On January 6th 2017, a new shooting took place in Florida at Fort Lauderdale airport: 5 people were shot dead. Here’s the Cnn report. That shooting is only the last of a long series of massacres.  See  Voices of America on Mass Shootings in the U.S.A. 

“An average of one mass shooting happened every day in the U.S. in 2015”, the New York Times reported. On June 16th 2016 a gunman who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in an attack at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. It was the worst mass shooting in United States history. The deadliest mass shooting in 2015 happened on December 2 in San Bernardino, California. Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people and injured 22 others.
The attack took place at a holiday party for a local government agency. Farook worked at the agency. Police killed both Farook and Malik in a shootout.The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations said both Farook and Malik had been radicalized. The FBI considered the shooting an act of terrorism.

Other major mass shootings took place in a South Carolina church, a community college in Oregon, and a health care facility in Colorado. On June 17, an armed 21-year-old man walked into an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine people, including the pastor. Police say the gunman told them he hoped the attack would lead to a “race war” in America.
On October 1, a 26-year-old man shot and killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. He killed himself as police arrived. Friends and neighbors said the man collected firearms and liked to wear military clothing.  On November 27, 57-year-old Robert Dear killed three people during a shootout in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nine other people were wounded. The shooting happened at a Planned Parenthood clinic. Planned Parenthood offers family planning services, including abortions.Dear later pleaded guilty to the shootings. In court, he called himself a “warrior for babies.”

Gun Debate After several mass shootings in the United States, President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats again renewed calls for stricter gun control measures.

They called for changes to current laws that permit people to purchase guns without a background check. They also want to bar (preclude, prohibit) people on the U.S. government’s “No Fly List” from buying guns. The list contains names of people suspected of having connections to terrorist groups.“If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous to buy a gun,” said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. ”

Obama pledged for new gun rules and the article in the New York Times Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility was written by him. Let’s read & listen to the article from VOA and watch the video of an emotional Obama. 
This contemporary issue is related  to the movie Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore we’re going to watch together in class.

• How does this ad make you feel? Do you think certain commercials could contribute to change people’s attitude towards the possession of guns?

Here you can find some DATA regarding gun violence in the USA: Gun Violence Archive so that you can compare it to the rest of the world in a visual way. Mass shooting visual guide by CNN. Isn’t it appalling? Did you expect it to be so bad?

Some people even believe that teachers should come to school armed in order to protect their pupils.

• How would that “me” make you feel? 

I took the next photo in July 2014 in Boston at the  “finish line” of the marathon in Boylston Street and it’s the site where During the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs exploded at 2:49 pm, killing 3 people and injuring an estimated 264 others.The bombs exploded about 13 seconds and 210 yards (190 m) apart. This is what you see now, all those colored fabrics to  commemorate that tragedy … it’s really touching.

I’m also adding a photo I took in Charlotte inside the elevator of our hotel, right downtown in the very center of the city. It made me feel really uncomfortable and for the first time I actually “felt” how totally different our gun culture is from the America one.

Before devoting our next session to the movie and the discussion I’d like you to read a CNNiReport I wrote two years ago, following a shooting at Costal Carolina University. I went to visit that University and it’s pretty close to where my son was studying so I couldn’t help feeling emotionally involved.

During our next lesson be ready to share your impressions and ideas with the rest of the class using your written notes.