Things I don't understand

Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut filibustered for 15 hours yesterday to attempt to get the United States Senate to do something about closing the background check loophole, and preventing people on the "no fly" or suspected terrorist list from buying firearms.

I applaud Senator Murphy and all the other Senators who supported the filibuster.  And I'm glad someone in the Senate finally got frustrated enough to do something big and newsworthy.

But here is what I don't understand.

I don't understand exactly why mass shootings by someone reported to be a Muslim get so much more emotional response from so many more people than a disturbed white christian perpetrating a mass shooting.

"I'm so glad my child was murdered by a white christian with a gun," said no parent ever.

I understand that mass shootings are horrific, and they steal our sense of safety, because they so often happen in places we can see ourselves, like schools, and theaters, and malls, and clubs.

But the other fatalities caused by irresponsible gun use are equally dead.  Lives cut equally short.  Families left with gaping holes that can never be filled.

I am stunned with grief by the terrible shooting at Pulse in Orlando.  But I am also stunned with grief at the shooting of four children, ages 3, 7, 11 and 14 and their mother in Roswell, New Mexico. And I don't understand how so many Americans can hear day after day of the terrible toll of gun violence and think that it is OK to maintain the status quo.

Look at the US total accumulated gun stock.  Does it strike you, as it does me, that there is something wrong with the proliferation of guns in society?

More guns do correlate with more gun violence, homicides, suicides, and mass shootings.

I don't understand how the gun lobby has achieved the combination of relaxed laws and hysteria that had led us to this place.

I applaud those who are trying to return some sanity to the debate about who should own guns and ammunition, and what kind of guns and ammunition are really supposed to be in the hands of ordinary citizens.  I applaud those who lobby for more and better mental health services, so that desperate people have easier access to help than to guns.  I also applaud those who lobby for better safety devices on guns, so that children accidentally accessing a firearm can't use it to kill themselves or someone else.

And I don't understand how reasonable people fight against safety devices.  I don't understand how reasonable people can look at what is happening with gun violence in the United States and be content to do nothing.

No change was ever accomplished by the reasonable man.  It is time for the proponents of common sense gun regulations to be unreasonable and get the change we need.

If nothing changes, soon there will be no one who has not been personally impacted by gun violence.  And I just don't understand why it has to be that way.

The worst ever

Fifty this time.  Fifty dead and another fifty-three wounded.  When will enough be enough?

Enough to pass a law requiring universal background checks?  Enough to make sure if you are on the "no fly" list you are also on a "no buy" list?  Enough to outlaw high capacity magazines for anyone other than the military and law enforcement SWAT teams? Enough to reinstate the assault weapons ban?

It sickens me that this violence in the United States continues, and no one in Congress wants to do anything about it.

And the cost.  The cost in terms of human suffering.  The cost in terms of lost potential in the lives of the victims.  The cost of ongoing care and rehabilitation for the survivors.

If we can't keep the criminals from possessing weapons with this tremendous destructive power, we need a funding mechanism to support the victims.

A superfund for victims.  Money won't bring back the dead.  But their families should be compensated for the loss of their loved ones.  And the survivors often needs years of rehabilitation.

The gun and ammunition manufacturers and importers are profiting from the sale of these killing machines.  They should have to pay a tax to clean up the mess their product is making.

And all those who want to possess these weapons of destruction should have to pay a tax for their destructive use.

All of us are paying the price to protect a few manufacturers and importers from the irresponsible production, sale and use of their products.  I think it is time for those profiting to start making reparation for the mess their product makes.

Please, write your Senators, write your Congressman.  If we all band together to say enough is enough, maybe, just maybe, something will change.