Survivors slam gun violence by sharing bloody crime scene photos

These photos would make almost anyone sick to their stomach. But there’s an important reason why they are being shared online. WARNING: Graphic content

WARNING: Graphic

Kate Ranta was shot by her enraged ex-husband for simply daring to leave him.

It was a similar story for Kimberly Brusk, who was also shot by her ex in 2009.

And Rachael Joseph’s aunt Shelley was slaughtered in a courthouse shooting as she desperately tried to call for help.

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These US women are now sharing their horrific stories on social media as the debate over America’s gun violence epidemic continues to rage.

Using the hashtag #ThisIsMyLane, shooting survivors and relatives of victims who didn’t make it are now sharing confronting pictures of their crime scenes in an attempt to fight back against the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The latest controversy was sparked last week, when the NRA slammed anti-gun doctors on Twitter by telling them to “stay in their lane” and remain quiet regarding gun crime.

In response, doctors around the country and the world began tweeting their own experiences attempting to save shooting victims, with many sharing gruesome, bloody photos of themselves and operating theatres soaked in patients’ blood.

Now, the victims themselves are joining the cause, with survivors sharing their own brutal attacks on Twitter.

This is my crime scene. My ex shot me because I left him. A surgeon put my hand back together. The @NRA needs to sit down. #ThisISMyLane pic.twitter.com/fFkdkmLtmV

— Kate Ranta (@ravinranta) November 13, 2018

As a survivor of domestic and gun violence I am still fighting to keep my family safe ten years and $137k later. Help keep my family safe: https://t.co/boKnaQGSQq
Survivors need direct support and services so they aren’t abused through the court system. #ThisISMyLane pic.twitter.com/vmaP4TlXtP

— Kimberly Brusk (@peaceforus4ever) November 13, 2018

Surgeons couldn’t save my aunt Shelley. One of the four bullets to her neck traveled through her artery to her aorta and it exploded, killing her. #ThisIsMyLane pic.twitter.com/97H43NPekj

— Rachael Joseph (@titusthemutt) November 13, 2018

Speaking with Insider, Ms Ranta, who tweeted photos of her own bloody 2012 crime scene and gunshot wounds, said she wanted to stand with the medical community in condemning the NRA and gun violence.

“The hashtag … was originally started as a place for the medical community to come into the conversation, which we’ve needed for a long time,” Ms Ranta told the publication.

“I think my twist on it was as a survivor, this is also my lane.

“This is my lane and I’m staying in it because I lived it.”

Insider also spoke with Ms Ranta’s friend and fellow activist and survivor Kimberly Brusk, who said the gory photographs should serve as a wake-up call to the “desensitised” public.

“I and several survivor friends saw that doctors were speaking out and they often can’t show our pictures without our consent,” she told the publication.

“And because so many of us die, we that are living need to show the honest truth of what gun violence looks like.

“Every opportunity that we have to do that, I think that any of us that can, should. I understand not being able to, but if you’re able to, the country’s become far too desensitised to gun violence.”

People who have lost relatives to gun violence are also sharing pictures of their dead loved ones through the #ThisIsMyLane hashtag.

This beautiful girl is the beloved child of my friend Rhonda Hart. She will be forever 14 because of gun violence. Her death was preventable. Her mother will never stop grieving. #GunControlNow #mylane @NRAblog #ThisISMyLane https://t.co/1B5mwLABBF

— Londa Clark 🏳️‍🌈 🌊🌊🌊 (@ClarkLonda) November 14, 2018

My girl shot 6xs by an AR15. Ammo is designed to do the most harm to the human body. Head shot left a 5in hole in her face. #ThisISMyLane pic.twitter.com/DCf1sDRRbZ

— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) November 13, 2018

It has been a horror year for gun violence in the US, with last week’s Borderline Bar & Grill massacre in California marking the 307th mass shooting in 311 days, according to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, which tracks shooting statistics.

In total, 328 people died in those incidents, and 1251 were injured.

The bar attack, which killed 12, was the deadliest mass shooting in America since 17 teachers and students died during the bloody Parkland school shooting on Valentine’s Day.

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