Eric Cantor's unexpected primary loss last night has been described by the media as "shocking," "stunning," and "seismic." You know which event wasn't characterized using any of the above adjectives? Yesterday's fatal school shooting outside of Portland, Oregon.
[Indeed, Google the words "stunning" and either "Oregon" or "Portland," and you'll find stories about either Cantor or a couple's wedding images before a forest fire.]
In the 18 months since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been "an average of 1.37 school shootings for each school week." That's 74 school shootings in less than two years.
It's no wonder bombastic adjectives weren't used to describe what occurred in Oregon yesterday. These are no longer surprises, a fact which inspired the following from WAMU's Martin Austermuhle:
President Obama rightly said that we, as a nation, "
should be ashamed" of the gun violence ravaging our nation, noting that we are "the only developed country on Earth where this happens."
However, we need to be more than ashamed. We must continue to be outraged, stunned, shocked. And we must continue to express that outrage, to press politicians, to yell, fight, march, write and dialogue. To counter NRA lobbying and Fox News inanity with a cacophony of pained and outraged voices.
To form a militia of the rational to defend our country. A militia of the unarmed and the responsibly armed. A militia of mothers and daughters and sisters and brothers to protect our children the most present danger from violence facing our nation: ourselves.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.