Friday, December 14, 2012

"These Children Are Our Children"

I'm tired of the argument that anti-gun control factions use: "Guns don't kill people. People do." It's so fucking senseless!

It's never made sense to me to suggest that gun ownership, unregulated and completely free, is the price we must pay to be free and to honor the spirit of the Second Amendment. No sensible, law-abiding citizen who supports gun ownership, like I do, would have the gall to suggest that doing whatever it takes to prevent the wrong people from having guns (just like we now do whatever it takes to prevent crazy people with bombs and other weapons from boarding airplanes), or to prevent anyone from owning the wrong kind of guns and ammunition, is too much of an infringement on our freedom. How many more innocent people have to die before enough of us get too mad to be deterred by the powerful gun lobby and their friends in Congress? Now is the time to write to every Congressman, Republican or Democrat, to support any reasonable legislation that takes logical steps to regulate gun ownership in this country. An assault weapons ban would be a great place to start. A ban on the sale of hollow-point ammunition would be another. A thorough system of background checks, personality testing, and extensive training for those who want to own a gun. A mandatory waiting period while all this data is processed and training completed. Can't hack it during training? Sorry, no gun for you.  Come back when you can pass the test.

Does it sound like a new bureaucracy? Tough shit. Lives are at stake. And I'm not talking about these mass killings, which represent less than 1% of all gun-related murders in the U.S. I'm talking about the thousands of other killings that go uncovered by the media, but are no less tragic.


President Obama struck the perfect chord in his speech today: "Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children."

AMEN. They are our children, and their blood is on all our hands.

Time for action. No retreat.