Who we are.

As you all know our country has suffered from two mass shootings in recent days. So, once again, the issue of gun safety and some sort of gun control has been on the news & opinion stations and all across social media.

It’s nothing new. It’s really become such a repetitive occurrence in the US that we do the following: We hear the news and hurt, and we cry for those lost & their families, and then we debate gun rights and ways to improve gun ownership, and then we quiet down, and nothing happens – until another mass shooting occurs again. I am very used to this cycle and I am sure you are too.

So, I am not confident anymore that there will be change. I think it’s just a thing to constantly worry about living in America. There is always a chance that a person, be they depressed or radicalized or psychologically disturbed, may start shooting – in a school, or a mall, or at a business, or even at a music concert setting. It’s just something we have to put up with living in our country.

The repeated occurrences, and the lack of change, has shown that we have accepted it. It’s the price to pay living in the land of the free. Regardless whether you are a gun enthusiast, or one who carries for protection, or enjoys hunting, you are not willing to change your lifestyle to make other people safer..

I find it interesting that so many people who live today continue to fall back on the Second Amendment about the freedom to bear a gun for use in a well regulated militia. Back when our forefathers wrote this Amendment the members of communities needed to defend themselves from the British, and from Indians, and so the right to keep a gun for protection was added on to the Constitution. It was so the town men could be their own little army. This was in the year 1791.

Now, here we are in 2021. 360 year later and people still cling to this right. It doesn’t matter that we live in a very different society, a much more populated country, and that we have modern communication and technologies. We also have gun power that our forefathers could never had imagined. War weapons available to almost anyone. And Now we have guns that can send out rounds of bullets in seconds by just one push of the trigger.

We live in a much more complicated world now, compared to back then. But, still the ownership of guns and the broad rights given has rarely been updated. Think about all the changes with automobiles, and all the advancements that have come over time. The country realized that there was a need for registration and licensing Of vehicles, and training. Then we knew we needed to retest people because physical abilities change over time. Age, eye sight, reflexes all play into proper driving skills. And, we needed better protection inside and outside the vehicles. our government required seatbelts and then airbags. Speed limits were created. Police could ticket offenders and be fined, and even put into jail.

But as all this time goes by gun owners seem to cling to their belief that they do not need to move forward with regulations, and with safer gun locks and technology that can stop others from stealing and using them. They have been fed lines from the NRA and from gun manufacturers that any change will mean taking away your gun completely. They have used scare tactics, and they have used money – above and under the table – to buy our congress men and women.

We have watched 20 young children get killed in a school. We have watched people at a movie get gunned down. We have seen two high school aged boys walk through the school and shoot up classmates and teachers. We have had innocent people shopping in the grocery store killed. We have had hard working people on their jobs taken out in a moment.

It’s America.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But not enough of us are wanting or willing to speak up, and to want change. We re-elect people who are at the mercy of the lobby money. We ignore that gun shows and 2nd hand sales happen without any penalty. We just don’t seem to care.

There are many things that I shake my head about when it comes to politics and to the leadership of our country. There are issues I do not agree with with some of my friends. But…. it is beyond me to understand how anyone could not want to save lives when it can be done by passing sensible gun laws and safety improvements. I will not give up pushing for it. I can’t. Because I live here in America and I truly worry that one day one of my daughters or my grandkids might be in the wrong school, or supermarket, or theater, or at an outdoor music concert.

Because here in America it happens. It’s how we have to live. It’s fearing when you hear a pop. It’s running in a stampede. It’s teaching children how to drill for an ‘active shooter’ and to hide in closets.

It’s become who we are.