It happens again and
again and again. And nothing ever seems
to change.
The horrific events at a
Clips from the Gabrielle Gifford campaign shooting the other day brought me to tears. Not just the awful loss of life that day, but that since that incident we have done...nothing, NOTHING to change anything.
And now it's happened again. A mass shooting at a community college in
So what exactly is it that I'm hoping will change?
Gun violence in this country takes an enormous
amount of lives. Bob Herbert, the prominent newspaper writer and
columnist, said on a news program I saw, that since the assassinations of
Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, we have lost over a million
people in this country to gun violence (including incidents labeled as
"gun accidents"). The U.S.
We have a sickness in this country, something
in this culture that causes us to reach for guns in such a destructive way.
The primary driver may beour frontier attitude of "circle the wagons",
our deeply embedded fear that what we have will be taken from us. For
whatever reason, many of us have a quick, fierce temper in this country, and
guns are often used to settle problems, or are brought out in the heat of the
moment.
It is true that there are many, many very
responsible gun owners in this country. But it also undeniably true that
irresponsible use of guns is rampant.
So nothing changes because our country
doesn't seem to evolve to a higher state of caring for each other, of
not resorting to guns to settle disputes or dissipate anger. We
may actually be going backwards on this as our politics become more divided and
hate filled. Recently, more laws have passed increasing the availability
of guns, including where you can carry them and how you can use them (Stand
Your Ground laws), including the "Guns Everywhere" law passed in the Georgia
There was some hope in the wake of the
Gabrielle Gifford shooting that our political rhetoric would clean up its act.
But, after a brief period of mouthing platitudes, things went right back
to the way they were. Nothing changed. After each incident, the same cycle repeats
itself.
But now we get to the third rail. The
NRA has this country by the throat, and any kind of common sense gun control is
choked off and shot dead even before it is a born. My guess is, if I know my social
media audience and many of my newspaper readers, it is the one thing that will
cause the most squealing and screaming, more than any other issue I could bring up.
And yet, something obviously needs to be
done. Gun show loopholes need to be closed, background checks need to be
intensified, and assault rifle legislation needs to be renewed.
There are many measures that we if we talked as reasonable people we
could accomplish, and still preserve the rights of gun owners.
100 round ammo clips. Good Lord!
If you use it for deer hunting, there won't be much left of the deer.
If you have it in your house, and you're responsible, it's not assembled.
If it's not assembled, the robber, the "other" you fear, is not
going to give you the time to assemble it. And odds are high that he will
have all or part of it before you do. If you think it's going to help you
overthrow a tyrannical government - surprise! No matter what you do,
their weaponry is going to exceed your weaponry. You are much better off
using the non-violent methods of Martin Luther King and Gandhi.
Guns may not kill people, as the cliché goes,
but certainly people with 100 round ammo clips can kill a whole lot more
people.
I think this is well said. I believe you have written something that is causing a reaction. You are being heard. Tom Strait is an important voice and I am proud to know you. Chris Jeffords
ReplyDeleteI think this is well said. I believe you have written something that is causing a reaction. You are being heard. Tom Strait is an important voice and I am proud to know you. Chris Jeffords
ReplyDeleteTHank you, Chris. Some of the more moderating tones that I had originally put in were taken out by The Blackshear Times. I did try to make it clear that some common sense gun control reforms were only part of the solution. The problem is more complicated than any one solution.
ReplyDeleteJust this morning, I read about the death of a Decatur toddler who was hit and killed by a stray bullet that someone celebrating the new year shot into the air. It came back down and killed the baby. Morons! What are people doing shoot guns in celebration? We need change. Let's start at the schools. Stop the incessant school testing and let's teach citizenship and character Ed when they're little. Let's teach conflict resolution and compassion...this generation of voters are a lost cause, but we have little ones to raise. Eh, it's a start.
ReplyDelete