Seven months ago—the name of another elementary school flashes on my cell phone. Not possible, again. This time—nine-year-old children gunned down by another young man. This is a nightmare. But wait, the story is on television—parents crying, struggling to find their youngsters; police scrambling, stretching yellow police tape in front of a school’s entrances. This time I am transported to a small Hispanic town in Texas, Uvalde.
Since the Newtown tragedy, there have been 239 school shootings with 438 people shot, 138 killed.
In the ten years of 2012—2022, thousands of shootings in random places have occurred—Walmart, synagogues, grocery stores, TV stations, country churches, medical buildings, holiday parties, nightclubs, concerts, schools, and spas. Here are the statistics—the number of shooting incidents has nearly tripled since 2013. The number of mass shootings continues to rise with a sharp increase in 2019. According to the Gun Violence Archive all categories of gun related deaths have increased except for Defensive Use. The rate of Murder-Suicide has remained steady. Bored? Maybe you are. But each American is at risk.
This is hardly a fitting memorial or appropriate honor for beautiful children, elderly congregants at prayer, young people dancing at a club, a rising congresswoman. Truly, this phenomenon reflects a deep sickness in our country. The symptoms are an increase in gun sales and expenditures by pro-gun lobbies; parents failing to store weapons safely; and frightening behavior from potential perpetrators that friends, family members, professionals, and colleagues ignore.
The deadly illness is a belief that one’s individual rights supersede those of the community. It is more important to have access to as many automatic weapons as are manufactured than to prevent the possibility of a crime committed with one of the deadly firearms. A civilian is guaranteed the right to own and use weapons produced for the military, but due to this privilege citizens are targets anywhere anytime.
Certainly if “rights” taken to their extremes harm the people the laws were intended to protect, our leaders must assist the collective “we the people” to return to our senses. But power to remain in office is more important to these cowardly officials. We vote them out, but more are elected in simultaneously. We are split which means half of our country either does not care or wants to maintain the status quo of a free-for-all for the ownership of firearms. I am not speaking of making all gun ownership illegal, but certainly a sensible hunter could not object to background checks, red flag laws, and waiting periods.
How can this country have devolved to such a state that we maintain a system which puts all of us in danger every day? How does an individual sustain a rigid belief in “second amendment rights,” after being shot? (Congressman Scalise was shot at a baseball practice in 2017.) These remain the questions. Why has the United States moved backwards in gun safety legislation? More importantly than answering the unanswerable is maintaining hope.
As I scan the internet today, I find a story about several women who have devoted their lives to gun violence protection; in 2012, they practiced professions unrelated to the cause; they did not pay attention to politics or social change. Something happened to them on December 14, 2012. The yoga instructor, attorney, and former teacher promised to be the change. They joined grass roots organizations, returned to college for master’s degrees, and took sharp decreases in pay to work for national organizations dedicated to gun control and advocacy for victims. That gives me hope. President Biden signed the first gun safety legislation in thirty years. The law gives states incentives for states to pass “red flag” laws. The bill expands the definition of convicted domestic abusers who are prohibited to own guns. This is a sign of hope in a country where approximately half the population has voted to rescind gun control laws and reject the congress people who support sensible regulations.
A few months after the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I attended a meeting at Bethesda Jewish Congregation to join other like-minded individuals who were shocked by the murder of first and second graders. Since that time, gun safety advocates who are members of both Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church and Bethesda Jewish Congregation have engaged in a variety of activities. We have participated in the T shirt Project, an outdoor display of white t shirts with the names of gun violence victims on the shirts. Members of both congregations have attended protest marches. Bethesda Jewish Congregation held a panel discussion providing different views on gun safety legislation. We have presented films about the varied aspects of gun violence, including traumatic affects on youth in inner city high schools and first aid for gunshot victims. Members of both congregations have listened to speakers from the District of Columbia affected by gun violence. We partnered with a variety of national and local advocacy groups. Emails and bulletins over the years sent by the Social Action and Interfaith Congregation Partnership Committees provided opportunities to join lobbyists in Annapolis, write letters or sign petitions to our lawmakers, and engage in panel discussions by clergy.
Where do we go from here? Continue our dedication to peace, understanding, and compassion among all members of our community. Engage in Tikkun Olam. Some shootings originate in misunderstandings among racial/ethnic groups and prejudice. Write emails, sign petitions, go to protests, and engage speakers to remind us of this modern tragedy and our roles in stopping the unnecessary, unspeakable violence.
gunviolencearchive.org
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/15/us/school-shootings-sandy-hook-parkland.html
©Karen Levi 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment