We’re caught in a revolving door of revolvers because in America, it’s always hammer time. The stories blur into each other and the outcome is always the same: the bodies pile up and the body politic does nothing. If only Congress could be as active as the shooters. Last night, I was watching the news about the last big gun violence story while seeing internet stories about the latest. We barely have time to rifle through the details of one mass killing before we’re confronted by the next. And in between, we have the even bigger, but less covered, problem of people killing individuals in numbers too small to be considered mass (but they add up). Missed last night’s mass murder of eight at a FedEx facility in Indiana? Don’t worry, there will be sequels. There always are. This is the third mass shooting of 2021 in Illinois alone. Meanwhile, the US has reported at least 45 mass shootings in the last month. I know this is a little heavy for a Friday, but it’s like they say, in America, come heavy or not at all.

+ We murder each other with such frequency that these highly publicized events don’t make up a significant percentage of the wider problem. “Despite the despair about their slightly growing frequency, they are actually uncommon incidents that account for just 0.2% of firearm deaths in the U.S. each year.”

+ Then there’s the other kind of gun violence that’s been in the news this week/month/year/etc. Video Shows 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo Had His Hands Up When A Police Officer Fatally Shot Him.

+ “This story is all too familiar — Philando Castile, Maurice Gordon, Ronell Foster, Walter Scott, Samuel DuBose, and Sandra Bland were all pulled over by police for traffic stops, which included broken tail lights, failing to use turn signals, and riding a bike with no light. All were Black people taken into police custody as the result of being pulled over for minor traffic violations. The stops allowed the negative interactions to occur that ultimately led to the victims’ killings.”

+ In Stockton, an innovative gun violence program saved many lives and millions of dollars. (This makes too much sense to replicate.)