This past summer I wrote a blog post about gun control. It was August, 15th. This was just after the movie theater shooting in Colorado, and the Sikh mosque shooting in Wisconsin by a white supremacist (do you even remember that one?). My conclusion was that the issue of gun control would never gain a foot-hold in an election year since the GOP is firmly on the side of the NRA and democrats don’t like the issue since it polls badly – many democrats are fervent 2nd Amendment advocates and this issue just leads to lost votes. I ended with this:
“If you’re wondering what must happen for a thoughtful, considerate and deliberate discussion on how to prevent innocent Americans from getting slaughtered in record time, well, I am too. No one wants to touch the rights of civilians to own hand-guns for self-protection or rifles for recreational and hunting purposes, but does anyone believe an assault weapon is a necessary tool for self-protection or hunting?”
After the horrible slaughter of 20 five and six year olds with a semi-automatic rifle, I think we have our answer. There is now a moral imperative for responsible politicians to tackle this subject head on. How awful that the killings of adults, of Sikhs, of college students (Virginia Tech) and of high school students (Columbine) weren’t enough to drive home the point that honest to goodness hunters and self-protectionists do not need clips with 30 armor piercing bullets that discharge in as many seconds.
The loss of innocent life was horrific enough for many politicians to finally admit that something needs to be done about the repeated, senseless loss of life. In the words of our President, we must not let the loss of such children go without some heart felt deeper life lesson.
One can only hope that the sense of loss, the sense of despair all Americans feel in losing these students and their teachers remains raw and gut wrenching enough to outlast the desensitizing political process.
I shudder to think of the group the next maniac will target for mass assassination but I cannot think of any target worse than five year olds. We’ve truly hit rock bottom.