Editorial | Knock, Knock - Pew, Pew

I miss the 80s and 90s. You could knock on anyone's door during reasonable hours and not get shot at. You could pull into a driveway without worrying about someone stepping outside ready to put you in the ground.

In the 80s and 90s, we didn't shoot the pizza guy either. Other than an occasional Diet Pepsi, no one spilled blood or anything else at the front door.

Americans are getting more trigger-happy by the day. In 2016, there were 37,077 deaths attributed to firearms. In the first quarter of this year, 13,386 lives were taken by a small object weighing around 8 grams. The country is on track to nearly double the number of casualties seven years ago.

This year alone, there have been 172 mass shootings. That number is 8% higher than the same period last year. As I type this, 13,386 have lost their lives to gun violence in 2023.

Two weeks ago, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot twice, with bullets striking him in the left forehead and right arm, according to the Kansas City police department, by homeowner Andrew Lester. Lester, who is 84 years old, opened fire through a glass door with a .32 caliber revolver and is now facing two felony charges.

While Yarl survived the shooting and is recovering, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis lost her life when 65-year-old Kevin Monahan, fired two shots from his front porch at a vehicle with three others in it in his driveway. Monahan has been charged with second-degree murder in the rural upstate New York incident.

In both cases, the shooters let lead fly without first saying a word to the victims.

Four days ago, an Instacart driver and her boyfriend were shot at 9 p.m. on Saturday in Southwest Ranches, Florida, while making their last delivery of the evening. Luckily, it was not the two teens were not injured by Anthonio Caccavale, who stated that he fired three times at the delivery car after the vehicle struck him.

Like the two earlier shootings, Diamond D'arville and Waldes Thomas were at the wrong address. Unlike the first two examples, the shooter will not be charged. NBC6 in Miami wrote the police said each party appeared "justified in their actions based on the circumstances they perceived."

Up in Lake County, Illinois, police charged 79-year-old Ettore Lacchei with murder after allegedly shot his neighbor, who was doing yard work on his own property. William Martys was using his leaf blower in his yard when he was fatally shot by Lacchei.

We are all for the right to bear arms. How about we work toward exercising it more responsibly as a country? It is time for America to figure it out.

Who knows? The next door you knock on might just get you killed.