If anger could leave our hearts and run down our hands into this writing, it would set this page on fire. Our rage towards Governor Abbott and Senator Cruz and those like them ignites like a flame. The people who refuse to support even the fundamentals of gun control, including background checks, enrage us because children lives and others would have been saved.
The CDC has announced that firearm related deaths are now the leading cause of deaths of children in our country. The numbers are mounting and those kinds of events which kill children have become common place. Sadly, these events represent the normalization of violence starting with the Newtown 26 and the Parkland 17. The 27 school shootings this year, including Uvalde, have become the norm and political thoughts and prayers following these shootings have done nothing to change this grim fact. Beto O’Rourke shouts “Do something,” while Biden asks for “decency.” Late Night Show hosts cry out for gun reform.
As of May 25, 2022, more children have been killed in school shootings than police officers who were fatally shot in the line of duty. But, as usual, the GOP, in response to the Uvalde shooting, once again asked for more guns, more mental health services, and called the Democrats cry for gun control a scam and a media hoax. The Republicans, comprising a large part of the 5 million NRA members, quickly want to turn our schools into prisons. Arm the teachers, bolt the doors, bar the windows, scare our children, and polarize communities. As Abbott now cries for more mental health services, this past April, he slashed mental health funding in Texas by $211 million. To note, the assailant involved in this shooting had no prior mental health history but he was able, by Texas law, on his 18th birthday, to buy two AK-15 automatic rifles. No questions asked. Abbott by his own actions and words has created murderers. And, he now has the blood of the children in Uvalde on his hands which is deeper red than that of any other shooting victims.
Abbott and Cruz, like other Republicans, have sworn to stock up on more guns while this country’s gun war rages on. Along those lines, Abbott has tweeted, ”I’m embarrassed: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace, Texans.” And the boy in Uvalde who mowed down those children heard his plea and followed suit, clearly making Abbott an accomplice to those children’s murders.
We have a war in this country being fought with military type weapons owned by those who should not possess them. And like no other country, we continue to suffer as the result of Abbott-type thinking and actions. The fact is that guns now have more rights than children. The shooter at Ross Elementary had over 45 minutes in the classroom as officers stood outside. More guns did not make these children any safer. Abbott has turned the lives of these young children into mere numbers. As an accomplice to this crime, he deserves to be pushed out of office.
The children of all 27 school shootings this year have lost their chances to rise up from their communities and achieve success because their lives have been snuffed out by gun violence. The truth is that when society allows the killing of its children, it is the demise of that society. The pain is immeasurable as we witness the deaths of these children and the potential of their American dream. More children are dying and they have paid the ultimate sacrifice for adults who believe that the NRA is King and that their financial contributions rule.
It is evident that for the GOP, the 2nd Amendment trumps all other amendments. Repeatedly, we have seen cowardly lawmakers place money above children’s rights to live. For these conservative Republicans, the American dream has become owning a gun, having more guns, and caring less about others. They have created and are part of a growing society of self-interested people. States like Texas and Florida have become leaders of this society and are the current faces of this horrid movement.
These slain children will never be able to speak for themselves so you must speak for them. Yes, it is time to grieve but it is time to take a stand. To rally, to vote, to find the fire in your heart, and a way to speak for the children who cannot. Ask yourself and your leaders, what is your stand against gun violence and vote them out if they do not have one. Find your voice and let it be heard. Do not just cry, do something! If we do not, we as a human race, have certainly hit rock bottom.
How come it takes only one person to make terrible things happen while it takes so many to accomplish good? Be one of the many!
