It was a mass murder at a school. Seventeen school children and school personnel died. Another seventeen were shot and injured but did not die. That’s 34 persons shot in one mass shooting, one mass murder.
I didn’t feel the need to speak or write at the time of this mass shooting, this mass murder. I felt for the dead. I felt for the injured. I felt for all connected to them. I just talked with my close relatives and friends. I just prayed.
I saw the children speak out. I saw the children stand up. I saw the children cry out for life. I saw the children demand change because we grown-ups are not standing up, speaking out, and demanding change to save their very lives.
I decided to introduce a piece of legislation to partially address the problem. I knew it would be very controversial and would not pass the Alabama Legislature. However, it has taken too long for the legislation to be drafted. The problem must be addressed. I have to write, but each of us must stand, each of us must speak, each of us must cry out. It is so painful that it hurts deep down inside.
Then I saw how so many refused to stand up or speak out or demand change. The pain grew more intense. But the children stood.
Then I saw how others were being blamed. I saw how our fault was being shifted to others. I saw how nothing was going to be done nationwide. But I saw how the children stood.
Then I came face to face with myself. Had I spoken out? Had I cried out? Had I demanded change? To come face to face with myself was a powerful experience. I saw how the children stood.
The one resource officer at a school of 3,000 was blamed for not dashing into the building to take down a man with a weapon of war that technically shoots from 180 to 800 times per minute. I don’t know what kind of weapon the resource officer had, but I am certain it was not an AR-15 or other weapon of war. Resource officers are trained to deal mostly with conflict between children and occasionally with teachers and/or parents. He was fired for not going into a building to face down a gunman with a weapon of war. He was being blamed. Then there were the loud calls for the sheriff to be removed from office. He was being blamed. Everything to avoid facing the real problem....
Then there were calls for teachers to carry concealed weapons at school to protect our children from mass murder. A concealed weapon is some kind of pistol. But this is not a movie. This is real life. This is real danger! How can a person with a pistol take on a man who has assault weapons that shoot hundreds of times a minute? We teach children to avoid violence. Instead of protecting the children and the teachers and the schools, we propose to make teachers responsible for stopping persons with weapons of war. It’s another kind of blame.
Some say mass killers will not go into schools if teachers may have weapons. The people who kill our children and others will not care if someone has a pistol. The killers have weapons of war. No teacher will have weapons of war. And most of the mass murders come ready to die after they kill. This misdirection is so obvious, but it is so dangerous.
Then we say the problem is an inadequate mental health system. That issue only comes up when the mass killer is white. If the shooter is of a different race or religion, we do not mention mental health. He or she is simply a terrorist. But aren’t they all terrorists? I know that we don’t have adequate mental health treatment available. I don’t suppose we will have it in the near future. But mental health is not the problem or the cure for mass murder.
There is no simple answer for why we have a culture that breeds these mass shootings, these mass murders. But I believe that banning weapons of war would be a powerful first step. They are called assault weapons because they are used to assault positions held by others with weapons of war. However, they are being used to assault our children who have no weapons at all. If persons, mentally ill or not, came in with rifles or shot guns, they would not have killed so many: 17 killed, 17 shot in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School; 59 killed, 500 injured in Las Vegas; 49 killed, 58 injured in Orlando; 27 killed, one injured in Newtown; 12 killed, 58 injured in Auroa; 32 killed, 17 injured in Blacksburg; 13 killed, 24 injured in Columbine; and so on. It is so painful it hurts deep down inside.
In all of these incidents of mass murder, there are two commonalities: young white males (except in one instance) and weapons of war. We cannot and don’t want to limit those who are white males. We can, however, limit weapons of war. In my opinion, banning assault weapons will at least limit the numbers killed or injured each time such killers come in the future. And they will come with weapons of war and wage war on our children.
Another thing we can do is have strict background checks. This way we may detect some of those who should not have guns of any sort, not to speak of weapons of war. But some will always get through. Let’s do something to limit the damage they might do. Let’s do something that will prevent our children from dying in mass shootings. It is so painful that it hurts deep down inside.
Epilogue – Our capacity to fool ourselves is so great. When we fool ourselves, our children die. Our capacity to fool others is so great. When we fool others, our children die. Our children must live. Therefore, we must not fool ourselves or others so that our children can live.
No comments:
Post a Comment