People always ask me how far I am from DC. Well it depends on where you are going, what day it is, what time it is and whether there’s street closings for parades or marathons or a mass shooting.
Today, I am 26 to 37 miles away from the Washington Navy Yard which could be 40 to 50 minutes away on a good day. Or if I took Metro and the Navy Yard Station were open, it would take me about 50 minutes.
Today, 12 people were killed by someone who appears to have worked with them right there at the Navy Yard. As far as I know, I don’t know any of them. I also didn’t know anyone who was killed at the Pentagon in 2001. I didn’t know anyone who was killed by the “Sniper” in 2002. Or at any of the other mass killings that have occurred in the U.S. But every time I hear about one of these “events” I get sick to my stomach. I think about all those families whose lives have suddenly changed because of a person with a gun.
Today I went “off the grid” once it seemed clear that it was an isolated event that wasn’t going to effect how I got through my day. I knew it was all going to be bad news and I didn’t need to hear constant updates or hear speculation or hear or read what the people with anti or pro- gun agenda’s had to say about it. Still, it did effect how I got through my day. Those 12 families were on my mind all day and I wished there were a way to personally send them my good wishes.
When I signed back in to the grid, nothing I heard or read surprised me. It was neither less awful or more awful than I expected it to be. It was just awful.
There have been more than 100 mass shootings in America in my lifetime. I suppose the first one I remember for sure is the University of Texas shooting--the reason I am still paranoid in big open public areas, especially if there’s tall structures where a shooter might hide. Today’s “workplace” shooting is why I am nervous even in my own office, where people come to have their taxes prepared and are usually very angry that they have to pay taxes. It doesn’t help that the office is on a major street with several Federal office buildings on it, where people try to outrun the red lights at the corner and we hear screeching tires several times a day. And then there’s the sirens of emergency vehicles racing to help at nearby intersections or the highway.
I’m afraid there is probably nothing that will ever be done to reduce the number of mass shootings. Not as long as the NRA exists as it currently exists. I’m not interested in “taking your guns away” and truthfully, don’t think anyone is interested in that. But I am so weary of the so-called “Second Amendment Supporters” and their rhetoric and lies.
Do they really believe that people like me don’t “believe” in the Second Amendment?
Apparently some Americans think we can pick and choose which Amendments to “believe in.” I suppose I can see their point--I probably would have been against Prohibition, but I’m one of those suckers who follows the laws--even the ones I don’t like. I don’t like paying taxes, but I do it. I don’t like stopping at the stop sign as I leave my neighborhood, but I do it. I don’t like that I have to listen to pro-gun free speech, but I am often forced to do so. I don’t like that women sometimes choose to have an abortion, but I honor their right to make that choice in private. I could go on and on.
I’m pretty sure that today’s events won’t change anything. People will still buy guns. Some people will buy automatic guns, claiming they’ll use them for hunting when the reality is that no one needs an automatic gun to shoot a deer. Or if they do, they are lousy hunters and lousy marksmen/women. Some people will kill other people with their guns that they buy claiming they need them for self-defense.
None of this makes sense to me. It breaks my heart that I know there will be more days like this. I know there will be more days where I feel sick to my stomach knowing about families experiencing horrible grief because someone with a gun decided to kill family members of people they do not know.
I guess I just think that there could be solutions to Americas’ gun fetish. Actually, we already know the solutions, we just aren’t brave enough to do what needs to be done. I know there will always be guns, but it seems to me there are plenty of smart things that could be done “around the edges” of this problem that would help prevent days like today.
At the end of this long day I turned to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show because sometimes a little humor helps us understand the truth. I did my research and know you can read the truth about how the NRA has written our gun laws (search: Tiahrt Amendment) but Jon Stewart may do it better.
Here’s a transcript if you prefer reading:
