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'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

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Home page of The Onion on May 25, 2022, following the Robb Elementary School shooting, featuring 21 instances of the article, one for each victim killed in the incident.
In 2019, the U.S. gun homicide rate was 18 times the average rate in other developed countries.[1] Shown: homicide rate graphed versus gun ownership rate.[1]

'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens" is the recurring title of articles published by the American news satire organization The Onion after mass shootings in the United States. The articles satirize and lament the country's failure, unique among developed countries, to prevent gun violence.[2][3][4]

Each article is about 200 words long, detailing the location of the shooting and the number of victims, but otherwise remaining essentially the same. A fictitious resident—usually of a state in which the shooting did not take place—is quoted as saying that the shooting was "a terrible tragedy", but "there's nothing anyone can do to stop them." The article ends by saying that the United States is the "only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past eight years," and that Americans view themselves and the situation as "helpless".[5][6]

Background

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The article was first published on May 27, 2014, following the Isla Vista killings. The Onion has since republished the article after dozens of mass shootings, changed only to reflect the specifics of each shooting.[2][3][4] In 2017, Marnie Shure, the managing editor for The Onion, said: "By re-running the same commentary, it strengthens the original commentary tenfold each time. ... In the wake of these really terrible things, we have this comment that really holds up."[7]

After The Onion republished the article on February 14, 2018, following the Parkland high school shooting, Jason Roeder, the writer of the original 2014 article, wrote that he "had no idea it would be applied to the high school a mile from [his] house".[8][9] On May 25, 2022, after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, The Onion featured all 21 versions of the article they had written since 2014 on the home page of their website and on their Twitter feed.[10][11][12] The homepage feature was repeated after the July 4 Highland Park shooting, when the article count had increased to 25.[13][14] As of December 2024, it has been published 38 times.

Reception

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The New York Times wrote in 2017 that "with each use, [the headline] seemed to turn from cheeky political commentary on gun control into a reverberation of despair".[2] Mashable wrote that "nothing captures that feeling of frustration and powerlessness" following major mass shootings as well as The Onion articles, adding that "there's no shortage of brilliant Onion pieces, but none have resonated—or been as tragically prescient—like the 'No Way' post."[15]

The Washington Post wrote that The Onion "appears to capture the frustration and futility felt by so many people" following mass shootings, noting the increased Internet traffic the articles draw and how popular they are on social media.[3] The Huffington Post said the articles have become "a staple of the social media response to mass shootings", citing how widely shared they are on Facebook and Twitter.[4]

The Daily Beast mentioned the articles in a piece titled "How The Onion Became One of the Strongest Voices for Gun Control".[16] Similarly, Wired mentioned it in an article discussing the power of The Onion's satire in the face of gun violence, titled "Only The Onion Can Save Us Now".[17]

List

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As of December 2024, The Onion has published the article 38 times, each in response to a mass shooting in the United States.

Instances of the article being published
No. Publication date Shooting
1[i] May 27, 2014 Isla Vista, California
2[ii] June 17, 2015 Charleston, South Carolina
3[iii] October 1, 2015 Roseburg, Oregon
4[iv] December 3, 2015 San Bernardino, California
5[v] October 2, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada
6[vi] November 5, 2017 Sutherland Springs, Texas
7[vii] February 14, 2018 Parkland, Florida
8[viii] May 18, 2018 Santa Fe, Texas
9[ix] September 13, 2018 Bakersfield, California
10[x] October 29, 2018 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11[xi] November 8, 2018 Thousand Oaks, California
12[xii] June 1, 2019 Virginia Beach, Virginia
13[xiii] August 4, 2019 El Paso, Texas
14[xiv] August 4, 2019 Dayton, Ohio
15[xv] February 26, 2020 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
16[xvi] March 17, 2021 Atlanta, Georgia
17[xvii] March 23, 2021 Boulder, Colorado
18[xviii] April 16, 2021 Indianapolis, Indiana
19[xix] May 26, 2021 San Jose, California
20[xx] May 16, 2022 Buffalo, New York
21[xxi] May 25, 2022[a] Uvalde, Texas
22[xxii] June 2, 2022 Tulsa, Oklahoma
23[xxiii] June 6, 2022 Chattanooga, Tennessee
24[xxiv] June 6, 2022 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
25[xxv] July 4, 2022[b] Highland Park, Illinois
26[xxvi] October 14, 2022 Raleigh, North Carolina
27[xxvii] November 20, 2022 Colorado Springs, Colorado
28[xxviii] November 23, 2022 Chesapeake, Virginia
29[xxix] January 23, 2023 Monterey Park, California
30[xxx] January 24, 2023 Half Moon Bay, California
31[xxxi] February 14, 2023 East Lansing, Michigan
32[xxxii] March 27, 2023 Nashville, Tennessee
33[xxxiii] April 10, 2023 Louisville, Kentucky
34[xxxiv] May 8, 2023 Allen, Texas
35[xxxv] July 5, 2023 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
36[xxxvi] October 26, 2023 Lewiston, Maine
37[xxxvii] September 4, 2024 Winder, Georgia
38[xxxviii] December 16, 2024 Madison, Wisconsin

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ On this date, The Onion's homepage also featured all 20 previously published articles.[10][12]
  2. ^ On this date, The Onion's homepage also featured all 24 previously published articles.[13][14]

References

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  1. ^ a b Fox, Kara; Shveda, Krystina; Croker, Natalie; Chacon, Marco (November 26, 2021). "How US gun culture stacks up with the world". CNN. Archived from the original on November 26, 2021. CNN's attribution: Developed countries are defined based on the UN classification, which includes 36 countries. Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Global Burden of Disease 2019), Small Arms Survey (Civilian Firearm Holdings 2017)
  2. ^ a b c Ember, Sydney (October 3, 2017). "The Onion's Las Vegas Shooting Headline Is Painfully Familiar". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Rosenberg, Eli (October 3, 2017). "Why this Onion article goes viral after every mass shooting". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Varagur, Krithika (December 3, 2015). "How Many Times Will The Onion Have To Repost This Article?". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  5. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 27, 2014. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  6. ^ Sanders, Sam (October 3, 2015). "#MemeOfTheWeek: That Article From The Onion About Mass Shootings". NPR. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  7. ^ Gillespie, Katherine (September 4, 2017). "Area Woman Interviews Editor of 'The Onion'". Vice. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  8. ^ Koning Beals, Rachel (February 15, 2018). "Onion writer's routinely recycled mass-shooting headline hits close to home". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  9. ^ Roeder, Jason [@jasonroeder] (February 15, 2018). "When I wrote this headline, I had no idea it would be applied to the high school a mile from my house" (Tweet). Retrieved May 29, 2022 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ a b "'The Onion' front page". The Onion. May 25, 2022. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ Treisman, Rachel (May 25, 2022). "'The Onion' has republished a grim headline about mass shootings 21 times since 2014". NPR. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Cantor, Matthew (May 27, 2022). "'No way to prevent this': why the Onion's gun violence headline is so devastating". The Guardian. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Spangler, Todd (July 5, 2022). "After July 4th Mass Shooting, The Onion Depressingly Reprises 'No Way to Prevent This' Homepage Takeover". Variety. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  14. ^ a b "'The Onion' front page". The Onion. July 5, 2022. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^ Abbruzzese, Jason (October 3, 2017). "'The Onion' keeps publishing the same mass shooting story, because we're all stuck". Mashable. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  16. ^ Suebsaeng, Asawin (April 13, 2017). "How 'The Onion' Became One of the Strongest Voices for Gun Control". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 25, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  17. ^ Raftery, Brian (June 15, 2016). "Only The Onion Can Save Us Now". Wired. Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2022.

Bibliography

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  1. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 27, 2014. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  2. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. June 17, 2015. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  3. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. October 1, 2015. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. December 3, 2015. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  5. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. October 2, 2017. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  6. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. November 5, 2017. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  7. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. February 14, 2018. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  8. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 18, 2018. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  9. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. September 13, 2018. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  10. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. October 29, 2018. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. November 8, 2018. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  12. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. June 1, 2019. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. August 4, 2019. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  14. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. August 4, 2019. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  15. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. February 26, 2020. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  16. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. March 17, 2021. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  17. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. March 23, 2021. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  18. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. April 16, 2021. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  19. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 26, 2021. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  20. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 16, 2022. Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
  21. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 25, 2022. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  22. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. June 2, 2022. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  23. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. June 6, 2022. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  24. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. June 6, 2022. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  25. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. July 4, 2022. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  26. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. October 14, 2022. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  27. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. November 20, 2022. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  28. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. November 23, 2022. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  29. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. January 23, 2023. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  30. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. January 24, 2023. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  31. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. February 14, 2023. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  32. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. March 27, 2023. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  33. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. April 10, 2023. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  34. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  35. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. July 5, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  36. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. October 26, 2023. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
  37. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. September 4, 2024. Archived from the original on September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  38. ^ "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". The Onion. December 16, 2024. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
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