Time Is Not On Their Side!

Hi Everyone,

As we are all so painfully aware, a little over one year ago, a mad gunman killed 26 people, including 20 six and seven year olds, in a school in Newtown, CT. Soon after the shootings, there was a lot of talk, especially from politicians from both sides, on whether or not to change gun laws to make them stricter. There was news coverage everywhere and then the real fight started between the NRA and DC. As in so many other instances, somehow the minority group was able to completely stop the majority group from passing any kind of new gun control laws. That ending was so predictable and unsettling at the same time.

Some of the people who lost loved ones in the Newtown shootings launched a grass roots campaign soon after the December 14, 2012 massacre to address gun violence. In this day and age of no one agreeing in DC, can you blame them? Of course not! The group, Sandy Hook Promise, goal is to make a cultural change about gun violence. Sandy Hook Promise hasn't completely given up hope on gun legislation coming from DC, but they are certainly not putting all of their eggs in one basket. Sandy Hook Promise's premise begins with them talking to parents. Talking parent to parent I believe is the right and best approach, especially since parents share a common passion for ensuring their children's safety. Waiting for DC to act is a total waste of time, since they can't seem to agree on much of anything.

Grass roots campaigns can and do work. In this instance, the thought of more children being mercilessly killed, while in school, where they are supposed to be safe, is appalling to me. So since DC either can't or won't do anything about finding a solution any time soon in the near future, I fully support Sandy Hook Promise. As I have learned, common sense is not usually associated with DC, so the alternative common sense approach has to be a grass roots campaign that I hope can and will get the job done. Kudos to Sandy Hook Promise.

Very unfortunately, the down side to a grass roots campaign, is that it will most likely take a lot of time (years) to finally getting some federal gun control legislation passed. But in the mean time, how many more innocent children and school teachers, etc., will be needlessly killed? Time is not money in this case, it is lives saved or lost and DC has shown it has no interest in changing anything and that just plain sucks.

FYI, I am not against legal ownership of certain guns, but assault weapons were created for one reason and only one reason, to kill as many people in as short a period of time as possible. I previously blogged about that on 7/22/12.

Til next week.  

Peter