I recently celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary. That day, in the late summer of 1992, seems both long ago and just like yesterday. However, when I began to think about the general quality of life in 1992 it seems like it could have been 100 years ago.
I admit it has been a busy three decades; involving the birth and growth into adulthood of two children, ownership of several dogs and a move overseas for a third of that time. But still, how does this passage of time account for the vast difference in what we think about, enjoy and worry – then versus now?
This column is not about major societal changes due to the internet, or social media influencers, climate change, or even the politics of our seemingly divided country. I am writing about our passive, or maybe even cynical acceptance of mass gun violence in American society. Please don’t put this article down. I am not suggesting restricting rifles to hunt, or even a licensed gun in your home for protection. I am talking about the guns and shooters who menace our society.
On the week of our anniversary, I was reading the newspaper and two articles jarred me into thinking deeply about this topic: Student Fatally Shot by Woman He Stopped to Help, and ‘I Don’t Feel Safe.’ Children Fear Going Back to School in Uvalde. One piece described how “A 22-year-old man was fatally shot in a national forest in Alabama by a woman pretending to be a stranded driver after the man and his girlfriend pulled over to help, the authorities said.” It turns out that both the deceased and the accused had guns and got into a shoot-out leaving the young man dead and his girlfriend injured. If you are rattled, or maybe even outraged by that sentence, then good. Is this necessary? That this event even happened is nuts.
Onto the article about the poor elementary students of Uvalde, Texas, who have returned to the classroom after the school year ended with a mass school murder of 19 children and two adults. The piece detailed the extreme fear and trauma that children there have returning to school because they don’t feel safe. Despite the fact that the school police chief has been fired, the rest of the law enforcement on the scene that day are under investigation, new fences have gone up around other school buildings, more funds for police have been budgeted and the building is scheduled to be demolished. But those actions cannot, nor should not offer us any solace. These are all reflexive actions. Very little is done on offense. We have collectively allowed guns to nose their way into our schools, churches, synagogues, theaters, supermarkets, and our nightmares.
While we vacillate in our sense of malaise about the big picture impact of mass gun violence, this summer, there has been some progressive news on gun control. The first significant gun control legislation in 30 years was passed by Congress and signed by the President that focuses on raising the minimum age to 21 for background checks, more funds for school safety, mental health, red flag checks and tightening laws for domestic abusers, called the “boyfriend loophole.”
We should be doing more. Americans should want consistent dialogue and problem solving with the goal of decreasing gun violence. We really shouldn’t be arguing about the public safety aspects of gun violence. But we are, and we are complete outliers in this pitiful phenomenon. No other country in the developed world tolerate the horror we do. We are numb. We might want to thaw out that outrage, or help us all for what might be in store in 30 years. Yet, my children and their generation are more sensible and realistic. Or perhaps they are just frightened and personally informed, having endured years of active shooter drills at school. Maybe there is hope in the long run. Please let there be! Otherwise, history won’t judge us kindly. History may judge us as barbaric, as a pass through generation of adults who stood by and watched, and did not do all they could to protect our children, ourselves and a civil society.
