10 people died a couple weekends ago in America from a mass shooting In Dayton, OH.
22 died while shopping in a Walmart in El Paso the day before that.
369 have been murdered this way since we toasted in the new year with hopes of a brighter future. Promises of something better for us and our loved ones sharing a drink that night not so long ago.
It's the 231st day of year, but the horrific slaughter in Dayton and the killings across the nation since puts the tally at 320 such events to happen in our country since the ball dropped.
More than one mass shooting per day, every day, so far this year. 0 days since the last bloodbath where innocent people were unexpectedly murdered as they went about their lives. Taking their families to the movies. Walking their pet after work. Studying for an upcoming test in class.
2,685...read that number again out loud...two THOUSAND, six hundred and eighty-five separate incidents of mass shootings across the United States since the inhuman murder of 20 children at Sandy Hook at the end of 2012. That feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? And in many ways it was. We were all leading different lives then. For many of us, different jobs or partners. Living in different houses or cities or states.
But what hasn't changed is people like you and I are being murdered in cold blood, for no reason at all.
These are not the deaths of combatants locked in battle with an enemy far from home. They are not the result of the horrors of war, or the collateral damage of nations trying to overcome each other. They are from people of our own country turning the barrels of their weapons on the defenseless.
Each generation is defined by a handful of moments, opportunities for history to remember who we are and what we stood for as a people. What will our children say about us?
Will they say we carved the way for a new era of stability for our nation in which we joined the rest of the developed world in putting to rest these atrocities? Or will their voices continue to rise from their blood-soaked graves, crying out to the world to remember the injustices which buried them because we were silent? Because we chose not to act on behalf of our loved ones.
And like each generation, each year is marked by signs of the times. What will 2019 be remembered for when we look back on it? In my mind, the events of the last few weeks are a perfect metaphor of where we are as people.
Nothing could be more 2019 than being wounded in a mass shooting by a white terrorist in a Walmart for being Mexican, then being taken to a hospital where you end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt while under fear of getting deported by ICE. Except, perhaps, for the news station playing in the background cutting off coverage of the tragedy you just experienced to report on another massacre.
There are several uncomfortable and difficult truths we have to bear if we are to move forward, together, out of the tombs this epidemic has created and into the hard work of making the better world we dream of each New Year's Eve.
First, we are unique in the world as a nation in that America is the only place on the planet where mass shootings happen in this magnitude. We must come to terms with this fact before anything else, because until we recognize this catastrophe for what it is we won't ever enact change.
The first step is recognizing there is a problem.
Second, mass shootings happen because of, well, guns. The U.S. has roughly 46% of the entire world's guns despite having only 4% of the world's population. There is an entire set of discussions to be had about what exactly we do with guns and what changes we need to make across the board regarding manufacturing, purchasing, owning, licensing, storing, maintaining, insuring and removing weapons. Not to mention what types of weapons are available to buy and sell, the training a person must have to get one and the checks on the part of our government to make sure they are issued wisely. But at the end of the day, we can not sit idly by and continue along the path in front of us. Inaction here is a long road paved with the bodies of our countrymen as we press closer to our own end.
This is not solely a mental health issue. Though, of the nearly 700 billion allocated for military spending last year we certainly could find more value from spending a small portion of that to alleviate the mental health crisis we are simultaneously challenged with. This is first and foremost an accessibility issue surrounding what we as a people deem lawful for an individual to own as a weapon. We do not allow people to buy a crate of rocket launchers. Or a new tank. Or a fighter jet. Yet, we allow weapons and accessories like what was used in these recent shootings to be freely distributed and used. This has to change.
Which brings us to a third uneasy truth. If we truly want to stop the mass murder of innocent Americans then we must make drastic changes in the arena of gun ownership. Which means we must care about our loved ones, our neighbors and our fellow countrymen more than our love of a piece of metal and the sport it offers.
It seems absurd to type out, but it has to be said...there are people who care more about guns than about people. Who value the perceived freedom of owning and using certain classes of firearms more than they care about preventing the loss of invaluable human lives. For these people, their notion of what it means to "bear arms" is more important than the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all citizens.
If you are one of these people, I have a last truth to challenge you with.
You are wrong.
I don't know of any way other way to tell you than to just say it. Maybe you won't listen; maybe it won't matter to you at all. Guns and gun "rights" are not more important than the people I love, your next-door neighbor or the person you will never meet in a Florida nightclub.
If we can save the life of even one soul by enacting change, we are morally obligated to. Both You AND I. Lest we are condemned by the tombstones of those we failed to protect by refusing to take action when it was our turn to act.
In many ways, guns and the issues surrounding their use have become the Golden Calf of our times. Full disclosure, I own a firearm - an old WWII era bolt action rifle. I have it mounted on the wall in my office. I like it. It's fun and enjoyable to hold and makes me feel powerful in some small way. Mainly though I keep it because it reminds me that violence is not the answer to my problems. It is a reminder of Cain and Abel; that blood spilled only feeds into the circle of destruction that humans have fought against since the dawn of time.
However, if a law was past next year requiring me to turn over that weapon to be destroyed because we as a society determined it was a threat to our collective well-being I would do so in a heartbeat. Why? Because we have all decided as a nation that this is the way we do things. We all drive on the right side of the road. We all take the same national holidays off together. We all pay taxes and then appoint people to determine how they are spent. We make decisions together which are good for us as a people. Choices which allow us to live together without having to pull a rifle off our wall to solve our problems.
If you want to see change this is your moment to act. Start conversations with those in your family, workplace and social circle. Volunteer or donate to groups who are forming movements to forge changes on a larger scale. Vote for people who actually represent how much you value life with the legislation they craft and cast a vote for. Stop supporting those who maintain a status quo of allowing innocent people to be butchered without recourse.
This is our time. It is our generation's moment to stand up for those who in times of tragedy can not stand up for themselves.
This is our time. Our chance to define who our children remember us as and the legacy we leave for them.
This is our time. To stop the endless cycle of carnage we are trapped in.
This is our time. And I believe in us.