World News for Students of English

14-12-2015 15:00

In America, the perceived threat of ISIS has prompted many to reach for their guns. Firearms sales have gone through the roof. A hundred and eighty-five thousand rifles were bought in the States on Black Friday alone this year, and the figures have sparked sharply since the San Bernardino shootings.

“So how am I supposed to reassure people? All right, I can’t reassure them that the mentally ill aren’t going to do it, I can’t reassure them that the ideologically motivated by other ideological concerns won’t do it, I sure as heck can’t say to them that I can guarantee we can keep AK-47s out of the hands of, you know, ISIS wannabes… Can’t do it!”

Too many people have lost faith in the authority’s ability to protect them behind the Donald Trump line that their country is just not safe anymore.

“We can have this beautiful parade like this and it can happen here…”

“I totally feel that people are nuts, especially in any kind of big thing like this where anything like that can happen, especially with these automatic terrible semi-automatic weapons… It’s is just awful.”

America knows all about mass shootings but this one carried out by Jihadists has been viewed differently. Terrorist targets to train your sights on. When threatened, these people believe attack is the best form of defence.

Difficult words: perceive (to become aware of something), threat (a danger), prompt (to make), go through the roof (to reach extreme heights), rifle (a long gun), figure (a number), spark (to start to go up), reassure (to make someone feel better), ideological (following an idea), wannabe (a person who wants to be like somebody), semi- (partly).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com