Living in fear as American culture imitates what it sees

Shooting sprees are on the rise, proof courtesy of the television screens

Will you lock yourself in your home and just hide,

Or go out and play God with a gun at your side?

   Becoming a target or arming yourself

   You're a victim of fear either way

   Living in paranoia on the defense

   Or taking the chance of being gunned down one day

   So who's pulling the trigger, who's calling the shots?

   Who is it that's controlling our fate?

   We're all responsible for the environment we've created

   Where none of us will ever be safe

Here comes the headlines and here comes the tears

The media feeding us our greatest fears

We see the horrifying images again and again

Children are being murdered by children

We just accept this as tragedies of life

What does this say about us?

When will we seek out some genuine solutions?

And show that we've all had enough?

   Becoming a target or arming yourself

   You're a victim of fear either way

   Living in paranoia on the defense

   Or taking the chance of being gunned down one day

   So who's pulling the trigger, who's calling the shots?

   Who is it that's controlling our fate?

   We're all responsible for the environment we've created

   Where none of us will ever be safe

As political experts discuss and debate

Who it is that's responsible for al of this hate

They're building their political platforms on a pile of corpses

Pointing their fingers and quoting us sources

Scapegoating is too easy for society's decay

Entertainment, music, drugs or the N.R.A.

What will it accomplish to pass stricter laws

When it's actually our apathy that's a much greater cause?

As long as we leave our apathy alive

We're killing our children's chances to survive

Our idealistic intentions are wrapped in a shroud

The responsibility rests with what we've allowed

A society that taught us to kill or be killed

Convinced that this is the only way to be fulfilled

I just hope that we realize before it's too late

That we ultimately control our community's fate

   Becoming a target or arming yourself

   You're a victim of fear either way

   Living in paranoia on the defense

   Or taking the chance of being gunned down one day

   So who's pulling the trigger, who's calling the shots?

   Who is it that's controlling our fate?

   We're all responsible for the environment we've created

   Where none of us will ever be safe