There are school shootings. Shootings at grocery stores. Shootings at homes, churches and malls. Guns carried, guns worshiped, guns treated with more care than the lives they take. Long guns, handguns, machine guns. Gun shootings, gun killings, guns causing injuries.

Guns changing the course of a life. Or several. Or thousands. Or millions. A mother loses a son. A son loses a mother. Families wrecked and it is all so frustrating and horrible and yet it repeats on some sort of bloody loop. Shooting. We get mad. We move on. Shooting. We get mad. We move on. Shooting. We get mad...

There are even shootings at a Super Bowl victory parade. This is how much of a gun country we are. Though, hell, if we're OK as a nation with kids getting shot to pieces at an elementary school, a parade certainly isn't going to be off limits.

People get shot at a festive moment where the Kansas City team, and the city, gathered to celebrate the remarkable accomplishment of a team winning consecutive championships. This is supposed to be nice moment but nah, this is America, guns in our area.

We talk about how great a nation we are, but are we? Really? Is this what a great nation does? Does a great nation allow hundreds of millions of guns to flow through our streets, weapons of war, thousands and thousands dying every year because of gun violence? Is that true greatness?

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Almost 50,000 people died from gun related violence in 2021, according to the CDC. The gun violence has created a nation of zombies. Wondering when the gun violence we see on television will come directly into our lives. Will it hit us while we're walking our daughters home from school? Will it happen while we're sitting at home? Out playing basketball?

Or at a damn parade.

Scenes from the Kansas City parade shootings looked all too familiar. Police moving into action. People scrambling for safety. Panicked faces trying to get away from potential danger. People being loaded into ambulances.

"We went out today, like everyone in Kansas City, looking to have a celebration," said Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City. "That celebration was marred by a shooting today."

"I am angry at what happened today," said Stacey Graves, Kansas City's chief of police.

Kansas City fire department officials said there was at least 22 injured and one dead.

Remarkably, when speaking to the news media, Lucas said that when the shooting began, he ran, like many others, for safety. Think about how unsafe it is for so many of us that even a mayor is running from danger.

"The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment," said Graves. "We had over 800 law enforcement officers, Kansas City, and other agencies, at the location to keep everyone safe."

But that's the problem: even with all of those armed officers, guns are so prevalent, it's still hard to keep people safe. In fact, in many instances, it's impossible.

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Think about how the parade started. Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes walking the parade route, high-fiving fans and smiling. Other Kansas City players shirtless and having fun. The stage rocking with happy players and coaches. Fans chanting "An-dy!" for coach Reid. There was music playing. People were dancing and singing. It was a party.

The biggest controversy was how tight end Travis Kelce looked extremely, well, happy. That was going to be the biggest story from the parade. Then, America intervened.

"When I first heard it, you know what I thought, unfortunately, is this is who we are," said former NFL player and current analyst Marcus Spears on ESPN. "This is who we are. So, now the ever-revolving cycle is going to start. The news outlets will talk about gun control. They'll have politicians from either side to talk about what needs to be done....And then we'll have a 'prayer's up.' I'm sure that's what's happening right now..."

Thoughts and prayers. Always thoughts and prayers.

It's extremely American for a mass shooting to take place at a parade. This is what we do and we do it better than anyone.

There are school shootings. Shootings at grocery stores. Shootings at homes, churches and malls. Guns carried, guns worshiped, guns treated with more care than the lives they take. Long guns, handguns, machine guns. Guns, guns, guns.

Even at a parade.