I have a daughter in a public elementary school in the District of Columbia. When I read news of a school shooting, it touches a particularly intimate place in me. To be a parent is to be haunted by fears. I can contemplate my own death without unease, but every goodbye to one of my children is shaded by dread. What if? That “what if?” has now darkened a whole town in Connecticut. But of course, it’s not the first such darkening. Almost uniquely in the world, the United States suffers massacre after massacre after massacre: in schools, in workplaces, in movie theaters, on city streets. And after each such massacre, there follows a great hushing: don’t you dare mention the most obvious reason for this unique American horror.
No sooner had I posted my musings about Wayne LaPierre’s Unfathomable Tragedy Tour yesterday than I got the answer to my question. I was wondering where the next tragic massacre would occur, never for a moment imagining that it already had. Minutes prior to me posting my reflections on the shooting tragedy at Clackamas Town Center here in Portland, the truly unfathomable had already occurred. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza walked into an elementary school in Newtown, CT, and opened fire, killing 26, 20 of whom were children. I’m curious to see how National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre will manage to twist this tragedy into an argument for even less regulations on guns. I’m also curious to learn how LaPierre will deny the reality that the responsibility for this massacre- and so many others- should be laid directly at his feet.
If more guns means more safety, we should be the safest nation on Earth. Yesterday’s massacre should be taken as conclusive proof that LaPierre’s go-to argument is as inaccurate as it is offensive.
No amount of musing or consternation or debate will bring back the victims. What we can- and, I’d submit, should- be doing is devoting serious effort to enacting meaningful gun control. When this sort of senseless gun violence reaches into an elementary school, surely any reasonable person would agree that we’ve reached a nadir that requires action be taken. What angers me is hearing that “Today is not the day we should be talking about gun control. There will be time for that.” I’m sorry, but that argument disgusts me. I’m sick of hearing that “the time isn’t right,” as if the “right” time will reveal itself…which never seems to happen. “Today is not the day” is a delaying tactic, and it’s effective. Once the day passes and attentions are directed elsewhere, “the day” never seems to arrive. And so we continue on as ever, secure in our denial of the need to do something to ensure that “Never Again.”
When WILL the time be right? That time is now, while we have the evidence of the consequences of our inaction spread before us.
If we can’t talk about gun control on a day when innocent children and their teachers are massacred, when can we? It seems to me that yesterday was the perfect time to start the conversation. Immediately in front of us was a prime example of what our dithering has wrought. Innocent children and teachers died for no reason, and arguably because the Right and the gun lobby have succeeded in tamping down any rumblings of the need to discuss legitimate, effective gun control. Because Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association refuse to countenance any sort of meaningful gun control, his Unfathomable Tragedy Tour continues to travel from town to town. On Tuesday, it was Portland. Yesterday, it was Newtown. Who knows where it will be tomorrow or the next day?
There will be a next time, because we continue to allow those who value firepower over human life to control and suppress any discussion of gun control. Yesterday, I asked how many more innocent lives must be lost before something gets done. When I wrote that, I had no idea, that my question had already been answered. Now I have to ask how many more innocent children will have to die before we stand up and demand serious, effective gun control?
We’re better than this. At least I believe we are. I refuse to believe that we’re OK with children being massacred. I refuse to believe that we’re so devoted to our guns that we’ll allow Wayne LaPierre to hold Congress by the balls. More than anything, I refuse to believe that we can’t overcome those who proclaim the absolute inviolability of the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment was never intended to allow Americans to possess unlimited amounts of virtually any firearms their hearts desire. When the 2nd Amendment was written, the most power weapon available to an individual was a musket, which was horribly inaccurate beyond 50-100ft. Being able to defend oneself and one’s family was a far more immediate concern, primarily because the rule of law was in its infancy. The 2nd Amendment is an 18th-century construct that the gun lobby continues to insist is applicable and inviolable in the 21st century.
The 2nd Amendment is held by many in the gun lobby to mean that government has no right or authority to pass and enforce any sort of gun control. Yesterday’s massacre, and those previous, stand as evidence that unfettered access to firepower is exceedingly dangerous and often fraught with deadly consequences. If nothing changes, nothing will change, and we’ll continue to mourn those whose lives were senselessly cut short by a sick person with an excess of firepower.
I’m sick of hearing that “Today is not the day to discuss gun control.” Yesterday was the perfect day. Today is the perfect day. If we don’t begin talking about gun control when the evidence of the need for it is right in front of us on our television screens, then when can we? When will we?
Today’s the day we should be talking about gun control. Right here. Right now. If we can’t do it to honor those who died in the latest horrible massacres, we never will…and we’ll deserve the consequences, which will be more of the same.
We’re better than this.
