DO SOMETHING

Thoughts on Uvalde and America

This is not a typical newsletter. I have to write about the Uvalde school shooting. Many of you may not want to think or read about this and I understand that. If you need a break to think and process it all, then skip this newsletter and come back when you’re ready. I’m writing this and I’m very emotional, so my apologies if there are lots of spelling errors or my thoughts are a bit scattered. I did my best to organize my thoughts.

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I have three little ones. One of them is the same age as the kids who were mercilessly killed. When the news broke, all I wanted to do was hug them tight. I can’t even begin to imagine the grief that those parents are feeling. I can’t imagine what it’s like to always be thinking about what your daughter’s last moments on Earth were like. That is a heartbreaking nightmare.

I know it’s hard to watch and think about these things, but we must. If collectively we want to influence our elected leaders, then we must watch stories like the one below, of a first responder who finds out his own daughter is dead after providing first aid to her best friend. These are real children and real families whose lives were snuffed out too soon. We can’t be numb to this.

The solution to mass shootings starts with one solution; gun control. The United States is the only developed country in the world where mass shootings are a “normal” thing. If you’re curious, read this New York Times article about what other nations did after they had a single mass shooting. All of those other nations have on average the same amount of mental health issues and other underlying factors, the main difference is than an 18-year-old in those countries can’t buy an AR-15, which is what the Uvalde shooter did weeks before the massacre.

It’s not complicated. Less guns equals less shootings. Making assault rifles illegal will significantly reduce the death toll. Enforcing universal background checks will save thousands of lives. These are all things we can do.

You’ll probably hear the tired excuse, “We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things.” That’s an actual quote from Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, in the wake of the school shooting. First of all, isn’t that his job as Attorney General? Second of all, there’s a reason we have laws and restrictions. The “bad people are going to do bad things” excuse is juvenile and asinine. We have red lights, speed limits and seat belts. Those measures save countless of lives a year. Restrictions in the name of public safety work.

Those state and federal officials like Paxton, who spout such nonsense, do so out of a loyalty to special interest groups, such as the NRA. Don’t even get me started on Ted Cruz, who as I write this is speaking at at NRA event, along with former president Trump.

The truth is that most Americans support stricter gun laws. 50 Senators, all Republican, are holding the will of the people hostage. That’s not at all what a democracy is supposed to be like. We are being held hostage by people (mostly men) who are more enamored with power and influence than with the doing the right and sensible thing.

The other myth you’ll hear from the likes of Ted Cruz is the “good guy with a gun.” The reality is that in Uvalde, parents were tased, pepper sprayed and detained for trying to enter the school to save their children, while the police officers stood outside for an hour. The good guys with a gun, who are paid and signed up for this job, failed these children. It was a complete failure from top to bottom and I hope to see many firing and resignations.

Many of us watching this from afar and feeling helpless felt a cathartic release when candidate for governor of Texas Beto O’Rourke interrupted Greg Abbot’s sham press conference with the truth. (Abbot is the current governor of Texas, an NRA supporter and recently eased gun restrictions in his state)

"The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing," O'Rourke said. "You said this is not predictable…. This is totally predictable…. This is on you, until you choose to do something different…. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed, just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.”

Beto is right. This was predictable. We can predict that there will be another mass shooting in the coming weeks. The next mass shooter already bought his AR-15. He’s already planning on shooting a grocery store, or a church, or a mosque, or a concert.

We can do something about it. We are not helpless.

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