The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump has prompted strong reactions from people across the country. On Saturday, mere hours after the shooting, Burquenos shared their reaction and opinions on what the future holds.
AJ HEDRICH, 33:
It’s tragic. It’s scary. And, on a personal level, it makes me incredibly fearful of the next four and a half months between now and the election. It makes me fearful for what comes after the election, particularly if trump loses the election. Yeah… Mostly I’m out because I could not be home today in front of my computer for fear of just being totally absorbed in the news and fixating and ruminating on what this means. I'm mostly worried about what tomorrow is going to look like in our world, in our country. I think firearm sales are going to go through the roof after today. I think there are going to be a lot of people who are Trump supporters and Biden supporters alike who are going to be really, really concerned about how they engage in politics and our electoral process between now and November. I think there's a lot of fear that's been instilled in people because of this. For the average voter who's not super duper engaged, this will come as a real shock and real big surprise to them that we've reached this level. Yeah, it's a rough time to be a politically engaged person. And for folks who aren't politically engaged right now, they're probably going to see this news at some point, on social media, on television in tomorrow's paper, and be shocked.
ERIN RADCLIFFE, 45:
I think we are always navigating so much disinformation and things like that, and so much sensationalized news, that it took awhile for it to really sink in. I recently started attending the quaker meeting, and I oppose violence of all kinds. I saw a photo of the person they believe is responsible, just how young he is. And being older and having studied some history, I do worry about... just all of the things. And I thought about World War 2 and the movement towards those things and those moments.
TREVOR MCCRARY, 25:
Yeah, so I heard about the news. I was sitting at my computer, and one of my friends text me about it. At that point we didn’t know if it was a gunshot or not, we just saw the video feed. Hearing the clicks and seeing everyone’s heads turn instantly it was… It’s just terrifying to see that happen. Especially with just like how polarizing politics are, but that’s just awful to think that could happen. I hope that it makes us see that, you know, hate’s the worst thing in this country that could drive somebody to do something that’s so horrible. And I don’t know if it’s out of fear, but… hate’s the root of it, that we need to have less of it in this country.
KYLIE HANSON, 29:
This whole situation definitely goes into our large issue of gun control and the amount of mass shootings we see we see this every single day and it’s still an ongoing problem and I think it goes to show that noone’s immune to it. The biggest thing we need to think about is coming together as a country and thinking about our future. Especially if we keep going down this. Path we’re going down, Are we going to have a future as a country, as people as society?
BAELA BRUCKER, 18:
When I first saw the video, I thought it was weird. The gun shots didn’t sound super gun-like, and it kind of seemed like, I don’t know, like a stunt. But after hearing that people were killed and the shooter was killed, it sucks. I don’t like Trump personally, but it does suck what happened. It seems like it’s going to inflame things, I think people are going to be pretty upset, which might cause more division, I don’t know. Just the way that Trump handled it, putting his fist up in the air was kind of a… it seemed like a call to action almost.
JOHN BEAR, 45:
You know, I don’t want to see any kind of political violence, Because this is the United States and we’ve had plenty of it in the past, but it’s never a good thing. Having said that, I do think Donald Trump is largely responsible for putting us in this kind of mindstate with a lot of people right now. And I think a lot of people are really angry. It is an unfortunate thing though, because I think he’s going to be able to make some political hay out of this too, so I don’t think it’s good for anybody.
LOUISA PENNINGTON, 25:
I think, even going back to the question of my age, to me it’s just kind of insane that I have been living through all of the major historical events I have so far. You know my Dad’s a bit on the older side, so growing up I would hear him tell stories of Vietnam protests, all these crazy, crazy periods of protests, It’s just crazy to me, because I have to ask myself am I really going through this right now as well. It’s not ideal for imagining the America I’m going to live in going forward, and so hopefully young people my age we can get out we can get coting we can get involved, and most importantly hopefully we can compromise.
DAVID MCKIBBEN, 32:
I think with how both parties are doing it, I’m not surprised there would be an attempt on either one of them, honestly. With the rhetoric that both sides are slinging at each other, It’s riling up people for no reason outside of ‘Vote for me.’ But I think at first there is going to be some upheaval about it, and people are going to be a bit more violent towards other individuals, and hopefully in time that will just die down, especially once the election’s over.
WES KOPPIN, 32:
People who either want to feel that there is a sense of doom over about things they are choosing to do that.There is a sense of optimism that I'm not saying needs to be faith without rationalism, but if people have an opinion that they think is correct, they should do it by getting out there and vote. They should assist their party. They should be campaigning. We have the privilege of being in a country where sometimes, though it may not seem it, people's interests matter and their voice and their opinion counts and matters. That does not mean that voice has to ring out after gunshots. People want to see something like this again as a horrible, apocalyptic moment when you can really refocus it on the locality. What difference you can make in your community and approaching people around you. Use this as, or anything as, a motivating factor, as opposed to just getting angry and wanting something to resolve itself, because you're going to put that emotion towards something that's not going to be good. Think beyond the reaction and find a reason to be motivated to make the change you want to see in a way that's conducive to that process.
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