) February 14, 2018
John Weaver, a Republican strategist, raged in a series of tweets against the National Rifle Association and politicians who "skate through mass murder."
Vast American consensus on many issues involving guns. Alas, the congressional wing of the GOP & in legislatures either have no will power or are just toadies to the NRA & refuse to act. Not complicated. But Gen X & Millennial voters will change this. How many more dead children?
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 14, 2018
And the NRA owned politicians will say "Don't let this become political," so they can skate through this latest mass murder. Meanwhile, thanks to Citizens United, they hide money and buy politicians.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 14, 2018
Somehow killing kids in a school, killing people in a church, in a theater is shrugged away. Isn't called terrorism. That is reserved when people of color do the shooting. But some loner white dude kills, America watches, shrugs and moves on. This is the opposite of MAGA.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 14, 2018
Bess Kalb, a television writer in Los Angeles, began tweeting how much money certain politicians expressing sympathy had received from the NRA in the last election cycle.
$4,418,012.00
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 14, 2018
Four million four hundred eighteen thousand and twelve dollars from the NRA. https://t.co/kPZQIPTg42
$2,861,047.00 from the NRA to make sure Americans keep buying guns. https://t.co/3OZay5yRZs
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 14, 2018
God have mercy on your NRA-kept souls:
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) February 14, 2018
Richard Burr
$6,986,620
Roy Blunt
$4,551,146
Thom Tillis
$4,418,012
Cory Gardner
$3,879,064
Marco Rubio
$3,303,355
Joni Ernst
$3,124,273
Rob Portman
$3,061,941
Todd Young
$2,896,732
Bill Cassidy
$2,861,047https://t.co/y9US2i6CPD
Nelba Marquez-Greene, the mother of one of the children killed in Newtown, also took to Twitter to express her horror and shame to Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
We shouldn’t ignore this but we do. We will never have enough resources to make these children or families whole again. We are a traumatized nation. https://t.co/KsOob2mUHd
— Nelba Márquez-Greene (@Nelba_MG) February 14, 2018
Oh, please. U had a chance after Newtown & you did squat because “you were already doing immigration” and didn’t want to lose votes w/ your constituents. In your office you looked at us and said you couldn’t act. Sleep tight with that blood on your hands, Marco. #resist https://t.co/UvcMhqyQKH
— Nelba Márquez-Greene (@Nelba_MG) February 15, 2018
Rosanne Cash, a musician, wrote about how unbearable it was to see these scenes repeated.
I cannot bear to see one more photo of innocent kids walking out of school with their arms over their heads. This has to stop. The NRA supports domestic terrorism. #GunControlNow
— rosanne cash (@rosannecash) February 14, 2018