Okay, I need you guys to watch this. It’s hard. Do it anyway.
People here like to talk a big game about living in the greatest country in the world. We wax poetic about our natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We preach freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. But we’ve also reached a time when you either believe Trump is returning America to its Glory Days or you’re concerned democracy itself is fraying under daily abuse.
Now watch that video again. Tell me how any country that calls itself great can sit back and leave its youth vulnerable like this.
On February 27, 2019 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the H.R. 8: Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 by a vote of 240-190. It was received in the Senate on February 28, 2019 and read into the record. The latest action listed was a second reading on March 4, 2019 after which Mitch McConnell had the bill placed on the Senate calendar rather than referring it to committee where it might eventually be passed by the full Senate. He’s given this same run around treatment to H.R. 1112 Bipartisan Background Checks Act, “Red-flag” laws, and assault weapons bans. McConnell’s held the discussion on responsible gun control hostage for a full six months now – I don’t have the emotional energy to calculate how many preventable gun deaths we’ve had in that period.
Here’s what I will say. Contact your representatives. (Not sure how? Go here to look up your state Representative and Senators.) No matter which side of the gun control argument you fall on, the American people deserve an open and honest debate about how our country moves forward from here. No one man should be able to hijack the legislative agenda this way. Contact your representatives and demand they publicly pressure McConnell to move forward.
Our lives depend on it.
Riddle from the Middle 
My first experience with a real gun — https://petersironwood.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/family-matters-part-one/
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You’ve written a vivid reflection from a child’s perspective that really captures how easily finding a gun can change a life. Thanks so much for reading today!
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Thank you for posting, Laura. We watched the PSA last night. It is heartbreaking. It is so hard to believe that our country is still in this position. No child should ever fear for their lives when attending school. My heart is heavy knowing that people can be so utterly selfish. Our children are dying at an alarming rate and our elected officials are content to sit idly by and let it happen. Meanwhile, a huge cross-section of America would gladly sacrifice children for their ability to own a semi-automatic rifle. Please contact your representatives.
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Yes yes yes. I’m putting this out there as many ways as I can. Those politicians won’t roll to our side unless they feel public pressure outweighs the NRA’s strong-arming.
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Video is eerie and effective and makes me feel way too much.
I forget. You know how you go through life and you forget grief? Just going on, doing the living? You know how you arrive at school to pick your kids up for a dental appointment and you park and stride to the door and pull the handle and it doesn’t open? At first you think it’s the wrong door, so you step back, and then YOU REMEMBER all at once, with the soul-crushing sadness of live footage and crying parents and dumbass gun lobbyists. Then security comes and you show your id and they buzz you in and take you to the locked vestibule where you give that id to the guard for a pass and sign all the paperwork? Yeah.
I forget all the time. Every time. For years. Because in my head, school should always be the safe place it was for me. For you. How could we ever have guessed our kids would have THIS problem?
Damn good post, Laura.
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Not gonna lie, Joey – this comment gave me all the feels. You’ve exactly captured how this hits me over and over again. EXACTLY. It doesn’t make things any less sad but it is reassuring to know others are just as traumatized by what’s happening to our kids.
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Bold message. Thanks for sharing, Laura.
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Thank you, John. I appreciate it.
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Chilling video. Makes me glad I don’t have grandchildren in that mess they call ‘school’ today. As to the bill? I thought they already did that? And the ones buying the guns from individuals who aren’t selling guns that have been checked, are the same ones who will be selling guns if the bill is made law (or is it already? I’m fuzzy on that point). They’re called ‘black market’ arms dealers and they don’t give a hoot about law in the first place. I’m not pro-gun by any means, I think the NRA is largely joined by a great many dipshits who have entitlement as their agenda and not safety. I don’t have a gun for good reason. But I do have knowledge of my own limitations, which is something else those who obtain and use guns in the vile ways we’ve witnessed in any church or school mass shooting. Make the gun laws with more common sense. That might help. I have no answer to those who skirt any law and do ugly things with the weapons they’ve got.
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These bills aren’t laws. The House passed them but McConnell won’t put them in committee or bring them to the Senate floor for debate. Basically they’re in limbo because he says he won’t push anything through unless he knows how Trump feels about it, but since the NRA runs Trump that’s not going anywhere.
These bills DO use common sense. Gun advocates freaked out because they thought gun laws would take away their weapons — these bills advocate for a better background check system, the ability for the court to temporarily remove guns for health/safety reasons, and keeping assault weapons out of civilian hands. Those aren’t exactly radical suggestions.
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I got goosebumps. I’ve given in and downloaded Twitter, and contacted my Senators and Representative. Now I can only hope and pray, inadequate as that is.
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Thank you. Twitterland can be…special. There’s a lot of crap out there but there’s also a lot of really great resources for whatever you’re passionate about. I follow certain news groups, activists, people who are plugged into politics and social justice causes.
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a sad commentary on our times and our policies. Let’s hope such messages beging to turn the tide.
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It really is. If enough of us amplify these kinds of messages I have to believe it’ll make a difference.
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thanks for doing your part!
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Moscow Mitch couldn’t give a flying fig through a donut hole about the safety of any American except himself. I’m baffled how we as a country have come to this pinnacle of indifference, but not to a point of giving up. The NRA’s influence needs to be marginalized. Obviously. I think their time is up and the next election will make it so.
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From your mouth to G-d’s ears, let’s hope so.
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We surely do. 🙏🏼
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I’m hanging on to so much hope for the 2020 elections. If we don’t see mass mobilization for change then — well, I can’t imagine if it would ever happen at all.
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Unfortunately the power and the financial offerings of the NRA outmatch the needs of the kids. That’s how the likes of Mitch sees it. I just keep thinking of your last post. There was a family in the Whitehouse who cared.
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And that made all the difference. We’ll never be able to explain this madness to future generations.
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