On April 20, 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School and murdered 12 students and a teacher. In the midst of the horror and grief of that day was a resolve that we would find a way to prevent such slaughter from ever happening again…because we as a country: “are better than this.”
Twenty years later Nikolas Cruz walked into a Parkland, Florida high school and murdered 17 innocents; wounding 14 more. In the midst of the horror and grief of that day was a resolve that we would find a way to prevent such a slaughter from ever happening again…because we as a country: “are better than this.”
In the 20 years since the Columbine massacre this country has borne witness to a rapidly increasing number of mass shootings. Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Orlando, Las Vegas…the list goes on. Yesterday’s shooting in Parkland, Florida marked the 18th “school shooting” THIS YEAR. In each and every case local law enforcement, political leaders, journalists and pundits alike repeated the mantra that we would find a solution to the slaughter…because we as a country: “are better than this.”
After 20 years of escalating shootings one must ask: “Are we really better than this?” After 20 years of sitting idly by as gun violence claims the lives of 33,000 citizens EACH YEAR; one must question if we are really interested in “preventing the slaughter from ever happening again?”
If such carnage were the work of extremists or terrorists we would be bombing countries in retaliation. But this slaughter is not the work of extremists or terrorists or illegal Mexicans…this is the handiwork of our fellow citizens. How do we explain the unexplainable?
Maybe its time to admit that this is who we really are; a violent society that slaughters each other at a rate a thousand times greater than any other industrialized country in the world. A country that has become so numb and complacent with the slaughter of even the most innocent among us that we have become immune to the carnage. How else do we explain the lack of any substantive action in the face of such horrifically escalating facts?
Polls show that 95% of the country supports comprehensive background checks on all gun purchases. 77% of the country supports the banning of assault weapons and extended magazine clips. Yet our elected leaders in congress do nothing. We can’t even get a floor vote on a bill banning gun ownership for people the terrorist watch list. Fearful of the repercussions in challenging the powerful gun lobby our elected leaders prioritize their own re-election prospects over the lives of innocent children. That is not hyperbole…that is the simple fact.
Having said that…it is ultimately we the citizens who are to blame for the violence that shrouds our country. For it is we the people that return these cowardly lawmakers to Washington time and time again. It is our complacency that allows the NRA and the gun lobby to run roughshod over congress and that complacent lack of resolve has led the unspeakable carnage that we witness every single day.
We are a country still haunted by the 58,000 lost in the Vietnam war. A senseless loss of life borne of political cowardice. Between today and the end of 2019 more Americans will lose their lives due to gun violence than died in the Vietnam War. A senseless loss of life borne of political cowardice.
Critics will say that talking about gun violence so soon after such tragedy is a craven use of the deaths of innocents for political gain. If not now, when? When is the right time to have a frank and open discussion about the violent society that we have become? If history is a harbinger of the future then maybe the answer is…never.
Maybe it’s that simple.
Maybe this is who we are.
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