It seems like every year, someone goes out of their way to get their message out by going and committing mass acts of violence, from the recent shooting in Virginia, to the tragedy of Columbine. The saddest part is that  according to Christopher Ingraham, staff reporter for the Washington Post, in his recent article from recent July that mass shooting have actually increased in 2015. “As of July 24, there have been 204 mass shooting in the United States, which is approximately one per day,” Ingraham quotes in his article.

As years past, mass shooting has evolved from just a crime to a kind of plea that these criminals make to garner attention. Mass shootings would never appear on national television; however that changed on April 20, 1999 when two teenagers fired the first shot that would end up not only striking their first victim, but the hearts of the people inside the major news stations. Since their major broadcasting of what is now  known as the “Columbine Shooting.”

The result: the media “saw” what happened, begging to know why would they commit such an act. In this situation,  Michigan State University psychiatrist Dr. Frank Ochberg, as well as Supervisory Special Agent Dwayne Fuselier, the ones who were assigned to this case, concluded that “[the Columbine shooters] had completely different motives”. Motives that later media took in every second as these two killers spilled on every little aspect. This created a new wave of shooting, one that is based on the shooter yearning for “fame.”

This is the issue though with these shootings. Mass shootings have now become this way for “deemed psychopaths” to go perform these mass shooting so that everyone can know their story, their thoughts, and their views on this “[explicit] up world” as one of the Columbine shooters said numerous times to Ochberg and Fuselier. The media is too caught up in their game, as these shooters have transformed the media into their puppet as they have conducted their show.

As a quick thought, who were the victims for all of these shootings? As time goes on, we have lost focus on the victims and instead have given the spotlight to these shooters. Name the victims of Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hooks or even the victims of the Waco, Texas shootings from earlier this year. One simply cannot without looking them up online because of the devotion media has given to these shooters. If media can stop playing this game, then maybe these attention-seekers might stop using shooting as a way to get their message out.