“The land of the free and the home of the brave” is supposed to be the story of America. It is something that every American is supposed to believe as a part of our national anthem. Yet, in the past couple of years, disillusionment has settled in as America becomes the land of regular mass shootings and the home of the unsafe.
Never before in my life have I feared for my safety in everyday situations. Why? The places that are meant to be normal and mundane no longer are. You can’t go to the grocery store without fear for your life or school or the movies or parades or bars. Each one of these has been targeted by terrorists. In fact, there have been over 300 mass shootings so far in 2022 according to the Gun Violence Archive. Even with the passage of the bipartisan gun control bill called The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, very little is likely to change in the near term. Where does that leave Americans?