Since I wrote this in 2012, 29 more mass shootings have occurred, leaving about 250 people dead and wounding almost 700. These numbers are staggering – if you want to be staggered like I was, please visit Mother Jones’ Mass Shooting tracking site here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data/
This is madness. Nothing more. Today, the US lawmakers are voting on a Hearing Protection act (HR 367) which will make silencers easier to obtain. This is the ONLY substantive gun legislation that has been proposed this year. And that will serve to make mass shooting easier. Most of the survivors of today’s shooting mentioned they heard the sounds of shots first, which made them dive for cover. We will take that warning away with silencers.
But go ahead, NRA – you bought this batch of GOP morons. The lot of them do nothing about each incident except to say not to politicize the tragedy. If we don’t do that now, when will we? Nothing changes and nothing will get better by continuing on this path.
The time has long since passed to do the right thing. We now have to accept that we allow people to kill others because we care more about gun rights than we do our neighbors.
I’m appalled, I’m angry, and I’m out of patience.
I took the afternoon off to bake cookies for an annual cookie exchange in the neighborhood yesterday. I worked until about noon and then sat down to lunch before rolling up my sleeves to get busy. I scanned the headlines while I ate and realized that something bad had happened in Newtown, Connecticut. As I read more, I felt sick. Then I felt angry – really, really angry. It surprised me how strongly I reacted, but then I went back through all the times I have had this same feeling of being sickened by tragedies caused by guns and I know why I’m so pissed off. It’s because it’s still happening.
I reflected on the all that I’ve done in the past – the times that I have advocated for better gun control laws, for awareness, for legislation. I’ve supported the Brady Campaign since its inception. All of this in…
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