Dianne Decker Bomar to City Council: For our children, there is no more important work that you will do

EDITOR’S NOTE:

This is a statement Dianne Decker Bomar read at the open forum of the May 22 Loveland City Council meeting. Loveland Magazine Publisher, David Miller stood at the podium with Bomar and expressed his endorsement of the statement. Council did not engage in the conversation of declaring June 1 Gun Sense Safety Day in Loveland.

by Dianne Decker Bomar,

There have been 288 school shootings in the United States since 2009.

At least 2,500 children and adults have died as the result of these shootings.

We have all heard the newly-released statistic that more school children have been killed in 2018 alone than Americans serving in the active military service. I will let that sink in. More children are dead from school shootings than those serving in the Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard in 2018.

Gunmen, whether adults or youthful peers of the victims, have had access to firearms with the ability to wound and kill quickly in settings where we send our children to learn and grow. 

“The end result was the same:  children as young as five, and adults as old as 75 were killed in the place we believed for decades was safe… their school.”

Whether this ability was a result of multiple guns, or firearms with modified features to fire on victims in rapid succession, the end result was the same:  children as young as five, and adults as old as 75 were killed in the place we believed for decades was safe… their school.

This council has been asked to declare June 1 Gun Sense Safety Day in Loveland.  

This council has been asked to celebrate Gun Sense Safety by decking themselves and our community in orange: ribbons, lighting, clothing, and whatever conveys your support of the mission of Moms Demand Action, Mayors Against Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Sandy Hook Promise:

That mission is to engage in meaningful change to address the epidemic of school violence in our community and across the United States.

That mission is to support the Second Amendment and at the same time provide fundamental, common sense approaches to the very specific issues which are a result of modern technology and profound special interest lobbying.

This is not an effort to strip responsible gun owners of their firearms, about which I believe at least a few of you on council have personal concerns.  

“I encourage each of you to search out answers which prove to this community that you take our children’s, teachers, aides, and administrators lives seriously.”

I encourage each of you to search out answers which prove to this community that you take our children’s, teachers, aides, and administrators lives seriously. That you acknowledge that the current means and methods are not working and a new view and action is necessary.

Please show that your personal beliefs are congruous with the health and well-being of all of Loveland’s children.

Please know that you hold a unique position of influence and that meaningful change has to include everyone in the conversation about gun sense legislation and safety.

There is no more important work that you will do than to engage in the conversation in this meaningful way to work toward safety in our schools.

Please declare June 1 Gun Sense Safety Day in Loveland and promote the conversation which you know has to take place in order for change to begin, and for healing to take place.

There is no more important work that you will do than to engage in the conversation in this meaningful way to work toward safety in our schools.