When is enough going to be enough?

Another mass shooting.   Again, at a school.  When is enough going to be enough?

There is an organization, Gun Violence Archive, here is their mission statement:

MISSION

Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.

According to the data at Gun Violence Archive, as of October 1 2015, there have been 9,933 deaths so far this year (2015) from gun violence. In 2014, there were 12,562.  That is deaths. 

Depending on the source used, (and there are plenty of memes out there now) gun violence takes around 30,000 lives a year in the United States, because the above numbers don't include suicides.

There were 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and we accepted unprecedented intrusion into our lives to prevent another 2,977 lives being lost.   But we are fine with death by gun violence?

What is wrong with us?  I really thought the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting would be a catalytic event.   But no, Second Amendment Rights Activists trump lost lives of children who never got to go to second grade.

Every human who believes life is sacred needs to get involved in turning the tide on gun availability and gun violence in the United States.   But we can't do it by being angry.   Anger only feeds the problem.

We have to approach this problem with sincere, sustained, calm force.   The money the NRA has pumped into making the United States so heavily armed is not going to stop being spent.  So we have to convince the populace of our collective responsibility to change this.

First, we have to hold our elected representatives responsible for not addressing this problem.  There is absolutely no reason for ordinary citizens to have automatic weapons in their hands.  We need to immediately stop the production of these weapons, except by government contract for specific military use.

We need to immediately remove automatic weapons, and high capacity magazines from sale in the United States, and make it a felony to possess automatic weapons and high capacity magazines.  There needs to be a six month window when weapons can be surrendered without consequence, but after that window closes, automatic jail time.

If the private prison system needs prisoners to make money, I vote to give them the violent offenders. And since automatic weapons have only one purpose, to kill, every person holding one is a potential violent offender.   Frankly, I'd rather have a person with marijuana on the street than a person with an automatic weapon.

Once we get rid of the high powered weapons, we need to have a universal background check law, and we need electronic controls on weapons so that they can not be used without modification if they are stolen.

I can protect my phone, my PC, and my car from use by someone without the proper key or password, the idea that guns should not be similarly protected is ridiculous.

And then we need to work on the conversations we have.   We need to stop arguing and start discussing.  We need to listen to each other for a change, instead of shouting each other down.

The fact that someone as rude and mean-spirited as Donald Trump is so popular tells us how big a mountain we have to climb to return to civility.

Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and their ilk have made hate speak and anger mongering an American pastime.   We collectively have to stop supporting the hate and the inevitable anger it stirs up.

This problem must be solved.  This trend must not continue.   I know millions of people disagree with me on the availability of weapons, and the proliferation of automatic weapons after the expiration of the Brady Bill.  I don't want to make people angry, and I hope they can respectfully disagree.   I have yet to hear a valid case for citizens to have automatic weapons, or a valid case against universal background checks, or a valid case against theft protection for weapons.  If someone has one, I'd love to hear it.

In the meantime, I will continue to support Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and The Sandy Hook Promise .  I will write my elected officials.  I may be just one voice, but if all of us who are tired of the heartache and heartbreak of gun violence raise our voices, we can be heard.

But please, don't shout.  No more anger.  No more hate.  That just perpetuates the problem.