None of us have been the same since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday. I am finding it hard to concentrate, hard to find hope and impossible to think about the families whose lives have been changed forever.
Although all I really want to do right now is take my family and pull the covers over us, I know we have to turn this grief and shock into action. This is the time. If the deaths of 20 little children can’t motivate us, what will?
I certainly don’t have the answers and I realize the problem is complex, multi-layered, and includes huge issues like:
. making mental health care easily accessible and removing the stigma of getting help
. self-censoring the excessive violence the media throws at us 24/7
. providing adolescent boys with tools to deal with their anger
. teaching our children to value human life
None of these will be easy to accomplish.
The one thing that will make a difference – immediately – is to get guns out of the equation. We hear all the time that “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” The simple truth is that guns do kill people. Without guns, there wouldn’t be mass shootings. There wouldn’t be any shootings.
Yes, those who are determined to destroy lives can certainly find other means of doing so but let’s at least make it harder for them. Guns make it too easy. On the same day the tragedy at Sandy Hook took place, a man with a knife walked into a school in China and stabbed 22 children. Those children are alive. The first graders attacked at Sandy Hook are dead.
I know that guns are here to stay, but we have to find a way to control them. As we’ve seen on all the posters going around Facebook, it’s more difficult to get a driver’s license, a same-sex marriage license – even Sudafed – than to buy a gun. You can pick up an assault rifle, along with your groceries, at Walmart.
Maybe we put a heavy tax on ammunition, just like we’ve done on cigarettes. Maybe we make gun owners accountable for any crime committed with their gun. If they don’t feel comfortable with that, they shouldn’t buy the gun.
I fear that we are being desensitized to these mass shootings as they become more and more common. We shake our heads, we grieve, and we pray no one we know will be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But someone will be because, as every expert points out, this is going to happen again.
Unless we do something. Now.
My fellow blogger, Sharon Greenthal, has compiled a detailed list of resources so you can take action. Read her post and do something.
My friend, Marci Rich, offers her perspective and provides links to the voices of other bloggers here. It is important to keep the dialogue open, listen to each other and demand change.
Feeling safe should have nothing to do with politics. It should have everything to do with being able to go shopping, go to the movies, go to school without worrying about being shot.
The weapons of mass destruction do exist – and they’re in our own neighbors’ homes.
This post originally appeared on my former blog, StyleSubstanceSoul.
Gayle Glass says
I, too, have been so devastated since this senseless tragedy.
Gun control and more attention to mental illness.
lisa weldon says
I have a 20-year-old son who held a gun to his head 30 days ago, tired of living in the mental hell he had resided in since birth. Our society has a lot of ills to rid itself of…guns, violent video games, segregation in the classrooms, labels . . . I say we start with mental health. Thank you for your excellent post.
Sally Prangley says
I believe our right to life trumps anyone’s right to own a gun. Period. I am also in favor of repealing the 2nd amendment. Why not? Give me one rational reason why, in this day and age, anyone needs to “bear arms” except, perhaps, to protect oneself from another who is practicing their right to “bear arms.”
Amy Ferris says
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you a million times. xoxoxox
Sarah Strohmeyer says
I’m so glad you said you haven’t been able to concentrate. Me, too. Forget “getting into the Xmas spirit.” I’m so glad my children are largely grown so I don’t have to pretend.
When my now 17-year-old son was going into eighth grade, we came home from summer vacation to learn that a friend of his – not a close friend – had gotten into a fight with his stepfather about hockey. It was the summer so what could they have been arguing about? Anyway, in a fit of pique, the boy, age 13, went upstairs, unlocked his parents’ gun cabinet and shot himself in the head.
What I will never forget are the wails from his mother at the funeral home. They haunt me still.
And all I kept thinking was if they hadn’t had that #$%@ gun, this boy might have made up with his loving step father an hour later. He’d be alive today.
What we can do now as parents? Get rid of the guns. Don’t just lock them up. Get them out of the house. You can go hunting later.
Liz Hughes, Virtually Homemade says
Mel – sorry but assault rifles and semi automatic weapons make it much easier for PEOPLE to kill many people in a smaller amount of time. As posted in this article, a man with a knife entered a school in China and stabbed 22 children and they are still alive.
Taking away guns will not erase evil but pragmatically thinking, it will definitely take one of evil’s tools away.
Jennifer Simpson says
agree… and I can’t help but think about Treyvon Martin… if Zimmerman hadn’t been carrying a gun, that confrontation may have only been a fist fight. We also need to change the culture of violence in which we are raising out children. We are a country at war, our t.v. shows, movies, and video games depict so much violence that it appears “normal.” But it doesn’t have to be. We don’t have to settle for less than we deserve: an environment that nurtures our better instincts, not our basest.
Ginger Robertson says
I don’t own a gun but I do believe that if I want a hand gun I should be able to have one. In my opinion, only the police and military should be allowed to have AK-47 and related semi and automatic weapons such as this. The everyday citizen doesn’t need such.
Mel says
If you take away guns, things will get much worse. Those crazy people will know that and will break into houses more, using knives instead of guns. PEOPLE kill people, whether they use a gun, knife, bomb or whatever else they may decide to use. Taking guns away will not erase evil!
Sarah Strohmeyer says
Mel:
Here in Vermont, serial killer Israel Keyes was unarmed when he broke into the house of an unsuspecting couple, found their gun and used it to kill them.
Nancy Burian says
The other day was my birthday and I went to this great tree ornament exchange party at a friends house. At the end of the party, my friend and Iwere chatting about this very subject and she had a really good response about it. Yes, we do need to change the laws about guns. The only people that need those high powered rifles are the police and military. We, the normal people, have no reason for them at all. They should be outlawed and I agree with her. The waiting period should also be extended to give enough time for a complete background check. The NRA needs to change it’s ways also and should not have as much power in D.C. The priority here is LIFE and we are #1. And, God bless those babies and teachers !
Sandie Nielson says
I too have been greatly saddened by the senseless killing of children by an obviously deranged young man. I too believe that the ability to purchase assault rifles and semi automatic weapons should not be allowed. Until our borders are secured even with new laws passed the weapons will continue to pour in to this country. I do not believe that everyone in this country should have to give up their personal guns that are not the above type of gun….We need to provide better more affordable mental health care and take the stigma out of mental illness. The U.S. is on over load with ill people who so desperately need to have a voice that they will do some horrible unspeakable act to have that voice….for what purpose? obviously there is none, but once again they are mentally ill, lets save lives by helping those who need help.receive it along with getting rid the assault and semi automatic weapons
mary renshaw says
I have a 6 year old and am too saddened by the devastating events in CT. HOWEVER, drunk drivers kill MORE innocent lives than guns. And drugs are illegal but you can go to any college campus and get both alcohol and drugs. Guns are not the problem, GUNS alone CANNOT KILL. Its PEOPLE that kill.
Amy Krause says
As always I am touched and in awe of the honest emotional exchange of ideas and opinions. I thank you all.
Amy
Bryan says
I don’t believe we should abolish the 2nd amendment. It was created at a time in our country’s history when it was important that citizens have the ability to rise up against an oppressive government. Think about it, if our forefathers never got their hands on any guns we would never have been able to break away from England and be a free country of our own.
That said, I agree that citizens do NOT have a right to the types of guns used in these mass shootings. We need to outlaw ALL types of guns like that. The black market for them will then increase and prices will be unaffordable for most.
Chris Rock, the comedian, did a great skit about this. He said, “We don’t need gun control, we need bullet control. If bullets cost $5,000 there would be no more innocent bystanders…” He was onto something years ago when he first said that.
Bottom line, we might disagree on the little nuances here, but SOMETHING has to be done to move us forward on this issue. We need to make protecting our kids a HUGE priority in this country. Criminals get more protection than our kids do, it’s insane.
Tina C says
I have had the same feelings. I’ve been absolutely distraught over this, and we cannot tolerate the slaughter of our children for the so-called defense of 2nd amendment rights. Mary R, you are wrong. Drunk drivers don’t set out to kill, drugs- however lethal in some doses- are not mainly to kill. Guns are. That argument is inane and an insult. I agree completely that it’s a multi-faceted problem, but the best place to start is with gun safety legislation. I wondered if this insanity goes on if we should one day have to send our children to school in body armor. An 11-yr old brought a gun to school today because he was afraid. We cannot live like this as a civil society. I feel like I’m living in a state of terror, and the firearms maniacs are the terrorists. I made a vow to fight to get gun laws passed. We have no other choice. You’re right, the time is NOW.
Patty says
I have no children and I own no guns yet I have dear friends with precious little ones and well as friends who would rather die then give up their right to bear arms. The poison of evil will continue to spread until we as a nation stop cowering to the special interests and the status quo. Saying “I can’t do anything about it” sets you on the road to complacency and that apathetic attitude will keep this society mired in continued tragedies. This gentleman in the video is so correct in saying the billions of dollars we spend to defend our borders from extremists living in caves in the middle east needs to be shared with those protecting us from individuals, either because of mental illness or evil intent, waste human life without regret or remorse. It’s time to not only stand up to cancer as the popular fund raising programs advertises, it’s time to stand up and say enough of this insanity.
Reader says
I can’t stop thinking about it. Each time I see one of the pictures, I tear up. No, guns don’t kill people, but people use guns to kill people, and they make it much easier. There is no possible need for a semi or automatic rifle. Our country has a mentality unknown in any other developed country. I am not proud to be considered the country of the Wild West. For perspective, go to
http://news.yahoo.com/connecticut-school-massacre-world-sees-us-105500647.html
We need action NOW! And we need a tribute to those teachers and staff who died trying to save the children. I don’t know if I would have been so brave. They deserve a response from us that will start to change our country.
cindy p says
as President Obama said, “we can do better than this”.
Bryan says
For anyone that wants to help the victims’ families and show that we cannot forget about this and sweep these things under the rug anymore, a woman living in San Diego who is from Newtown is selling t-shirts. Shirts are $25, all printing is being donated to the cause for free so all proceeds go to the victims. So far she has helped raise $5,000 for her hometown. http://www.newtownpride.com/