Hi everyone. I'm Josh, and this is The Emerald,

currents and trends through a mythic lens.

The podcast where we explore an ever-changing world and our lives in it

through the lens of myth, story, and imagination.

The Emerald.

All that's happening on this green jewel in space. So here's a sad fact.

I first had the idea for this episode the day after the tragic Parkland Florida school shooting on February 14th, 2018.

My own way may be of dealing with a sense of helplessness over it all,

perhaps wanting to feel like I could at least offer something to the conversation.

At that time, I was still in the initial planning phases of this podcast

and knew it would be a while before it was launched.

So here's the sad part. I actually

thought to myself, well, whenever I get around to releasing this episode, it's still going to be

relevant. In fact, chances are there will have been a mass shooting on American soil within a few

days of literally any day I choose to release it.

And of course, it's true.

As of today, June 17th, there have been 148 mass shootings in the United States in 2019 alone,

and an average of one school shooting every 12 days since Parkland.

Americans commemorated the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th,

and that day it was circling around the newswires that by March 6th, more Americans had died in gun violence in 2019 than died on D-Day. So I'm fully aware of all of the political arguments around gun control. There are

numerous political commentators who can say a lot more from the legal and constitutional

perspective on this topic. They can talk about legislation and the obstacles to passing it and

...