So, Tabitha was with me when I heard the news of the mass-murder of innocent children and educators in Connecticut. It's just as well. There are some news stories that are so horrifying that there's no way, realistically, that you can keep it from a ten year old. I'd rather her hear about it from me than at recess at school. I just had a hard time finding words to make sense of the senseless for her, or for myself.
 |
| (credit: Being Liberal" on facebook) |
If you want to call this conversation politicizing a tragedy, then by all means, go right ahead, because I'm going to "politicize" the hell out of it. If now is not the time to talk about it, when is? When we've buried our dead again and it slips from the nation's consciousness? We didn't talk about it after the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. We didn't talk about it after Virginia Tech, or after the Temple in Wisconsin, or the theater in Aurora or even after a United States Congresswoman and 18 other people were shot, including Christina-Taylor Green, who was nine years old. She and five others died that day. When is a good time to talk about this? After the next tragedy or the next or the next?
Imagine with me: If all of the people who offered their thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims of this heinous act of violence instead called their representatives in government and demanded stricter controls on guns. What might happen then, if all the mothers in this country called a Congressman and two Senators and said, "Enough of our children have died...no more." Because that's what it's going to take--parents. Parents who hugged their children just a little longer and tighter last night. Parents that realize that it could have just as easily been their child.
This would not be a good time for anyone to defend their second amendment rights to me, because I am a mother. My children's right to live and go to school in safety trumps your right to arm yourself to the teeth. That being said, I do believe that people have the right to hunt and to defend themselves in their own homes. The problem lies with a lobby who has taken that very basic right and perverted it into a cottage industry that they are making a hell of a lot of money on.
This is not a slippery slope. We do not need semi-automatic military-style weapons to wage war on deer or elk. We do not need a .223 caliber weapon to protect our families. Nor do we need large clips of ammunition. Yesterday, the shooter was reported as having fired over 100 rounds before he made the choice to end his murderous rampage by taking his own life. I've seen many comments lamenting the fact that no teachers had a gun to stop him.
I've also seen many comments saying that knives are just as capable of taking lives and should we outlaw steak knives? The thing is...it's never a mass murder with a knife, is it? In fact, across the globe in China yesterday, a mad man attacked 22 children and one adult with a knife. Sixteen were hospitalized. No one died. Don't tell me knives are just as deadly as we lay to rest 26 human beings. Guns are the weapon of choice for those with murderous intent and they're oh so easy to obtain--even for the mentally ill. You see, if you are mentally disturbed, someone actually has to protest and a court proceeding must take place to strip you of the right to own a firearm. It's a very unlikely scenario for the disturbed to announce his intent to buy a firearm so that he can kill large numbers of fellow human beings in a very short amount of time.
In order to obtain a drivers license in this country a learners permit must be obtained. A person must take driver's education classes and then pass a written exam before the permit is issued. They take your picture and issue you a card and your information is kept on file with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Then you must log a number of hours behind the wheel of a car and then take a practical examination and pass a vision test before the state grants you driving privileges and a license. The standards for buying a firearm in this country are nowhere near as stringent.
To buy a rifle or a shotgun one need only to head down to their local Wal-Mart. In some states, you may have to wait a day or two for a rudimentary criminal background check, unless, of course, you go to a gun show, where background checks are often skirted. Driving is a privilege, but gun ownership is a right. If you don't think this is a problem, then there is something seriously wrong with you.
Despite what the leadership of the NRA would have you believe, I don't think anyone is arguing against the second amendment of the Constitution. Yes, we have the right to own firearms. However, we need common sense restrictions placed on that right. Uniform background checks both criminal and medical should be mandatory, as should a lengthy waiting period between the time of application and possession. Large ammunition clips should be outlawed--period, as should military-type assault rifles. No one needs an M16 or AR15 or AK47 style weapon to hunt or to protect their homes and families. There's only one purpose for such a weapon--to kill other people quickly and efficiently. No more gun shows where firearms are for sale. No more fire arms in discount department stores.
Will these measures stop gun violence? No. Will criminals still be able to obtain fire arms? Yes. But it won't be quite as easy for them to do so. They won't have the ability to fire many, many rounds of ammunition in a matter of moments. We have to start somewhere. We have to start sometime.
How many of our children must die before we say, enough? How many children are too many for our elected officials to stand up to the power and money of the NRA and act in society's best interest instead of kowtowing to threat of being ousted from their office by one of the most powerful and well funded lobbies in Washington?
So, parents, it is up to us. It's time for us to rise up and dare the NRA to tell us that enough blood has not yet been shed. It's time for us to stand up to our elected officials and promise them that if they do not act, they surely will not be returning to their seat of inscrutable power in Congress. It's time to defy those who believe that their right to own a firearm usurps our children's right to life and safety.
If every mother and father in this nation stands up and demands common sense restrictions on gun ownership it would take a far braver man or woman than exists in Congress today to stop us. We have the power to change the way things are right now. So, please, hug your sons and daughters a little tighter today and remember those moms and dads who have been deprived of that simple act forever more. Let your heart break as you try to explain this madness to your own children. But instead of saying a prayer, do something that will make a difference. Call your representatives in Washington and DEMAND that they enact legislation that will protect our children. Tell them that enough is enough and the price has been paid a thousand times over. Then and only then can you look your child in the eye and tell them that you're doing your best to ensure that they can go to school in safety. Only then can you rest in the knowledge that you've done your part. Saying a prayer is not enough this time.
Find your representatives in Congress here.
Send President Obama a message using this form.
No comments:
Post a Comment