Twenty Children Slaughtered: Do We Accept This?

You don’t have to be a mother to feel sickened by the news of the elementary school shooting in Connecticut yesterday.

You don’t have to be a doctor to understand the physical damage that can be done to a human body by the weapons used in that attack.

The weapons used were a Glock 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and a Sig Sauer .233 semiautomatic rifle.

Semiautomatic weapons are capable of firing multiple rounds of ammunition per second. The Washington D.C. based Violence Policy Center has branded Glocks as the “favorite for mass shooters” and “efficient killing machines”.  Per Sig Sauer’s website, it is “one of the world’s most sought after military rifles”.

These weapons are meant for killing people.

So why are we  surprised when that’s exactly what they are used for?

Yesterday we heard the president tearfully make a call for “meaningful action”. But today, the news is tinged with doubt that any meaningful action can happen with the Republicans in control of the House and the National Rifle Association  in control of the Republicans.

This evening we drove past a group of parents holding a candlelight vigil, with a banner that read “Stop Gun Violence”.

We can’t do that until we stop making it so easy for violent people to obtain guns.

Here is a heartbreaking NY Times op-ed on this by Gregory Gibson as he reflects on his own son’s murder in a school shooting 20 years ago.

Here is an excellent NY Times op-ed on this by Nicholas Kristof that succinctly sums up the issues.