There is nothing worse than losing a child.My parents lost a child, my infant brother. Relatives say my mother was never the same. I only knew her really after the fact and she seemed fine to me, but I'm sure they know what they were talking about. I know she was overly cautious with us at times. I don't really remember her having a sense of humor. And she never talked about it. Never. Neither did my father.
While I have been watching the news coverage of the horrific shooting in Connecticut, more than anything else I am haunted by those 20 children. Twenty little children whose lives were cut down so violently; whose last sounds and images were filled with fear. Our minds can't wrap around the enormity of the horror......and then our minds switch to the parents. The siblings. The grand-parents. The world is broken-hearted.
The unspeakable turns in to the unimaginable when I learn the children and adult victims remain in the school building over night. That their families have not seen them, did not get to hold them one last time. That mothers and fathers spent the night filled with unimaginable grief and emptiness.
The internet, facebook, I imagine twitter, and phone lines, fill up with anti-gun sentiment. Pro-gun sentiment is there as well. Mental health issues and concerns about lack of treatment land on my computer screen. It's still going on today.
I have to tell you that I remain shocked as ever by the pro-gun fanaticism. I have believed in gun control for decades. This after all isn't the first tragedy to hit my television screen. But please notice I said "control". It seems to me the pro-gun people think control is something different than I do, something sinister. Something against our constitutional rights. They don't care about statistics. Nor do they want to hear that the fanatical gun culture in the United States has given us the highest gun violence death rate of any civilized country in history. England, China, France, Australia...many more...all with death rates from guns in the low double digits per year..the United States is up in the thousands...more than 10,000 to be exact. PER YEAR.
So I don't feel any differently about guns than I ever did. You want to hunt deer? Pass a test, get screened, buy a deer hunting rifle. Same if you want to protect your home and family. But there is no reason on God's earth for any civilian to own a gun that can shoot 6 bullets per second. No reason for a gun show to sell an automatic weapon to a teenager, or anyone else that hasn't been screened. No reason for a troubled twentysomething to be able to purchase thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives off the internet as the Aurora shooter did. No reason, quite frankly for any one other than military or law enforcement to have guns like that. Limiting access to those guns DOES NOT TAKE AWAY YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS. All it does is make us safer as a nation.
All it does is allow parents to confidently send their children off to school in the morning.
All it does is make sense.
We are being sent a message, but will we listen?
2 comments:
I sure can't say anything about this post, but I did enjoy your Thanksgiving post. Haven't been on much because I've been dis com bob u late ed. The husband is here there and the other place. I am tired, so very tired. Bone weary. Can;t hold the eyes open. Think I must be sick sometimes but don't want to venture toward a doc because everybody I know who goes to the doc is sick. If you don't go nobody has the right to tell you that you are sick so you are not. Aha. I've found the answer!
Anyway, Ron broke hip, went to hospital, rehab, got overmedicated and damned near died, came home, had respiratory system collapse, back to hospital, back to rehab, home, fell again on the 23rd and he thought he broke something, so to 2 ERs, and they had me pick him up about 8pm xmas eve so I was santa and I delivered my own gift, ron. Oye Vey
I could not get home fast enough to hug my first grader and tell her how much I love her. My heart still aches for those parents, there are no words for what devastation they must be experiencing. My daughter is my life, I let her know more than ever how precious she is to me. I beg of everyone to fight against assault weapons and support the numerous petitions and groups trying to ensure our safety from these horrific, unnecessary acts. God bless the families of Sandy Hook, CT.
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