--- title: The Colorado Springs Attack Didn't Happen in a Vacuum description: It's impossible to view the national environment toward LGBTQ rights and think it has no bearing on a deadly shooting at a gay nightclub. canonical: https://time.com/6235835/colorado-springs-america-muting-atrocity/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-11-21T22:15:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:05:38.117Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Attack on Colorado Springs Didn't Happen in a Vacuum og:description: America has gotten too good at muting the latest local atrocity og:url: https://time.com/6235835/colorado-springs-america-muting-atrocity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e76b0fb3edb69d/698a382a4ee262fd2731ae0c/GettyImages-1244950148.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - NOVEMBER 20:Liz Guerra, right, Eli Kin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Attack on Colorado Springs Didn't Happen in a Vacuum twitter:description: America has gotten too good at muting the latest local atrocity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e76b0fb3edb69d/698a382a4ee262fd2731ae0c/GettyImages-1244950148.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Attack on a Gay Bar in Colorado Springs Didn't Happen in a Vacuum  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Nov 21, 2022 10:15 PM UTC  Liz Guerra, right, Eli King (back to camera) and Tiffany Blackwell embrace in the overflow crowd outside a vigil related to the Club Q shooting at All Souls Unitarian Church on Sunday November 20, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Liz Guerra, right, Eli King (back to camera) and Tiffany Blackwell embrace in the overflow crowd outside a vigil related to the Club Q shooting at All Souls Unitarian Church on Sunday November 20, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colo.Matthew Staver—For the Washington Post  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Nov 21, 2022 10:15 PM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ A bullet doesn’t make _a_ sound. It makes the initial roar as it leaves the gun, sure. Its shock to the body is matched with a spiteful slap to the eardrum. The noise can expand if it echos, as is often the case when fired in a closed space, like a school hallway in [Newtown](https://time.com/3449676/the-story-behind-the-iconic-photograph-from-sandy-hook/), Conn., a basement Bible study in [Charleston](https://time.com/time-magazine-charleston-shooting-cover-story/), S.C., or the foyer of a synagogue in [Pittsburgh](https://time.com/5710735/tree-of-life-one-year-rebuild/). The shell casing can make its own distinct sound, whether it bounces on the linoleum floor of a school classroom in [Uvalde](https://time.com/6182095/uvalde-shooting-gun-violence/), Texas, or is muffled in the carpet 32 floors above the [Las Vegas](https://time.com/4970279/fight-over-gun-control-isnt-really-about-guns/) Strip. And the reverberations can last years, especially for survivors who just wanted to get through Valentine’s Day in [Parkland](https://time.com/longform/never-again-movement/), Fla., or to find their [safe space](https://time.com/4365403/orlando-shooting-gay-bar-pulse-nightclub/) in [Orlando](https://time.com/one-year-after-pulse/). And then there is the second-wave reverberation, a history [lesson](https://time.com/5061579/sandy-hook-newtown-history/) that tells us that any conversation about trying to quiet the ear-shattering explosion of each bullet is [pointless](https://time.com/5180537/gun-control-donald-trump-meeting/), that ultimately nothing can be done about guns in a country that has [more](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/19/there-are-more-guns-than-people-in-the-united-states-according-to-a-new-study-of-global-firearm-ownership/) weapons than citizens. So, as is the case far too often, the screech of yet more bullets established America’s latest soundtrack over the weekend as a gunman [burst](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/21/colorado-springs-clubq-shooting-live-updates/) into a Colorado Springs gathering place for members of the LGBTQ community Saturday night, opening fire to kill five and injure at least 18 more. A suspect is being held on preliminary [charges](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/21/us/colorado-springs-shooting-news) of murder and hate crimes, but those are subject to change as more is learned about him. Officials have been careful not to assign a motivation just yet to the attack on Club Q. But it stretches credulity to think the suspect in this case just happened to show up heavily armed and wearing body armor at one of the few places in the Springs where gay people—including [teens](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/21/colorado-springs-clubq-shooting-live-updates/) on some evenings—felt comfortable. It also demands an aggressive suspension of suspicion to think the current national environment toward LGBTQ rights has no bearing when a 22-year-old man allegedly walks into a gay bar and starts killing. This legislative season alone, lawmakers have introduced at least 344 anti-LGBTQ proposals, and 25 of them are now [law](https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/human-rights-campaign-responds-to-tragic-fatal-shooting-at-lgbtq-nightclub-in-colorado-springs-calls-attention-to-rise-in-anti-lgbtq-hate-and-senseless-gun-violence), according to the Human Rights Campaign. The most common headlines around this onslaught of legislation has been to keep transgender youths from pursuing health care, playing sports on the teams of their choosing, or even identifying themselves in schools—very controversial efforts if you spend much time in the conservative corners of the internet when one can simultaneously lament Caitlyn Jenner’s [persecution](https://time.com/4142000/time-person-of-the-year-runner-up-caitlyn-jenner-interview/) and obsess over a University of Pennsylvania [swimmer](https://www.si.com/college/2022/03/03/lia-thomas-penn-swimmer-transgender-woman-daily-cover) in the same burst of online outrage. Nothing, especially targeted executions, happen in a vacuum. Flags in Colorado are flying at half their height and [vigils](https://www.wsj.com/articles/colorado-springs-suspect-had-firearms-despite-violent-threats-made-last-year-11669049715?mod=hp%5Flead%5Fpos12) are popping up around the typically conservative city of Colorado Springs. The pain’s manifestation is sincere, but the follow-up probably will be a faint echo of it. Mass shootings often summon rage about why policymakers didn’t anticipate this, gnashing about how to stop the next slaying, recriminations about the power of gunmakers and retailers and sportsman groups that have been co-opted for political machinations. But one thing remains louder than all of that chatter, and that’s the many sounds of bullets. I spend a lot of time in the days after such mass killings reconstructing the details of these evenings and considering the prospects of legislative relief. Often, I will send notes and texts to lawmakers, furtively asking what Washington will be doing in response, and, in a performative way, everyone pretends that this time will be different. The optimism for restrictions grows dimmer every time, the time frame for such talk grows narrower. Every passing hour makes any meaningful adaptation less urgent; that half-life used to be measured in weeks, not commercial breaks. All the while, it’s impossible not to imagine what it must have been like—the sound of each bullet ripping through the rooms, the bodies, the lingering echo of the crime scenes. It is as deafening as it is depressing. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6235835/colorado-springs-america-muting-atrocity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6235835/colorado-springs-america-muting-atrocity/"},"headline":"The Attack on a Gay Bar in Colorado Springs Didn't Happen in a Vacuum","datePublished":"2022-11-21T22:15:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:05:38.117Z","description":"It takes an aggressive suspension of suspicion to view the national environment toward LGBTQ rights and think it has no bearing on the latest deadly attack on a gay nightclub.","url":"https://time.com/6235835/colorado-springs-america-muting-atrocity/","keywords":["The D.C. 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