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| The Eyes of a Mass Murderer |
Another 17 families are forever changed. Destroyed. Another 17 of our nation’s children were executed at the hands of a home-grown terrorist with access to a rapid-fire, semi-automatic weapon that can deliver mass-casualties in mere seconds.
The latest in yet another school shooting. America 2018.
I don’t know about you, but I am sick of this. I can’t stand to watch or hear about another mass-shooting in America. It’s tragic. I can hardly stomach this anymore. The families. The victims. The shooter. So much information.
So many people shouting.
To what end?
In the days after the all too common mass-shooting, we start to hear about the victims. We learn about who they were, their goals, their lives. Cut short for doing nothing more than going to school. What always felt like a safe zone to me as a kid, is now the battlefield in the fight for responsible gun laws.
This is what it’s come to.
The hard-right with their thoughts and prayers say we shouldn’t politicize or talk about it. It’s too soon they say. We need more information before we jump to conclusions. They say these things while ignoring the majority of Americans that want reasonable common-sense gun laws.
Three of the worst mass shootings in American history occurred in just the last year. Columbine, once considered the worst of them, no longer resides in the top 10. A quarter of all mass-shootings now occur in schools. This is where we’ve come as a nation after the shock of what occurred on that Spring day in Colorado on April 20, 1999.
Is this a watershed moment?
I hope so.
We have to do better. It is our duty. With the power to vote and bring about change, it is our obligation as parents and as citizens. We have to use that power to send a message to those that refuse to act. All of them.
I can understand the anger from the survivors of the most recent mass shooting at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We have failed them and every other child for nearly two decades. As heartbreaking as it might be to listen to these kids and watch the incident unfold online, we must listen.
We must take action.
The Voices
Emma Gonzales, who has garnered attention for her powerful speech, is absolutely right when she says we had our chance and messed it up. As a Nation, we have grown complacent in the battle for Gun Control. We failed these kids. Plain and simple.
We have resolved to keep letting NRA gun-nuts shout us down after every mass shooting until no one wants to discuss it anymore. Many of us who keep shouting for gun reform inevitably have to deal with the nation turning it’s back on us mass shootings are hard to talk about. It's cowardice.
It isn’t just the gun-nuts that ignore us. It is the vast majority of the Nation which seems content with hoping it would never happen again. It's as if the majority of Americans couldn't be bothered to make a simple call or write a letter to their representatives. Nothing.
It's that complacency that has enraged these students. They are done with just waiting for the next mass shooting to occur. They are done with American waiting for something change. They are done listening to us talk about change and never following through.
Sending thoughts and prayers isn't following through.
It's an excuse not to act.
But that is about to change. Thanks to the strength and voices of students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the nation is finally having a real, no-nonsense discussion about reforming gun laws. A conversation that is long overdue.
"To politicians who sit in guilded houses and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing can be done — we are calling BS!”
- Emma Gonzalez
Most of us from my generation (Gen-X) have been active on this and many other social issues. But we have not done enough. There is a lot to be learned from these powerful voices. Watching them take charge of protecting children in America is okay and we should let them take the front seat.
Let them lead us for once.
They are providing a much-needed perspective that was previously unheard of. We are hearing and seeing things we’ve never seen or heard before. It’s a perspective that has caused many Americans to take pause. It’s a truly exceptional and powerful thing these kids are doing.
We must support that thing.
We need to back them up. Defend them. Fight alongside them. We raised this generation of young adults and now we must protect them. The time has come to hold NRA backed representatives to account and vote them out of office. If a politician wants to be soft on gun control, they need to go.
That’s how we win this.
Solutions
The solutions to the problem of mass-shootings are plentiful. There are many great ideas already out there. The parents of victims of these incidents have been proposing changes for decades only to be ignored. Those days are over.
One thing is certain when Mike Pence promised that the administration would take a renewed look at giving law enforcement the ability to “deal” with mentally ill people, it showed just how out of touch politicians can be.
The answers to dealing with mental health lie in funding proper medical and psychological help, not criminalizing the mentally ill. We’ve already seen enough evidence that tells us law-enforcement officers are probably more ill-equipped to deal with the mentally ill than anyone else.
We can not put our faith in the current administration and I wouldn’t put much weight into the current Congress either. Sadly, we won’t see any changes until we vote against all of the do-nothing politicians that put NRA money over the safety of their constituency. They ALL need to go.
It’s time.
Although we don’t have much faith in the current representation on Washington, that doesn’t mean we don’t start pushing for change in current gun laws. We can propose solutions and use them as qualifiers for candidates who are running for office right now.
Here are just a few ideas off the top of my head:
- Closing the gun show loophole that allows buyers to bypass background checks
- Require more extensive background checks
- Disallowing those convicted of domestic violence to purchase firearms
- Require a safety class certification for each new weapon purchased
- Require securing firearms in households with children
- Require firearm insurance for all gun owners
- Require permitting of all weapons
- Raise the age from 18 to 21 for purchases of semi-automatic weapons
- Ending the purchase and sale of weapons by unlicensed sellers
- Limit the amounts of firearms purchased in a single year
- Restrictions on magazine capacities
- Restrictions on open carry laws
- Fully funding mental health care
The NRA wouldn't support such measures either.
And that is the problem, isn't it? The NRA with all of it's fear-mongering, divisive, low-key racist propaganda doesn't want to see any restrictions. Take a look at who sits on the board at the NRA and that will tell you everything you need to know about why the NRA refuses to act. It doesn't matter if the measures create a better, safer society. All they want to do is keep selling more and more guns.
To them, the lives of hundreds of children are the costs of their perception of freedom. The freedom of children to feel safe while at school carries no weight with them. Anyone who seeks changes to gun laws is considered enemies of freedom to the NRA.
Remember this when it comes time to vote in the upcoming elections in less than a year. Get registered and make sure you vote. Let's destroy the political power of the NRA in Washington and in every single state in America. Let's show them that our voices carry more weight than their blood-soaked dollars.
It's time to draw a line in the sand.
It's time to take these do-nothing politicians to task.
United we stand. United we win.
The fight continues…
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