There is no image that can capture my silent rage.
During the 2016 primary season my husband came home talking about Bernie Sanders. I had not been following. We live in Illinois which is later in the calendar and not typically a big primary decider. He spoke excitedly about how progressive Bernie is, how much he cares for social justice and the environment, etc. etc. I held up my hand and asked him one question.
Where does he stand on gun control?
My husband looked askance. “He’s from Vermont, Vermont’s a big gun state, he’s probably not going to do anything about guns in this country.”
“Well then,” I answered, “I can’t support him.”
Perhaps it sounds silly for me to say that, but when we lived in Texas my husband and I walked up and down the street carrying giant handmade signs to support Obama during the primary. We caucused for him at the county level, not to mention the amount of money we donated to that campaign. Even though we are big progressives, I would not make a single phone call or donate a dollar to support Bernie Sanders.
At the time of the conversation with my husband, I was still mad about Sandy Hook. I’m STILL mad about Sandy Hook and every bullet since then has been another notch in my rage.
On December 14th 2012 a mentally ill person attacked a primary school in Chenpeng, China. That’s right, on the exact SAME day of the Sandy Hook Massacre. Because of strict gun control laws in China, he only had a knife. Do you know how many people he killed that day? zero. ZERO. Z-E-R-O Remember that story when people tell you “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”
en.wikipedia.org/...
Mental Health is a problem, but mental health is not our mass shooting problem. Guns are. A gun’s sole purpose is to kill. Never forget that. Talk about a Ten Commandments violation. I don’t really consider myself a Christian, but even I can see that owning a gun is the antithesis to Christianity. Jesus said, ‘turn the other cheek’ not hunker down with a military weapon to protect your rights.
This is a wedge issue for me as a voter now. After Las Vegas, my husband came home and said, “I think this has just become a wedge issue for me, too.”
I hope so… I hope it becomes a wedge issue for many of us Democrats and Republican alike, for our children’s sake.
Democrats — do not put another person up for election who is soft on guns.