Gun Gluttony

While the issue of guns and gun violence are often swirling around in my brain, I have been thinking about it almost constantly the past few days, and it is certainly at the forefront of my brain tonight as I sit here writing this post.

You see, a few weeks ago, I read this. This took place the town over from where I grew up, nestled in the "safe" foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These reckless men/boys were shooting at cars along a highway I've traveled upon more times than I can count. A highway that those near and dear to me--my family, my best friends--drive upon with great frequency. And these men put their lives and the lives of many others at risk because guns are too accessible in our society, a society that is plagued by irresponsibility.

And today, today marks the one year anniversary of one of the events that will be a permanent part of my life, an anniversary that I won't ever forget, for it marks the day on which another reckless young man took the lives of 32 innocent and brilliant human beings before turning the gun on himself at my alma mater. I remember exactly what I was doing when I found out what had happened, how I spent the rest of the day glued to my computer screen, watching the events unfold, anxiously awaiting the emergence of more details on what had happened, waiting to hear from my family and friends to find out if they were okay. Like my parents before me who remembered where they were when JFK was shot, like my grandparents before them who remember what they were doing after the invasion of Pearl Harbor, this day, April 16th, what I was doing, what I was thinking, will be forever etched in my memory.

It is with fear and trepidation that I contemplate the world I have chosen to bring new life, the next generation, into. It is a world rife with violence and pain. Last year, on the morning of April 16th, I was thinking of how best to celebrate the one year anniversary of my son's birth two days later, but all that changed when I heard the first rumblings of what was happening in Blacksburg, the place I still consider to by my truest "home." During this time when I should have been reveling in the wonder of pregnancy, birth, the wonderful life my partner and I had created, and my son's transition from infancy to toddlerhood my mind was otherwise consumed with images of violence, pain, anguish, torment. It is hard to consider the beautiful elements of the world, of life, when confronted with the worst in such a dreadful manner.

Likewise, just one short month after the birth of my daughter, I found myself again faced with the same bleak mindset following another campus shooting, this time not at my alma mater, but perpetuated by a student enrolled at the university in my current hometown, a university where my partner is also a student. Again, a time when I should have been marveling at the perfect innocence in my arms, I was instead contemplating the cruelty of mankind.

Why? Why? Because many of our country's leaders are reluctant, if not outright opposed, to restricting access to guns. Guns are used to inflict harm, to kill people. They have no other purpose. Guns-rights proponents have taken the Second Amendment far, far beyond its intended scope. Much of the gun violence we see today in our society is due directly to the abundance of guns available and the ease with which people can obtain them. I find it appalling that in both campus shootings I referenced above, the gunmen obtained at least some of their weapons from an ONLINE dealer. Online! No face-to-face interaction, just a click of a button and the gun is yours.

I have no solution. I just needed to write about what I am feeling tonight/today. Gun violence has marred the lives of so many I love and many, many more whom I've never met. As I mentioned earlier, it's also irrevocably intertwined, in my own mind, with the nascent lives of my dear children. As a mother, I feel the need for gun control even more urgently. I do not want my children to feel the fear and pain their parents, especially their father, have felt because of gun violence. I want them to feel free, to enjoy life, to love, to be fulfilled and happy. Yet, I cannot help but be afraid of what the future holds for them, and their contemporaries, if we do not change things to make this a safer, better world for them.