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POINT OF VIEW: A Change Has Gotta Come

Uvalde Chairs

I’m going to depart a bit from my normal point of view, because recent events warrant it, Last week, a lone gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and brutally murdered 19 children and two adults. It’s not the first such event – far from it. In just the first five months of 2022, there were 30 shooting death incidents in K-12 schools in the United States.

At church yesterday, they posted a version of this photo. I looked at it for a moment, trying to make sense of it. Then I counted the chairs – nineteen little ones, and two larger seats, all of them forevermore empty.

And then I wept.

We are held hostage in this country by the gun lobby and the politicians who support it, blocked from doing anything at all to prevent such horrific, needless deaths. We’re told it’s too soon. That we are “politicizing the deaths.” That guns don’t kill people – people kill people. So why did this person have two assault rifles to do that with?

A change has gotta come.

I know this isn’t my usual upbeat fare – my weekly writing column or life encouragement that I try to bring my readers every week. But this massacre damned near broke my heart.

No more thoughts and prayers. No more inaction. No more letting the gun lobby set the agenda.

We have to wake up and stand up and shout until we’re blue in the face. “No more!”

And then we have to fight to do something about it.

If you have children, no matter how young or old, tell them you love them. Then find out where your local representative stands on gun control, and if they tell you you’re “politicizing the tragedy,” tell them “You’re damned right I am” and vote them out of office.

A change has gotta come.

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5 thoughts on “POINT OF VIEW: A Change Has Gotta Come”

  1. Thank you for this! It is too easy to feel helpless, to believe that there is nothing that will work on the entrenched political structure. Thank you for joining your voice to those calling for action.

  2. Scott,
    Amen to every word you wrote here. I, too, have wept at Every. Senseless. Loss. – Since Columbine or before. My mind can’t even begin to fathom the pain that families are feeling. I just know that it’s time that any politician who gets BLOOD MONEY from the NRA — Rethuglicans, mostly — cannot be allowed a “free pass” back to Congress or other elected office. If it’s acceptable for 9 and 10 year olds to die so that the gun makers turn a profit, then we need to rid ourselves of the politicians allowing that. I had already decided to vote strictly Democrat or Independent, but Greg Abbott’s “It could have been worse” and Ted Cruz CONSOLING a policeman WHO DID NOTHING sealed it. I live in metro Atlanta, Georgia, but I talk to people all over the country. Lots of politicians with (R) and (I) [incumbent] beside their names are in for some rude awakenings.

  3. As an Australian reading from far away, I wish you all the best dealing with this. We had a massacre in Tasmania last century which was the catalyst to change our laws. People can still have guns, but there’s registration and gun safes and ad hoc checks to make sure that guns are secure.
    An Aussie Casualty nurse noted this week that they’ve never seen a gun shot wound in their 24 years of practice, whereas in America, there are numerous every day.
    I hope and pray that you can make the changes that we did.
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Sending best wishes for the year ahead.

  4. Scott,
    I need to say that I have owned numerous rifles in the past; I passed my Junior Firearm Safety class with a single shot 22. I know how to shoot and I used to be rather proficient with a 20gauge shotgun. All of my weapons (save one) are now with my two sons and my daughter.
    I very much believe in the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. However, there’s a name for the armed militia mentioned in the 2nd Amendment; it’s called the National Guard!! It also says, “well regulated”!! Who’s supposed to do the “regulating”, if not the Congress!!
    IF the SCOTUS says the states are supposed to do the regulating, then we need to start protesting there as well!!
    Thank you for your call for action, it goes well with the High Schoolers who are also calling for more action, and less words.

    Blessings to you and yours!

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