Rights and Responsibilities

For those of you who know me personally, you’ll find it no surprise about how affect I have been by this most recent massacre.  My favorite things in life include children and teaching and my strongest opinions are about gun control.

For those of you who do not know my daughter, Kari, she is 6, nearly 7.  She is beautiful, funny, intelligent, and one of my favorite people in the whole world.  She loves animals and wants to study their behavior.  Her favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs. Dancing and soccer make her top ten.

All of those children killed on Friday were 6 or 7.  All of them were exactly like Kari:  full of energy, fun and happiness.  I could not imagine.  I still hope to wake from this horrid reality of what is.  I cannot understand what constitutional right can overrule this wrong.

I will never in my life touch a gun.  I have no desire to touch an object that is specifically designed for ending another life.  To the argument is that shooting is a sport:  that may be.  Yet one cannot argue with the inherent design of a gun.  It is designed to kill.

Last night, Kari clung to me, scared to go to school today.  I explained to her that this likely wouldn’t happen at her school and Connecticut is very far away.  To that she replied, “Mom, guns are all over.”  Amazing how easily children figure out our biggest problems.

Pro-gun individuals are all about guns it seems regardless of the lives lost, statistics and the overall reality. See this report from the Onion. Pro-gun individuals’ biggest worry is not trusting the government or the police.  Yes, because we live in a third world war torn country where the issues in a democracy are best solved with brute force.  I honestly ask pro-gun people:  How many times in your life have you actually had an instance where you were oppressed or otherwise and a gun would have made that situation better?  Let me fill this in for you.  It’s a very minute portion and likely you’re not in it.

I am sick over this.  I cannot express enough how much I hate guns and the lack of gun control in our country and our overall total disregard for life.  We are an embarrassment.  Our children our being killed yet we still hold dear our “government-protected right to own a portable device that propels small masses of metal through the air at lethal rates of speed.”

Americans generally have always had a few things backwards forcing not participants to participate in their choices: smoking, drunk driving, guns, etc.  I live in one of the most dangerous cities in America.  Our news should just be called the obits.  I know about violence and how absolutely senseless crimes occur out of emotion.  When people have access to lethal weapons when in such emotional states, crimes occur.  Maybe you don’t run around shooting your gun, but, honestly, what practical reason do you have for carrying a gun? Don’t tell me it is for fantasized heroics. That doesn’t do it for me.

Please allow this tragic string of massacres and overall gun violence be a call to everyone to take an issue with gun control in America.

See more objective and rational information at kottke.org.