America is thankful that CNN asked the question on everyone’s minds: Would Donald Trump have killed Harambe to save the four-year-old who managed to get inside the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla enclosure?
One follow-up question: Would Americans rather hear Sally Kohn opine about gorilla lives mattering more than black lives or dive head first into the gorilla pit and take their chances there? Kohn claimed that Harambe’s death inspired much more outrage than the death of Tamir Rice did, although we missed the coverage of gorilla enthusiasts holding a die-in in the streets and clashing with police.
On Wednesday, the nation watched as UCLA went on lockdown after a former Ph.D student killed a professor (with a 9mm machine gun) before shooting himself. The Los Angeles times noted the irony that the shooting took place just a day before National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Today's UCLA murder-suicide happened one day before National Gun Violence Awareness Day. https://t.co/jq02HNRhgI pic.twitter.com/MZsuwfycwX
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016
Today’s UCLA murder-suicide was the 186th U.S. school shooting since Newtown, Conn. in 2012 https://t.co/fbgkcRSOIE pic.twitter.com/tL0xlbqHkJ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016
UCLA shooting happens a day before National Gun Awareness Day https://t.co/LSrf6V3XkZ pic.twitter.com/sl580y0sMO
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016
Just a murder-suicide in a small UCLA office. And so America shrugs https://t.co/V5GMJ0UAFa via @latimesopinion pic.twitter.com/eVRo913frv
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016
Hours of terror for UCLA parents: Is my child really safe? https://t.co/mPDZusXPgP pic.twitter.com/81Ns2fKBqF
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 1, 2016
California lawmakers invoke UCLA shooting in passing gun-control bills https://t.co/fEb0PO97Em pic.twitter.com/5IQekT2nuy
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
After day of fear, UCLA students grapple with resuming classes and feeling "normal" again https://t.co/MgFkoP8EPK pic.twitter.com/Ac0sR4VcrA
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
The UCLA gunman had driven from Minnesota to Los Angeles with two semiautomatic handguns https://t.co/XdCJKPwgF3
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
Spotted at UCLA: Students head back to class the morning after a murder-suicide on campus https://t.co/MgFkoP8EPK pic.twitter.com/n6II9XqUSq
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
Since Sandy Hook, a gun has been fired on school grounds roughly once a week: https://t.co/fbgkcRSOIE pic.twitter.com/GjfiDkLppR
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
To be fair, the UCLA shooting was a local news story for the Los Angeles Times. But if there’s such concern that the shooting of a single gorilla received disproportionate media coverage, maybe the 66 homicides and 400 shootings in Chicago in May could have inspired more than a couple of tweets.
May was a bloody month in Chicago — 66 dead and nearly 400 shot https://t.co/E9S2flDUR1
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 2, 2016
The murder-suicide at UCLA was a tragic event, but hardly in the same league as the Sandy Hook massacre. There’s been a school shooting (fatal or not) once a week since then? Over Memorial Day weekend, an average of 23 people a day were shot in Chicago in spite of the mayor’s “Put the Guns Down” initiative.
They can bicker all they want about whose lives matter, but least gun control advocates can find common ground on whom to blame for gun violence in both UCLA and Chicago: the NRA.
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