My Grandchildren and Elementary School

    Anna Rose and Caroline Jean, two of my grandchildren!
     I love them so much!

I’ve got four grandchildren in public elementary schools. I couldn’t help but think of them today when the news broke out of Newtown, CT.
by Charlie Leck

Think of it!
We’re talking here of little children. They were in first grade through fourth grade. Don’t you feel rage? Sickness? Exasperation?

I don’t know when I’ve felt so low – so totally miserable! They could have been my grandkids. They are someone’s grandkids, you know. Try to put yourself in that grandparent’s place. Try to understand how you’d feel – how angry and desperate you’d be.

I want to scream and litter the air with four-letter-words. I want to shout from the rooftops that I hate f--king guns with all my might. I hate them! Yet, the gun crowd would be quick to remind me – using their f--cking worn out clichéd rant: “Remember, it is not guns that kill people! It is people who kill people!”

Today I want to take their god damned posters opposing gun control and shove them down their god damned throats. I want to kick them in the gut and drop them to the ground. I want to stand above them and scream down at them: “That could have been my grandkids in their elementary school! And you want to keep selling powerful guns – automatic murder machines – to virtually anyone who walks through the door and asks for one.”

Oh, my God! We are a seriously disturbed – deeply insane – nation! Civilized nations don’t do this. They don’t put powerful murdering machines in the hands of idiots and maniacs!

This afternoon, not long after the news broke about the murders of those little children in Connecticut, Greg Sargent wrote in the Washington Post…

“If today’s shooting won’t prompt action, nothing will!”

Nothing will! You see, guns are too much a part of the f--cking American culture. Our founding fathers had no way to foresee what would happen to America. They didn’t know it would become such a gun society when they penned the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. They had no way of knowing that the “people” would so misunderstand what they were writing about. They had no way of knowing how powerful guns would become!

A grief-stricken President addressed the nation today. Did you see him? How he refrained from weeping, I will never know. I wept as I watched him.

Couldn’t we, at least, have a decent, unbiased discussion about the matter? Couldn’t we try to better understand the second amendment? Couldn’t we figure out how to get guns out of the hands of dangerous people? Couldn’t we limit the power and repetitiveness of guns that people use?

I tremble this evening because I know that this could have happened in the school that my grandchildren attend. I’m so angry that I’m ill. I want to throw up! I want to scream!

I read a news story last week about a grandfather who had a powerful gun in his house because he was afraid of invaders. In the night, he heard someone scuffling at the back door of his house. He got his gun. He saw, in the dim light, someone outside the kitchen door, trying to enter. He aimed and pulled the trigger. He killed his granddaughter, who lived with him and who had secretly slipped out for the evening to meet up with some of her friends.

I can’t imagine!

There must be something we can do! Isn’t there something we can do?

Twenty small, elementary school children died today. They were at their school – in their classrooms – when a deranged young man entered their school carrying a powerful gun, equipped to fire and frequently. He killed his own mother, who worked at the school, several other adults and 20 elementary school students – kids like my own grandkids.

Oh, my God, what are we to do?

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Gun Control Impossible, but We Can Still Do This

Closing the "gun show loophole!"
by Charlie Leck

Through the organization, The Color of Change, I received an interesting message yesterday from the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, the Honorable Cory Booker. The mayor pointed out that in March there were no murders in the City of Newark and that marked the first time in 44 years that an entire month passed without a murder.

My, oh my! It is such a statistic that makes some of my good friends in Western Europe shake their heads and wonder about America. Murders are rare, even in big cities like Paris and Berlin. Look at the difference in annual murder rates between large cities of equal size, like Washington (DC) and Toronto. Washington has about 300 murders each year. Toronto has a dozen.

Those are stark differences and they do unquestionably say a great deal about a culture and a national mentality.

Politically, it is obvious that “gun control” is not the answer. Our founding fathers knew not what a Pandora’s Box they were opening when they included the second amendment to the constitution in our Bill of Rights. Sweeping legislation is not a realistic possibility.

Mayor Booker, however, made some interesting points about some legislative actions that are possible and would help stem this rising tide somewhat. And, here’s what he said about how we can be involved:

“Right now, there is a gap in our nation’s laws. It's called the Gun Show Loophole, and it enables criminals, the mentally ill, and other legally prohibited persons to purchase firearms without a background check. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 30% of illegally trafficked guns are connected to gun shows.

“Even though many gun shows are organized in more rural states, the impact of illegal guns obtained through the Gun Show Loophole is overwhelmingly felt in America’s cities and minority communities. That’s why I’m partnering with ColorOfChange to ask for your help in closing the Gun Show Loophole.

“Please join me in telling Congress to step up and close the Gun Show Loophole. It will protect all of our communities, and it takes just a moment:

http://www.CloseTheLoophole.org/ColorOfChange

“This week also marks the 11th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School, where twelve students and a teacher were murdered.³

“The killers got their guns because of the Gun Show Loophole, and politicians immediately swore they would take action to close it.

“But eleven years later, nothing has changed. The loophole is still open and more than 12,000 Americans are victims of gun murder every year.⁴ Minority communities often feel the brunt of this violence -- African-American men, for example, are 9 times more likely than white men to be murdered with guns.

“I'm a proud member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns -- a coalition of more than 500 mayors who believe in common-sense gun laws. We are doing what we can to reduce the number of illegal guns on the streets of our communities.

“Just as it's a priority for us, closing the Gun Show Loophole should be a top priority for our representatives in Congress, and they need to hear your voice.

“Please add your name to the petition and help protect innocent people from gun violence:

http://www.CloseTheLoophole.org/ColorOfChange

“To win this fight, you and I need to speak out and make a call for action that is long overdue.

“Thank you for getting involved in this crucial issue for our community..."

This seems like a little thing to do. You’ll probably start getting regular emails from Color of Change if you do it, but you can always hit their little “unsubscribe” button if you don’t want those and the organization will discontinue them.