Thursday, May 26, 2022

Something's very wrong in our country


Like all of you, we are sickened, horrified, saddened. We don't have answers, but we do have questions...

Why are the lives of children less important than owning guns?

Why does anyone need an assault weapon unless for killing people?

How many people have to die before the people we elected to lead us band together to do something about this?


We cannot let any more lights be extinguished...


63 comments:

  1. There are no words . . . only tears. Nothing is more precious than the lives of the children . . . .

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    1. JOAN:

      Children are precious and our hope for the future.

      Diana

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  2. As much as I like to think of myself as a positive, hopeful person, I’m struggling right now. I feel as though I’ve been punched in the stomach, and I just have no words…

    DebRo

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    1. DebRo:

      No words here. I feel like I was punched in the stomach. I could not pick up the newspapers after I saw so many posts on FB and Instagram.

      Diana

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  3. It's incomprehensible -

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  4. I have a novel by Elizabeth George on my nightstand and find I cannot read about murder, even fictional murder, right now. Real life seems too grim and the powerlessness of good people too frightening.

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  5. So heartbroken. We must do better.

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    1. Heartbreaking. Agreed that we must do better.

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  6. We are so broken. Like DebRo, I am usually always positive. Right now, I fear for all our lives, and for the mortal souls of some who are so evil as to continue to allow this catastrophe to spin further out of control.

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    1. Karen in Ohio:
      Agreed. We need to remember this and vote OUT these horrid politicians who got $$$$$ from the NRA. Unfortunately, the NRA has become too powerful. Someone mentioned that the NRA offices are a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building. That is scary!

      Diana

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  7. I have no words. Four of my grandsons are Texas school boys. And one of them is biracial. I fear for them all every single day. How much longer will people vote for those politicians who line their pockets while dispensing thoughts and prayers?

    Ann

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    1. I don't know Ann. But we do have an election coming up and we can make a lot of noise.

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    2. ANN:

      Yes, before we vote, we have to make sure that we are still allowed to vote. Some really bad people are doing all they can to prevent many people from voting.

      Diana

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  8. What will it take for change to happen? According to the NY Times 90% of the citizens in the US favor gun control. Perhaps we need to take a close look at Europe, where school children are not gunned down. Perhaps we should look at New Zealand where legislation was passed within 2 weeks post the Christchurch killings. Perhaps we should look at ourselves.. Really look at our anger. Really look at childhood bullying, really look at the snide comments directed at the other side of a political argument. Maybe just maybe we should look at ourselves and start our forgiveness within and then move to the next person. Maybe just for today we might put down the sword and pick up a flower.

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    1. I wondered about that figure of 90% when I read it. I live in a rural area and most of my neighbors own multiple guns. They completely ascribe to the talking point that almost ANY gun control measure would take their guns away... as well as their "constitutional rights." (I put the phrase in quote marks because it is my opinion that the 2d Amendment has been misread.) I am fine with responsible gun ownership -- no snide words or swords for my neighbors here; I allow friends to hunt on my land -- but I think that guns have become fetishized in America and that people in power have created and stoked the problem.

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    2. I'm convinced that dignity is the answer. If we give everyone the same chance at a life wherein they don't have to feel ashamed and have their own agency, we could solve so many of our problems, including worldwide. People with dignity and a sense of self-worth do not kill others.

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    3. I think responsible gun ownership is the key, along with looking at the types of weaponry. Does a hunter need an assault weapon to hunt game?

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    4. Certain ideas in the gun control spectrum get close to 90%. Universal background checks used to poll at more than 90%, including about 90% of gun owners. Now it has slipped to I think 81%, probably due to our increased polarization.

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    5. My husband and son-in-law, plus many of our friends are hunters. If a hunter needs more than two rounds to kill an animal they need to not be allowed out with a firearm. Assault weapons are for killing human beings, lots of them, quickly, and nothing else. They are for the military, and that's where they need to stay, not in households.

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    6. adkmilkmaid, I still believe the 90%, since 50% of the guns owned in the US are held by a mere 5% of the population. There are still lots of citizens who do not own even one firearm.

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    7. Agree a hundred percent, Karen, about assault rifles.

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  9. I am furious. I don't know how some turkeys get elected over and over. I blame them. They may as well load the ammunition with their thoughts and prayers. Hypocrites!

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    1. I heard an interview last night with Chris Murphy, one of our CT senators, who was also in Congress when the Newtown shootings happened. I was surprised to hear him say that he wasn't feeling pessimistic about change among his colleagues. I hope he's right. I'm going to call my Florida officials today and let them know that change must happen now.

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    2. Good, Roberta! Make those calls!! If enough people do, then change could occur. I heard Maine's US Senator Susan Collins say she's thinking about legislation. There is legislation sitting there, just waiting. It might not stop this one, but it could stop the next. I just read that 50% of all firearms are owned by 5% of all gun owners.

      Chris is one of the best. He works very hard to build relationships with people on both sides of the aisle. He will continue to work on this as long as it takes. Sandy Hook hit him hard!

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  10. I am heartbroken as well. The only way this will change is by Americans voting for people who want change. The midterm elections are important. Vote!

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  11. All the politicians who have stymied sensible gun control -- vote them out, Without exception.

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  12. I try to be hopeful but the inaction and intransigence of our elected officials crushes me some days.

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  13. Thank you for taking a stand. So many writers (myself included, at times), refrain from saying anything that might put off potential book buyers. But this is no longer a matter of conservative or liberal; it's a matter of life and death. I'm sick of the people who proclaim the sanctity of life in a uterus being indifferent to life once it exits the handmaiden's womb.

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  14. There are WORDS -- First word = VOTE. Second word WRITE. (To the 50 Republican senators and demand they pass legislation for gun control.)
    There is ACTION -- Get involved in a letter writing campaign in your community. Support groups that work to get out the vote.

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  15. So much anger. I saw it expressed recently not with guns, but with words. Still the same anger. I wish I knew why. Better, I wish I knew how to heal it.

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  16. Stunned. Heartbroken. Trying to comprehend.
    I don't understand the elected officials being so weak on this issue.

    A recent article helps to explain - support for gun control among voters is not as strong as some polls would have us believe. "The "dissatisfied and want stricter gun laws" opinion has never been a majority one this century." (https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/republicans-gun-control-uvalde/index.html).

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  17. Thank you so much for having the courage to put this out there. Sad to say, but I gave up all hope after the Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, CT. I didn't understand then how the deaths of all those little children couldn't force change in this country. I carried a red hot ball of disgust and anger in my heart. Then there were more school shootings and now this. I still don't understand and I'm still angry. Where is the courage? Where is the moral fortitude? SIGH.

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  18. Headline from the Onion yesterday:
    "No Way to Prevent This, Says Only Nation Where this Happens Regularly."

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    1. I believe they have used the same headline more than 20 times in the last few years.

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  19. Thank you for taking this time to honor those sweet souls who will never grow up and the families that are broken from the devastating loss. We need to fix our gun problem! God knows I feel discouraged. I shed so many tears after Sandy Hook and so hoped it would wake people up to our gun problem. But we can't be cynical. We have to keep pushing forward and encouraging our elected leaders or wanna-be electeds to do the right thing.

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  20. I am angry. Saying prayers is useless - none of this should happen. No one outside of the army needs to have assault weapons. I heard one NRA rep say it was a mental health issue. Certainly that eighteen year old was troubled. But taking these type of weaponry off the street will help. Why doesn't he go talk to the parents/guardians of the 19 children and ask them how they felt when they were asked for something to help identify their child since the bullets that pierced them blew them apart making them unrecognizable.

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  21. Don't forget that what happened a week ago in Buffalo, NY is also a fresh wound on the soul of this nation. That attack was also perpetuated with assault style weapons.

    As Karen said, people should be allowed to hunt. But weapons such as those sold to these two TEENAGED MURDERERS, are not meant for hunting. They are meant for the military. Deer don't fire back.

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  22. How is the act of making sure that a teenager just turned 18 cannot purchase assault rifles so impossible for our elected officials to undertake?? Cynical me, I know the answer. And we can make noise and we can call and we can write and we can vote--if the voter restrictions and newly-elected election officials allow us to get to the polls and for our votes to count. Today I am feeling so pessimistic that I can barely function. Over 200 shootings this year??? And still nothing but anger and grief. And 'thoughts and prayers.'

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  23. We can all write letters, fine, but certainly if those people (who think it's fine for a civilian of any ilk to possess multiple assault weapons) are not listening, which they clearly aren't, they aren't reading, either.
    Because they have decided they are right, and that's the end of the story. They would think anyone who writes to them is wrong, and stupid, and just toss the letters as the rantings of a misguided liberal. After all, they won the election, right? The only thing that works is voting them out.

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    1. Yes, but also political engagement at the local level. The system is constructed to promote the kinds of people who think that your children are less important that their power. The only way to change that is to get involved at the grassroots, first. Change the narrative that people use everyday. (We talk about "keeping our children safe." Children do not need to be kept safe, they need to BE safe. "keeping them safe is defensive language and lets others set the narrative. Take back the language. When someone says "that's how it is done" then you start to dig into that and either move the way it is done, or change it. Look at the grassroots movements that have moved mountains -- The Velvet Revolution of Vaclav Havel, for example. Words need to be written to give the voices a message, but the voices have to be many and local.

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  24. I add my sorrow and my outrage here. It will take, as Hank says, voting them out to change this. That's a lot of hard work, and it must be done.

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    1. The Republicans will make sure that your vote won't matter because they control the ability to gerrymander districts to get Republicans elected despite a Democratic majority in many states.

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  25. Until we elect people who care as much about live children as they purport to care about the unborn, these killings will continue.

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  26. Republicans basically control the country even though they are a minority. First, they actively work to get Republicans in low level political positions such as Board of Supervisors (schools boards), local councilpersons, then they work on other local elections such as state legislators, then governors, then US representatives (congress and senate). Then they control political power at the local, state and federal level. This allows them to manipulate gerrymandering which gives them more power to swing votes in their favor. The Lincoln Project (former powerful Republicans) was very powerful in their approach to hitting below the belt and I feel had a major role in getting Biden elected in 2020. Democrats need to stop being the good guy.

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  27. Tears in my eyes
    So moving post and comments
    Danielle

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  28. Thank you, Reds. I have a picture of a piece of artwork on my desk that says "Do what you can with what you have where you are." Good advice always, but especially right now.

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  29. At a loss for words. I cannot find the words to say how I feel. An author friend expressed what I was feeling the day after. She was quoting from WRINKLE IN TIME and this line stayed in my mind "Stay angry Little Meg". I will remember this when I vote. I needed a break from social media and read books to escape from reality. I read an eARC of Lucy's new Food Critic Key West mystery.

    Diana

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  30. I've actually been avoiding the news because I feel so sick and helpless. Like many of you, I vote and donate, but it seems another case where a small number of people, propped up by the money from a billion dollar industry, roll over the wishes of the majority of Americans for sensible restrictions on guns. I live in a place with a strong hunting culture, and I have friends and family members who are gun owners. None of them think an 18 year old should be able to walk into a shop and get a powerful assault rifle before he's old enough to drink.

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  31. I've been feeling like throwing up ever since the Uvalde massacre happened. Way back in the early 90's, I babysat kids in Newtown, CT. When Sandy Hook happened, it was personal. I was so sure things would change with the murder of 20 six-year-olds. That gun safety laws would be enacted. Instead, people called the families crisis actors, that it was a hoax. WTH?
    My boys and I marched after Parkland. We joined March for our Lives and Everytown, hoping to add our voices to the demand for change. What happened? Nothing. And Mitch McConnell has sat on legislation for background checks that passed in the House LAST YEAR.
    I feel like I'm losing my mind. Surely, people can't be this evil. And yet... this little gem popped up on Twitter from Rep Randy Fine in FL "Elementary School Children is a small sacrifice that I'm willing to make for the Second Amendment."
    I can't anymore. I just can't. Between the stop on voting rights, women's bodily autonomy, and common sense gun laws -- all of these are things which the majority of Americans want and we are being held hostage by a power mad GOP and the Big Lie believing cult of MAGA. FFS, people, get it together.
    Okay, sorry. I've been very ranty this week. My Twitter feed is littered with F bombs and I've been slapped on the wrist. And you know what? I don't care. I said what I said and I stand by every furious word of it.
    Be careful out there, readers. Clearly we can't go to school, church, the movies, the grocery store, a concert...you get it. This insanity simply HAS TO STOP.

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  32. Nineteen children and two teachers got up Tuesday morning and went to school, with thoughts of the upcoming summer vacation just three days away. Today they should be enjoying the last day of school and heading off to their summer fun. Of course, we know that they will never have another summer, another day of fun. And, the survivors from that classroom will forever live with the carnage of their teachers and classmates blown apart. Guns or children. It seems a no-brainer choice, doesn't it? But the NRA is a greedy, heartless force, and the legislators who worship at their alter have long ago hardened their hearts. We ask what we can do about it. Well, we can vote. We can vote and vote and vote, and we can vote for the candidates who see the nonsense in letting an 18 year old buy an assault rife. In fact, we can vote for those who want to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, for they are weapons. The fight is multi-faceted to rid ourselves of these weapons and those who support them. We have to fight for voters' rights as well as vote. We have to make sure that people see through the governor of the state where 21 precious lives were just lost saying that the issue is mental health is bullshit. The issue is guns, plain and simple. Of course, mental health is important, and I would like to see free treatment for anyone needing it. But, whatever problems the killer had, he was able to buy an assault weapon at 18 with no more trouble than buying a battery for his car. Other countries have taken on the problem of guns and made life better for their citizens, their children going to school on any given day. Why can't we? Well, the answer to that is easy. The NRA owns enough people making the decisions about gun laws (or lack of them) to block the legislation of those who want change. So, again, we're back to voting, voting out the obstructionists to putting people above guns. And, today instead of planning summer vacations, parents are planning funerals.

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  33. It's actually pretty easy to understand why we have this status quo: $$$$$$. Because getting, grabbing, making money - and the power it gives in the US - from the promotion, sale, and support of the disingenuous "interpretation" of the 2nd Amendment is so much more important to the getters and power lovers than the lives of children, grocery shoppers, concertgoers, teachers...and the rest of us unless we have scads of money or power to give them. Sorry if this sounds angry or partisan. To me, it reflects reality. (Susan Shea)

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  34. No one NEEDS to carry a handgun, rifle or assault style weapon, unless it is required for employment. Guns are meant to kill. Times are very, very different than when the Second Amendment was written!

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  35. Why is an embryo so much more important than a school child?

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  36. Have you seen the viral video where the US is compared to Scotland? Years ago, Scotland had a mass school shooting. Within two weeks, gun legislation was passed. Since then, no mass shootings.

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