We must fix this. No more excuses.

This is no time for learned helplessness

In country after country where mass shootings have occurred, like Australia and Norway and New Zealand, gun regulations and restrictions were introduced. The mass shootings declined markedly. The same is true in America where states like Massachusetts have been tough on guns. There’s no real mystery about it.

And any notion that the guns are needed so ordinary citizens could defend themselves against a tyrannical government also remains an unproven legend. In January of 2020, we saw an armed insurrection effort with people trying to aid a tyrannical outgoing president resist the peaceful transfer of power.

And nobody in government is trying to kill the Second Amendment or take away everyone’s guns.

A big part of the deadly danger we face is gun sellers using fear to sell more guns. Right now, there’s likely a big rush underway for some people to buy more guns because the gun sellers will be selling fear of the government intervening again. They have the free speech rights to do so but lack any moral compass as human beings.

They sell lies. And the blood is thick on their hands.

And they enjoy it most when we’re feeling helpless against them again.

We are not helpless and we can defeat these bloodlusting marketers of killing kids.

At 21, we’re permitted to drink, gamble at casinos, get a room at a hotel and drive vehicles in certain professions that you can’t at an earlier age. But you can buy bulletproof vests and massive rounds of ammunition and semi-automatic weapons on your 18th birthday. Tactical gear has no second amendment rights so let’s ban that or add a 6 month waiting period for Kevlar vests. There’s lots of deadly weapons that citizens are restricted from buying. It can be done for semi-automatics and has been done already.

We had a semi-automatic ban in place for 10 years. Let’s make it permanent. Let’s raise the age to purchase all these things. And let’s replace every Congressional Rep or Senator who refuses to do this. The overwhelming majority of voters wants this and can have this. Stop being afraid because the sellers of fear don’t care if your kids and grandkids die. Fire the lawmakers sucking up to the gun lobbyists. Our children need teachers not executioners.

It takes weeks and months to adopt a pet. It should take more than an 18th birthday to buy a gun. In Texas you don’t need a license to carry a gun designed to take out dozens of people.

Our schools don’t need to be hardened. Ted Cruz proposes a single door entrance and exit could solve the problem. But in multiple school shootings and the grocery store in Buffalo, those cops and security guards are among the first to fall. Because AR-15s can mow everyone down, especially at one door.

Train the kids what to do? Arm the teachers? In that little town outside of San Antonio, the local police force decided not to enter. Their SWAT team decided not to enter. The teachers are expected to do better? For 40 minutes the slaughter continued. Till outside police forces arrived and took out the killer. Yeah, let’s harden our schools, to match the heads of the people who refuse to provide the most obvious fix.

Maybe we can give the kids Jim Jones Kool-Aid packets so they can commit suicide painlessly and avoid the terror and pain of being chopped to bits.

Teachers can go on wildcat strikes, no union approval needed. And they should. This is a teachable moment.

Some political leaders are busy banning books but not guns. Some members of Congress have been repeatedly fined for carrying guns into the Capitol. They’re banned to protect Congress but not banned in schools. And armed guards in schools have added fresh problems with some bullying and abusing the kids.

Some politicians think asking kids how they’re feeling is dangerous stuff. Then they say the problem is mental illness, without a single professional diagnosis for evidence. But teachers can’t ask how they’re feeling?

There’s millions of loners, some bullied, and more than 99% of them kill no-one. The list of excuses is long and repetitive. But the gun sellers’ lobby is guilty.

Somebody leaked a SCOTUS working document. Within days, new laws were being passed all over the country to keep more women from getting an abortion. Some places have hotlines so you can report them and collect a reward. Susan Collins had instant security after someone posed a question in sidewalk chalk near her home that wasn’t even threatening.

There are no hotlines to report any man walking into a school with an automatic rifle. The Columbine high school massacre was 23 years ago. That’s how much the gun sellers care. That’s how long Republican lawmakers have been doing nothing to stop the slaughters.

The SCOTUS justices got instant security after peaceful protestors visited their homes.

Our kids didn’t. They got splattered to bits. Because certain legislators simply don’t care. They lead no one. They don’t earn our respect, don’t deserve their paychecks and don’t deserve re-election.

Why aren’t there peaceful protestors outside the homes of the gun sellers? Or the leaders and paid lobbyists of the NRA? There could even be lists of the children of the bloody sellers and lobbyists and details like the schools they go to. Let’s get those lists gathered.

Let me be absolutely clear about that. I do not support threats, I want no child taunted or bullied. I just think their parents need to understand how vulnerable every kid is because of them.

The Sandy Hook parents got targeted by conspiracy theorists and were harassed for years after their children were murdered. If they come after the grieving people in that Uvalde or in Buffalo, will you stand up for them then?

You aren’t helpless. You and we can force lawmakers to act. We MUST ACT and KEEP ACTING. In fresh and novel ways. It doesn’t take violence or an insurrection. It just takes your refusal to not back down, to not let it go on any longer.

Shut the schools down again. Shut down the gun shops and pawnshops where guns are sold. Online gun seller sites are vulnerable too. If I was mayor of Uvalde, I’d fire the entire police force for not going after that murderer faster. They’re paid to face those dangers not to be shrinking violets, no matter what excuses they use.

Complete and thorough background checks. Waiting periods. A ban on all semi-automatic weaponry. If there’s to be better security at schools, let’s have 12 foot walls and gun detectors at the perimeters of the school property not in the buildings.

Or send placards with yarn to every resistant, sell-out legislator. They can hang signs around their necks that say “I’m dumber than the lawmakers in more than 200 countries.” Because those who won’t regulate guns better really are.

I don’t have all the answers. I bet you readers can offer a few. You should. Tell me anything that you think can compel the resisters to respond to their constituents this time. Our kids and grandkids and friends and family are worth it.

Brainstorm. Be relentless. Don’t back down. Make it happen BECAUSE WE CAN.

Tell us whatever you think could work. And don’t be shy or folks could die…