Editor,
As I listen to the news of the massacre in Michigan, I am looking at a Facebook memory on my home page – a picture of my 8-year-old great-grandson at a party last year for his aunt and uncle. He is the typical healthy, happy little boy – beautiful, smart, mischievous and funny.
I visualize him as a young man going off to college full of hope and promise and positive contributions to society. Then I imagine a future phone call telling us he has been murdered by a shooter in his freshman year of college. We would not recover from that news in a dozen lifetimes.
I thought of the students killed and critically injured last night and the unimaginable grief their families now endure. These murdered students were once like B, precious children who are our hope of a better world. They thrilled their parents with their first smile, first tooth and first step. They believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and excitedly blew out candles on their birthday cakes. They lost their first tooth and put it under their pillow for the Tooth Fairy. They loved silly jokes and playing games, played with dolls and trucks, learned to swim and played Little League baseball and soccer. They had dreams of playing in the NFL, writing music, being a movie star, soldier, teacher or doctor. They were willing and eager to work toward those dreams and better lives for themselves and their families. They were preparing for their future.
Today three of those students are part of the 67 people killed in mass shootings in the United States since January 1, 2023; five others may join that diabolical statistic. More than one a day.
Why are we a nation where it does not matter how many children and other innocents die by firearms as long as we have our arsenals of weapons of war? Over and over, I hear, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Do you hear yourselves? It is guns in the hands of people who should not have them that kill people.
Six days ago, the Missouri legislature ruled it is okay for children to openly carry guns in public without adult supervision! Does this seem reasonable? Or does this sound crazy?
In her State of the Union rebuttal speech Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ idea of “crazy” is not only stupid, it is wrong. This is crazy! This is a nation insane with its obsession for violence and disregard for life in spite of claims to the contrary. We have to come to our senses! We have to elect representatives who value life over money and power.
Pat Gunn