They Shoot, We Fail: America's Mass Shooting Crisis

Every time there’s another shooting, the cycle repeats: thoughts, prayers, outrage… and silence. In this episode, we unpack why America keeps failing to act, how media bias warps who gets empathy and who doesn’t, and why so many people only care when it finally hits home. We dig into the uncomfortable truth about gun violence, selective outrage, and what real accountability would actually look like in a country that’s gotten far too good at looking away.

About your host:
Sonia in Cyber is a multicultural feminist voice, creative entrepreneur, and unapologetic truth-teller. With roots in education, tech, and product marketing, she blends data with empathy, humor with heartbreak, to expose the cracks in America’s “normal.” Through her podcast Somebody Pinch Me, she gives voice to the disillusioned, the outspoken, the overlooked, and the quietly furious — proving that truth doesn’t just survive in chaos; it thrives in it. Her mission is simple: to use her voice to inspire others to keep fighting, resisting, and moving forward — no matter what.

Transcript

@soniaincyber: 0:21

Today's topic is going to be extra heavy. And to be honest, before I say anything else or dive into the regular episode, let me summarize my sentiments about today's topic in a simple question: When is it going to be enough? When? Not even a week into a new school year, and children have lost their lives due to another senseless act of gun violence in America, in a school, to the most innocent members of our society. To those of you still yelling about 2A, I'm going to say this as politely as possible: Shut Up. Shut up long enough to actually hear the suffering and harm your selfishness and obsession with weapons is causing others. And to be clear: this has never been about you losing your right to own a firearm, but about ensuring those who do are responsible, stable, and not a danger or threat to society. But I know you know that, so stop pretending you don't understand what all this fuss is about.

@soniaincyber: 1:21

We're at a point in America where mass shootings are normalized. Many of us hear the news, and instead of being immediately horrified, our level of horror depends on the number of victims, who the victims were, or where the crime happened. Not that it happened in the first place, no matter where, no matter to whom, and no matter how many. Mass shootings aren't breaking news anymore. They're background noise.

@soniaincyber: 1:45

We scroll past headlines about slaughtered children like weather updates. We've turned classrooms into combat zones and teachers into frontline medics. Fire drills have been replaced with active shooter training. And the worst part, it doesn't even shock us anymore. And if that worries you or makes you sick? Yeah, me too. And what's even worse, every time there's another mass shooting, especially when it hits schools, churches, kids – our leaders' first response is often NOT action. It's cuts, it's spin, it's the same old lies, and thoughts and prayers, for 24 hours, maybe 72 hours if we're lucky, and then it's on to the next thing. This is Somebody Pinch Me, and today's episode, "They Shoot We Fail: America's Mass Shooting Crisis". Because massacres should not be the new normal and this administration's response, it's not just passive, it's poisonous.

@soniaincyber: 2:43

A shooter opened fire through the windows of a Catholic church during mass at a school in Minneapolis, killing two children aged 8 and 10 and injuring 17, most of them kids. The shooter identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, posted videos referencing violent ideologies, anti-Semitic, and anti-Christian statements, even the chilling phrase, "six million wasn't enough". For those of you needing the extra context, that's a not-so hidden reference to the Holocaust. And sadly, this is not an isolated incident. It isn't a lone act of madness. It fits a disturbing pattern.

@soniaincyber: 3:22

2023 – the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, three kids and three adults killed, motivated by extremist hatred and inspired by past shooters. 2022 – a Missouri school shooting by a mentally unstable young man using 600 rounds of ammo. He was flagged, but still was able to get a weapon due to system failure. And the list goes on. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Uvaldi, Parkland, Austin Clock Tower, Perry High School, and so many more. Too many. Each one reflects a culture of unchallenged access to weapons, escalating ideology, and political paralysis that continues to leave schools vulnerable. They serve as stark reminders that our kids are not safe, that policy inertia is deadly, and that normalizing this isn't normal. It's a collapse of responsibility. And it's a sign of a continually spreading cancer in our society, an ideology and mindset that thrives on fear, entitlement, and the erosion of empathy. Across the country, the pattern of perpetrators in mass shootings, especially school and church shootings, reveals a chilling common thread. These aren't random explosions of chaos, they're symptoms of a deeper rot.

@soniaincyber: 4:39

Time and again, we see shooters who hold white supremacist, anti-black, anti-Semitic, or anti-immigrant beliefs, radicalized in online echo chambers and far-right circles, express deep misogyny or anti-LGBTQIA+ hatred, sometimes linked to incel communities or religious extremism, including Christian Nationalism. Suffer from unaddressed mental illness, with warning signs often missed or ignored because of systemic gaps in health care, especially in red states where mental health services are constantly underfunded or defunded altogether. Are often obsessed with previous mass shooters, looking to outdo them to become infamous to make a name through violence and access to military-style weapons with ease, even if flagged previously by law enforcement, even if their families knew something was wrong. They are white, isolated with fringe ideologies. They write manifestos and social media posts praising past shooters. Their motive isn't personal, it's always ideological. They're not victims of gun violence, they're its faces.

@soniaincyber: 5:45

But our leaders treat it like an individual tragedy, not a political epidemic. And while bodies pile up, policies keep churning in favor of these killers. As politicians offer thoughts and prayers, these shootings continue, not in spite of policy and action, but because of it. Because certain lawmakers refuse universal background checks, loosen red flag laws, vote against mental health funding, push good guy with a gun fantasies while ignoring the blood on the floor. This isn't just neglect. It's complicity. And it's bigger than just gun violence. It's about what happens when a society lets hatred fester untreated, when people are taught to fear others, see empathy as weakness, and believe violence is strength. It's about a mindset that sees weapons as freedom, but human lives as expendable. It's about a country where protecting the unborn gets more outrage than protecting a classroom full of second graders. And it's spreading, not just through bullets, but through legislation that restricts truth in classrooms, media that feeds paranoia and lies, leaders who scapegoat entire communities for political gain, and everyday people who've become numb to carnage. This mindset, it is the cancer. And if we don't start treating it with radical honesty, empathy, accountability, and action, we won't survive the metastasis.

@soniaincyber: 7:16

Now, for those of you still struggling to understand how our system is enabling this violence, here's a few things to think about. Looser gun laws and weakened smart protections leave dangerous people free to arm themselves. No red flag laws in some states, including Missouri, mean missed chances to prevent violence. This administration slammed Biden's $1 billion school mental health grants, meant to hire more counselors and psychologists post-Uvaldi and the kicker, rural schools and red states are being hit the hardest with cuts, as we all warned and predicted, and things are just getting started. This administration also made major cuts to local gun violence prevention and community safety to the tune of over $800 million, another $1 billion from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, meant for mental health and violence reduction programs, and DOJ funding for victims networks, which include hotlines and violence intervention programs. Many try to blame shootings on mental health only while gutting mental health services and loosening regulations on mentally ill gun buyers. And removing social supports like Medicaid and SNAP, especially in lower income areas, increase gun violence risk without critical social support in place.

@soniaincyber: 8:28

Let's break down one of the NRA's favorite catchphrases, " guns don't kill people, people do". Sure. And bombs don't explode on their own either. But when you hand unstable, angry, extremist people easy access to deadly weapons, what do you think happens? The truth is, yes, people pull the trigger, but access to the gun makes that outcome faster, deadlier, and more widespread. Ask an ER doctor. A knife wound might be survivable. A bullet wound from an AR-15, not so much.

@soniaincyber: 9:00

When countries restrict access to certain weapons, mass shootings go down. It's not a theory, it's data. New Zealand banned semi-automatic weapons after the Christchurch massacre. Japan, the UK, and Germany all have tighter gun control laws and far fewer gun deaths. Meanwhile, here in the US, a teenager can't buy a beer, but can legally buy an AR-15. Let's stop pretending this isn't a uniquely American crisis.

@soniaincyber: 9:29

Here's the other thing no one wants to talk about. These mass shooters aren't just angry people with a handgun. They're often walking into schools, churches, and grocery stores with high capacity magazines, body armor, ghost guns, modifications that simulate automatic fire and stockpiles of military-style rifles. Let's look at just a few examples. Las Vegas Shooter 2017 – had 23 firearms in his hotel room, many modified with bump stocks and over 1,000 rounds of ammo. He killed 60 people and injured hundreds more in under 10 minutes. Uvaldi Shooter 2022 – legally bought two AR-15s and 375 rounds of ammunition just days after turning 18. He used those weapons to slaughter 19 children and two teachers. Highland Park Shooter 2022 – used a legally purchased Smith & Wesson M&P 15 semi-automatic rifle. Police later found over 80 rounds fired in less than 60 seconds. Aurora Theater Shooter 2012 – had multiple firearms, including a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle with a hundred-round drum magazine, a shotgun, and two Glock pistols. He was dressed in head-to-toe tactical gear. None of these arsenals are for self-defense. They're built for war. These stockpiles are a red flag, not a right. And yet Republican lawmakers protect them like holy relics. They fight red flag laws, block assault weapon bans, and whine about tyranny whenever someone suggests that maybe 18-year-olds shouldn't have access to battlefield weapons.

@soniaincyber: 11:04

Here's the truth: a person with a knife is a threat. A person with a handgun is more dangerous. A person with an AR-15 and a 100-round magazine can become a mass murderer in seconds. The gun is the difference between one body and a massacre. So, yes, people kill people, but guns make it easier, quicker, deadlier. And when the laws make it easier to buy a gun than to get mental health care, a therapist, or even a driver's license, that's not just negligence. That's a system built to enable violence. And here's the hard truth that too many Americans don't want to admit – if it hasn't happened to you yet, it's easy not to care.

@soniaincyber: 11:47

If your kid hasn't had to memorize hiding spots in a classroom, if you haven't gotten a text that says active shooter at school, if you've never waited outside a police barricade praying your child is one of the lucky ones, then sure, it's easy to scroll past the headlines, to sigh, to say it's tragic, and move on. But what happens when it's your turn? When the shooter shows up at your church, your grocery store, your child's school, your block, when it's your nephew who never made it out, your niece with trauma she'll never be able to shake, your best friend's baby on a stretcher. Will you care then? Because mass shootings aren't rare anymore in America. They're routine, and no one is immune.

@soniaincyber: 12:30

Republican lawmakers keep saying "it's not about the guns". But let's be real, it's never about the guns until your loved one dies from one. This is not just a policy failure. It's a moral failure, a compassion failure, a failure of imagination. Because some of you, maybe even some of you listening, still think, "this won't happen to me, I don't have kids, I live in a safe area". But this epidemic doesn't knock. It kicks in the door.

@soniaincyber: 12:57

You don't get a warning. You just get a call, a headline, a heartbreak that rewrites your entire world. So if you're sitting comfortably because it hasn't touched you, consider this your warning. Your silence won't protect you. And when the worst happens, when you're finally ready to stand up, we'll welcome you. But don't wait until it's too late. The time to care is now because every life we fail to protect is one life too many. And next time, it might be someone you love.

@soniaincyber: 13:26

Before we end today's episode, I want to invite you into a brief moment of silence. For the children who never came home from school, for the parents who buried their babies, for the teachers who used their bodies as shields, for the congregations shattered by bullets during worship, for the neighborhoods turned crime scenes, for the survivors who live with the scars that no one can see.

@soniaincyber: 14:07

Let this silence echo louder than the excuses. Let it sit heavier than the empty thoughts and prayers. And let it stir something in you – because silence is only sacred if it leads to action. This is Somebody Pinch Me – enough already.