Within a few hours on the night of April 25, 2026, two episodes of gun violence shook both Bloomington and the country at large. A few hours after a man charged into the Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. and gun shots rang out, forcing the evacuation of President Donald Trump from the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, a shooting took place on Kirkwood Avenue in downtown Bloomington in the aftermath of the Little 500 bike race. According to the police report, five individuals were injured by gunfire and others were injured while attempting to flee the area. According to the Bloomingtonian, the suspect is now in custody.
These types of gun violence have become startlingly common in the U.S. Everytown, a think tank focusing on gun violence, found that 59 percent of adults or someone they know have experienced gun violence in their lifetime. Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.
Where these events differ, however, is the response to each. For a mid size town in Indiana, this is just another shooting that luckily had no deaths. For Trump and his Department of Justice, the event prompted outcry that Trump would have been better protected by his proposed White House ballroom. On May 4, Republicans in the Senate proposed a $72 billion dollar package for funding immigration and customs enforcement, according to Politico, with $1 billion being set aside for security measures at the White House. While the bill does not specifically fund the ballroom, there is a possibility that these funds will be used if the renovation is framed in the interest of security.
Instead of offering a broader solution for limiting gun violence, this administration thinks only to protect themselves, imagining the ballroom as a fortress to keep out those they do not want.
For all of the kids across America, seeing this message from our President, this seems like a cruel joke. When a school shooting happens, the most that people can do is to send thoughts and prayers. For our country’s leader, a horrific experience turns into an opportunity for a White House renovation.
Not only is this response insensitive, it is improbable that the ballroom would work for such events. According to the PBS, the proposed ballroom would only seat 999 people. The White House Correspondent’s Dinner had 2,300 attendees. The White House is not a suitable place to host major events with so many moving parts.
Of course, no one deserves to live in fear of gun violence. But unfortunately, many do, and many will continue to even if Trump’s ballroom is completed. According to Everytown, the US gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries. This should not be the norm. We deserve productive action against gun violence that will help all people – not a gilded ballroom that only those with enough wealth and power can enjoy.
