We made that choice when we accepted the terrorism of the NRA and decided it was ok for the kindergarteners at Sandy Hook to die for our “freedom”.
by Ashley Palmer,
I’m absolutely sickened by the violence in Orlando and the senseless loss of life. My heart breaks for the families of these victims, and for all of us in this broken nation.
Thursday night an entire neighborhood in Landen, a suburb of Cincinnati was on lockdown hiding out in their homes and jobs from an active shooter, and then on Friday people were afraid in the Dallas airport where shots were fired, Saturday we learned about singer Christina Grimmie being shot to death while greeting fans and now this, 49 young people out dancing and having fun and then gone.
[pull_quote_right]The thoughts and prayers being offered by politicians are not cutting it.[/pull_quote_right]THIS is terrorism. This daily barrage of fear, constantly being at risk and in danger as you go about your daily life. The thoughts and prayers being offered by politicians are not cutting it, while comforting this is not solving the problem. Getting to the bottom of it doesn’t seem to help either, there are a lot of reasons people have shot up schools and malls and movie theaters and churches and nightclubs. While we should certainly do more to address mental health and domestic violence and hate crimes and terrorism, guns are the one thing all of these murders have in common.
It seems like nothing is going to change, the gun violence epidemic appears to be here to stay. We made that choice when we accepted the terrorism of the NRA and decided it was ok for the kindergarteners at Sandy Hook to die for our “freedom”. I’ve raged and ranted and made calls and written letters and voted and because of my passion for this issue I have lost friends and damaged family relationships; I’ve even been threatened with violence myself. I’m tired and losing hope but I just can’t stop, we can’t go numb and allow this to continue as the status quo.
[pull_quote_left]I’ve raged and ranted and made calls and written letters and voted and because of my passion for this issue I have lost friends and damaged family relationships; I’ve even been threatened with violence myself. I’m tired and losing hope but I just can’t stop, we can’t go numb and allow this to continue as the status quo.[/pull_quote_left]I do not for one moment suggest taking all guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, no one does. All I ask is for some common sense regulation in the form of expanded and enforced background checks and a ban on assault weapons. SO many of our gun tragedies have been committed with legal weapons and it only takes ONE of them, in the wrong hands, to result in a horrifying tragedy. The majority of the American people support this, even most gun owners, but we have to make our voices heard and push our representatives to be brave and stand up. I recognize and respect that guns are very important to a segment of our population, whether they represent a hobby, tradition, security or purely a right. However, as a citizen, if something I cared about caused so many families to be ripped apart I would reexamine my attachment to it and make a sacrifice for the greater good of our society.
http://www.contactingthecongress.org
In the meantime, we must love one another and try to treat our friends and families the best we can, since tomorrow is never promised to any of us.
Ashley Palmer graduated in 1996 from Loveland High School and currently lives in Orange County, Ca.
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