Sometimes information just ups and hits you in the head! Sometimes you just cannot ignore it! Sometimes you just want to do something about it! What?
Last Sunday’s Sacramento Bee[i] ran a front-page story about the shooting and killing of children in the U.S. On February 14, 2018, a gunman entered a high school in Parkland, Florida and killed 14 students and three adults. The nation agonized and wondered why. On this anniversary of Parkland, we still wonder and we still agonize.
The Trace, a nonprofit news organization, recruited 200 journalists, many of them young people, to write short portraits of every victim, 18 years and under, who died from gun-related incidents in the last 12 months. The Bee reported about the project in a lengthy front-page article that continued to the two center pages of Section A. There you came face to face with the names of 1,200 children killed in the last 12 months by people using guns.
Think about it: ten of those children were 1-year-olds, 31 were 2 years old, and 24 were 3 years old. How many of us have children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren in that age group?
How can this happen in a civil society? But it goes on: 17 were 4 years old, 13 were 7 years old, 107 were 15 years old, and it goes on and on. In case after case, the shooters are people who should not have been able to own guns because of their criminal background or medical history. Every time there is a school shooting, we wring our hands and say something needs to be done to tighten up the gun ownership laws. Some argue, however, that there are already too many laws on the books; they just need to be enforced. The trouble with that argument is that background checks are not required for all sales of firearms and ammunition. In most states sales between private owners, within families, or sales at gun shows do not require background checks.
A Bill passed in the House of Representatives that calls for universal background checks for all gun purchases. The NRA’s response, in the latest issue of its magazine, shows a picture of the Speaker of the House and former Congresswoman Gifford (shot in the head a few years ago) with the headline “Target Practice.”[ii] It has been roundly criticized for lack of taste and its potential to spur civil violence.
Now the bill goes to the Senate where it doesn’t stand a snowball’s-chance-in-hell of ever coming to the floor for a vote. The Majority Leader and most of the Republican Senators are owned lock, stock, and barrel by the NRA and wouldn’t dare vote against it.
Other countries have effective gun laws that in no way would violate our Second Amendment; police investigations, doctor’s authorization, licenses to purchase ammunition, etc... Why can’t we have effective background checks as well?
Canada experienced four school shootings since 1999. The US has had 288 school shootings since 2009. Across the country, we see schools with armed guards carrying assault weapons. We see school districts wanting to arm teachers. We have active-shooter training for teachers and school kids. Children in many parts of the country are afraid to go to school. And, we wonder why? And after the next shooting, we will agonize anew.
How long are we willing to let our schools remain killing fields?
