A few days after the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado I wrote an essay about the need for stricter gun laws in this country. I never posted it because I felt it didn't add anything new to the conversation. I hadn't found an "angle" that would pique people's interest. My ranting wasn't as erudite as other articles I had read, so I sent the piece to "the cloud." After the mall massacre in Wisconsin I reread the essay and again decided to bag it. I'm no expert on the issue. Other writers and thinkers have presented far more persuasive arguments than the simplistic one I offered. The perfect angle continued to elude me. Today, however, after the most unspeakable horror ever committed in an elementary school, I couldn't care less about finding an interesting or thought-provoking angle.
I don't care if mine is just one more voice in a clarion call for drastic measures regarding our right to bear arms. I don't care if I sound smart or funny or well-informed. I simply want to be one more voice. If each of us, one voice at a time, uses whatever means we have available to shout for reform, perhaps we can be heard.
If we can be silent when 20 innocent children and seven adults who cared for them are blown away like skeet, then the country of which we are so proud has finally and completely lost its soul.
When I hear about innocent Palestinian children being deliberately put in harm's way in order to evoke world sympathy I am outraged. But, by ignoring the need for harsh gun laws, aren't we doing the same thing? Aren't we dropping our children off each morning to a place where any lunatic with a gun can shoot them dead? Should our children be afraid to go to school because people who shouldn't get their hands on guns get their hands on guns? How many children must die before we wake up? How many moviegoers? How many shoppers?
This is not about evicting God from our schools. This is not about hunting. This is not even about the shooter as so many would have us believe. Yes, he was insane, but if he hadn't had the means to shoot, 20 children would not be dead. You don't need a semi-automatic to kill Bambi. As for those who insist they need guns to protect their neighborhoods, I would encourage them to join the National Guard.
No, I am not the best person to plead this case. George Stephanopoulos is not going to invite me to participate in his Sunday morning round table. I am not the voice of authority. But I am a voice, and I intend to use it. I implore you to do the same.