Weighing in on the tragic mass shooting at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store, where at least 10 people were killed on Monday, CNN wondered if America is about to head into a “spring and summer of mass casualty events.”
The Colorado incident came less than a week after the March 16 shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, at three spas, where eight people died.
“There’s a larger story here that may not be addressed today, but is one that we have to address in light of what happened in Atlanta, which is, are we facing a spring and summer of mass casualty events as we come out — as people congregate? That is something that the Biden White House will have to address as well,” said CNN’s national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.
Host Alisyn Camerota then jumped in to wonder how this could happen after a year of lockdowns.
“How can that be? How can that be that after a year of basic quarantine in the country the first thing we do as Americans is go back to mass shootings? How can that be?"
Kayyem’s answer was that it’s “distinctly and sadly an American problem.” She also noted, however, that while these types of events may not have taken place in the last year, gun violence increased.
“There were not mass shootings like we’ve seen in the past,” Kayyem said, “but gun violence was actually up by 25 percent. We don’t know if that’s because of psychological stresses, suicides, or whatever else, so I know a lot of people are saying 'well, America is back'—you know what? America never left. We have a gun problem, and is one that was persistent through Covid, but one that may take on more deadly consequences because people are congregating and out again.”
The commentary led more than one social media user to note, “CNN is sick.”
CNN is sick. https://t.co/emxa0QmyLB
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 23, 2021