I am angry. I am angry that my country is being ripped apart by conscienceless elected officials who value their own power and wealth more than the lives of their constituents. I am angry that 17 lives, most of them children, were wiped out because our elected officials REFUSE to do their jobs. And before that, two other schoolchildren in Kentucky, and one student in Arizona, and it’s only February! And before that, 58 people in Las Vegas. And before that massacre, many more. Hundreds more people are injured in these shootings and will carry both the emotional and physical scars for the rest of their lives. Some will not be able to live normal lives as a result of their injuries. A recent article in the Washington Post stated, “An ongoing Washington Post analysis has found that more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.” These shootings do not have to happen. And, no, the answer is not to arm every student and teacher or to turn our schools into fortresses like Fort Knox as some conservatives want. That is asking for numerous deaths and injuries just from accidental firing.
It is time to take action instead of succumbing to numbness and turning our attention back to our own lives and breathing with relief as the disturbing images of murdered children and grieving parents fade from the news, as we did after the horrific Las Vegas shootings. I read a post this morning from the friend of a teacher whose school had a fire drill yesterday. The students were terrified that they were going to be shot. The teacher helped calm them, and they completed the drill. The teacher made this comment to his or her friend: “I STOOD IN FRONT OF YOUR KIDS AND WAITED TO DIE FOR THEM.” Think about that. Every day, in a place that should be safe, students and teachers are subconsciously listening for the shots that might kill them, and even unexpected fire drills terrorize them. What does it do to our children to live in an environment where they can be sent into instant terror by a routine fire drill or even loud bangs that might sound like a gunshot?
Our country has a cancer. Its name is paranoia fueled by big money. It remains to be seen whether it is terminal. Most of us go about our daily lives, oblivious to the malignancy that has been growing for years and that many refuse to see. The gun culture in this country is sick. It is cancerous. The District of Columbia et al. v. Heller opinion that upheld the right to bear arms, does not prevent states or the federal government from outlawing “dangerous and unusual weapons,” which assault-style weapons intended for military use most certainly are. Gun owners say they need guns for protection, but simple handguns or hunting rifles will serve that purpose, and millions of responsible gun owners have only such guns.
It is the millions more who have allowed themselves to be convinced by AM hate radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones (and there are many more) or dark internet sites that the government is bad and they need to be prepared to overthrow it or to protect their families from some imaginary, jack-booted force of federal marshals who are somehow coming to do away with conservatives. These radio hosts lie and stir up anger because that is exactly what keeps their ratings high and their multi-million dollar contracts coming. Alex Jones had the audacity to lie about the Sandy Hook massacre that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adults trying to protect them. If you are willing to lie about innocent schoolchildren being murdered, then you are willing to lie about anything.
The cancer slowly killing our society is a deliberate attempt to convince people that they are being wronged and that gun owners need more and more weapons to protect themselves from the imaginary threats ginned up by hate radio, and yes Fox News and many white supremacy Internet sites. We are not treating that cancer. We are just allowing it to grow. Free speech arguments keep these damaging cancers on the airwaves and infecting too many brains. Many people do not listen to this brainwashing, but far too many, especially in rural areas where there may not be other options, do. But even if we don’t listen, we can contact advertisers who carry their programs and tell them we will not be buying their products. We can check with our schools and colleges and ask why they support such programs by allowing those stations to broadcast their sports games. And most easily, we can contact our members of Congress and insist that enough is enough. It is time for them to stop listening to the NRA instead of the people who voted them into office.
We are the ONLY country in the world that has many mass murders every year, and some conservatives say that this is the price we must pay for freedom. NO! NO! NO! This sick gun worship has nothing to do with freedom. Countries like France, England, Australia, and many more are just as free as we are and they do not have mass murders of innocent children. We can start the change process. If enough people call and write members of Congress, write letters to their local papers, and finally vote out the people who take contributions from the NRA and refuse to protect our children. I am asking my representatives to refuse NRA contributions and to support stricter gun safety laws as well as a ban on assault weapons and their bullets as a first step. There is a reason why the number of people killed in mass murders increased after the Congress refused to extend their ban.
It will be hard to avoid letting this latest atrocity fade from memory as the daily news of chaos in the White House distracts us. If you agree with the need for immediate and ongoing action, please share widely. We can make a change, but not if we just do nothing and decide that we will have to let this cancer take its course.