Source: WGBH.com
Three mass shootings in the U.S. over the last week; thirty five people are dead, all from a semi-automatic weapon.
I won’t bother you with any long diatribe. I already have Here. Too. Many. Times. Already.
Earlier today I contacted the offices of my state’s two U.S. senators and congressional representative. I could only get through on the phone to one, so I had to send an email to the others. I kept my message short and simple: we need to enact effective gun control legislation. I also mentioned thatI don’t feel this is merely a problem with mental illness.
Please do the same. Please call your elected officials, both state and federal. Voices need to be heard.
We cannot allow this to be our new normal.
Snakes in the Grass 
Thank you for doing that, Marty. Living in a blue state, my representatives are already willing to do whatever they can to bring change. I keep hoping that the general populace will finally get so pissed off that our elected officials will listen. Not sure that if it didn’t happen when a bunch of children were murdered, it will ever happen. Frankly, I’m not sure this is the country I want to live in anymore.
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I hear ya, Janis. I avoided the blue/red divide here, but that’s the obvious issue here. At the federal level, nothing will happen in that Senate chamber unless voters speak louder. I’m giving up on the White House for now.
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I agree that this cannot become the new normal. I’m with you on this issue. I used to live in Dayton, know the area where the shooting occurred. It was decades ago but to see the images of the street and buildings on the news was a weird jolt. Let’s hope we as a country can get it together. Soon.
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I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a connection to one of those areas, Ally. It bring it home that much closer. It’s just so tragic.
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It’s exasperating. We are working hard on our legislators too.
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We lived in the Bay area during the 1980s and joked about Gilroy ***because*** of the garlic (a way to joke about small towns near a large metropolis)…and hubby is from Las Cruces, NM where we’ve lived at different times in our married life – the connections with El Paso and Juarez are more profound & active than with Las Cruces’ New Mexican cities to the north…in fact Cielo Vista Mall was the place to go from all around to shop for clothes…And as for the other two places…who doesn’t go into a Walmart??? Or enjoy a summer’s evening out? O-HI-O already had “4 Dead” in their fair state…ya know?
And of course myself being raised in Colorado and raising our own family there – with our kiddos (the eldest in High School) during the shock-surprise of Columbine just 34 miles away in Boulder County…
Not directly in the line of fire – but definitely in my backyard…
Thanks for your ‘voice’.
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You certainly had some proximity to these places, Laura. A good friend of mine lived for many years in Las Cruces and often mentioned going to El Paso for both shopping and also using its airport. I do recall her saying that it was the most prominent nearby city.
For over a decade I myself lived in Fresno, and I remember driving through Gilroy on the way to the outlet mall there (and smelling the garlic in the fields).
All of these towns are the soul of our country, really. DC, New York, Boston, Atlanta, LA, etc. all get the attention for the most part, but it’s places like Dayton, Gilroy, and El Paso that make up who we really are. And today at least, for whom we collectively grieve.
Many thanks for your comments, Laura.
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FYI-linked this post with a sentence in my latest post.
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Many thanks. I do look forward to reading it.
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What’s that aphorism? Bad things happen when good people stay silent.
Good on you for acting, Marty. Lots of small actions must build.
(I’ve been working on a meme. Sounds pathetic written down like that, but I guess it’s about speaking up in some form or another).
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Spot on, Bruce. We are only as good as our collective better selves. I look forward to seeing that meme of yours.
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I hate to be all dreary and whatnot but a few years ago someone walked into a 2nd grade classroom and shot a bunch of children. After that, nothing changed. NOTHING. If that doesn’t do it, nothing will.
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For some reason your response went into my SPAM folder, and I only now just noticed it (sorry — no idea why that happened).
Yep, if Sandy Hook and the death of children can’t change anything, that doesn’t give any of us much hope. Agreed.
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How strange…I left a big long comment that never showed up… I hate when WP does that!
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Ugh, so sorry. But I’m grateful for your taking the time to write, AGMA. I know we are kindred spirits on this and many other topics.
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