Action, not words
A little more than five years ago, The Legal Genealogist tried to find words for the news out of Newtown, Connecticut.
“The news out of Connecticut yesterday couldn’t have been worse,” that post more than five years ago said. “It was stunning. Heartbreaking. Tragic beyond imagining.”1
And I was so very wrong.
What is in fact tragic beyond imagining is how numb we are now to news like the news out of Newtown.
To news like the 17 school shootings before yesterday around the United States since the start of 2018 — nine of them with injuries or fatalities — and the month of February not even half over.2
Or to the news yesterday out of Parkland, Florida.
Seventeen dead. More critically injured.
How many more… how many of our children have to die… before we say enough?
Don’t offer thoughts and prayers, politicians of this country.
Take action.
Strong, effective action.
Action that is at least on a par with how we handle ownership and operation of a motor vehicle: registration, licensing, education, insurance.
And if you don’t, understand two things.
First, there is blood on your hands.
Second, we who love the children are angry.
And we vote.
SOURCES
- Judy G. Russell, “So much sorrow… and gratitude,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 15 Dec 2012 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 14 Feb 2018). ↩
- Meghan Keneally, “There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year: Everytown,” ABC News, posted 14 Feb 2018 (http://abcnews.go.com/ : accessed 14 Feb 2018). ↩
I am only a very amateur genealogist. Not sure if I should even use the G word. I search for family, get tired of it and half heartedly search again. Yet I read almost all of your blog posts and enjoy them. So I commend you for making this post. You are a hundred percent correct. These children are part of families that will never be. In the future they will only be an asterisk on people’s family trees. Killed killed killed. A true travesty. How long will it take us to realize if we keep doing the same thing, the same things will happen It’s time to stop this. I am beyond sad.
“Beyond sad” — oh yes… and angry. I am so angry… I hope others are, and I hope we all vote.
Yes. ANGRY!!!
An 18yr-old can kill or be killed, in that (in some states) you can legally purchase an assault weapon, and you can be drafted into war. But, an 18-yr old cannot choose to use alcohol or tobacco. What is wrong with this picture?
In 1996 we had a similar event in Scotland. 16 children and one teacher were killed.
In 1997 the government banned the possession of almost all handguns in mainland Britain; in the same year the successor government (of the opposing party) banned the possession of virtually all others.
There are still some gun crimes, as people do smuggle weapons in (some from across the Atlantic, but more from Europe), but we are blessed in having far fewer shooting-related deaths than the USA. Wikipedia suggests the UK’s death rate from firearms per 100.000 population is about 1/20th of the USA.
I understand that political forces would prevent such a change in legislation in the USA but I fear for my US friends and relatives.
Yes, and Australia did the same thing after a mass shooting there. Sigh… American “exceptionalism” means we are the exception here: we are the only country in the free world where gun deaths are so very high all the time.
Judy, I agree with most of what you wrote but you left out several important things. The current laws regarding purchasing guns are not currently being enforced as we saw in the church shooting a few months ago. More unenforced laws will not help. Lets enforce what is on the books now.
Also, you did not mention mental health issues. Apparently this young man had known problems that were not addressed including committing several crimes (theft and stalking) that should have placed him in the criminal system. This needs to be changed and will require each of us to speak out and the authorities to listen and act.
The fact that some laws aren’t strictly observed is no excuse for considering what laws are needed and what enforcement efforts are required. And we can’t continue to cut funding for social services and then complain that a mass shooter didn’t get mental health care.
The spirit of the 2nd Amendment was such that we have the right to arm and defend ourselves against a tyrannical government, like a dictator or monarch – NOT to allow a tyrannical gun culture to demand access for all to weapons that can rapid-fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition into the bodies of children and countrymen.
Thanks for noticing that the Constitution is not a suicide pact!
It certainly doesn’t help that different states have different laws. You go to one state, buy a gun, bring it to another state. There should be federal gun laws. And truthfully I think it should be just like a car with inspections and mandatory insurance.
Yes it would be very nice if all laws were followed, but there has to be decent ones in the first place and some sort of standardization.
From your lips to Congress’ ears…
Suze,
>> And truthfully I think it should be just like a car with inspections and mandatory insurance.
Auto registration, inspections and insurance laws vary significantly from state to state so this is not a good comparison. Mandatory car insurance here in Florida is a joke and many simply ignore the requirement for what little is required. Also, we don’t even get a title to our cars anymore.
Getting back to enforcement, the fact that the shooter in the last church shooting was a known problem and the USAF did not report this to the federal database was criminal! I do not know any details on yesterday’s shooter but he certainly should not have had access to any guns based on what has been reported. The people he lived with were nuts for letting him keep a gun and may well be held liable.
I noticed in Trumps press conference today, he offered sympathy, prayers and support (what support??)but never once mentioned the root of the problem….assault rifles! That type of weapon is NOT needed for anything other than killing, and killing they do, as we’ve seen multiple times. I agree that mental health is something that needs correcting, but take the assault weapons out of the hands of citizens. Public sale in all states should be banned. Our children should not have to practice procedures in school for shootings. Stop the shootings. BTW, Senator Rubio is supported by the NRA to the tune of $3M. No wonder he is against gun laws.
I am so tired of “thoughts and prayers.” How ’bout action????
Agreed. As far as I’m concerned, unless you’re in the military, there is no reason on earth why you need a rapid-fire assault weapon.
I have spent time this afternoon reading the laws of my state regarding gun ownership, mental health admission procedures, legal protection from lawsuits for mandated reporters, laws holding parents responsible for the conduct of minors, etc. I was already familiar with the gun laws, but the laws concerning the other topics were eye-opening to say the least. Maybe we should work on all of these areas concurrently to hopefully prevent further tragedies. It seems we need to start at the state level and work upward.
I agree that those need to be re-examined, but respectfully disagree on the state level stuff. If ONE state has easy come-and-buy’em gun laws, nobody anywhere will be safe.
I hoped after Sandy Hook, I hoped after Las Vegas, I have had hope after every shooting no many how many were killed. I hope – I’m sure in vain – after Parkland, Florida. How Many?
Thank you, Judy
I am tired of hearing about the right to bear arms in this country and the Constitution. It is one thing to allow a musket when there was little law enforcement – particularly outside cities. Quite another to talk of automatic weapons. The 2nd Amendment was ratified in 1791. Times change. The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1917. It prohibited the sale, import or deportation of alcohol. This was repealed in 1933. When will we acknowledge that this is no longer 1791?? As Judy asks, How Many More?
We have the one of the highest number of gun deaths in the world following South America. See: https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/03/americas/us-gun-statistics/index.html
We certainly don’t need to repeal it… but to interpret it as something other than a suicide pact…
Yesterday’s school shooting was tragic and never should have happened.
On a different note, for someone for whom accuracy should be highly important, it is disappointing that you did not check your source better. There have not been eighteen school shootings this year. Only four of the incidents actually qualify as school shootings (which is four too many).
I’m not going to quibble over definitions of what does and doesn’t qualify as a school shooting. A kid committing suicide at a school is, to me, a school shooting; it’s certainly the use of a weapon under conditions where others could easily be endangered. (The one suicide on property of a closed school probably shouldn’t be counted.) But what is crystal clear, as The Washington Post wrote today after criticizing the school shooting count, is this: “What’s not in dispute is gun violence’s pervasiveness and its devastating impact on children. A recent study of World Health Organization data published in the American Journal of Medicine that found that, among high-income nations, 91 percent of children younger than 15 who were killed by bullets lived in the United States.
And the trends are only growing more dire.
On average, two dozen children are shot every day in America, and in 2016, more kids were killed by gunfire — 1,637 — than during any previous year this millennium.” (John Woodrow Cox and Steven Rich, “No, there haven’t been 18 school shootings in 2018. That number is flat wrong,” The Washington Post, posted 15 Feb 2018.)
Not numb – yet – it’s still a punch in the stomach. I too vote!
Hopefully, enough of us will to make a difference.
Thank you for this post, Judy! If our politicians don’t see fit to take some action against the devastating effects of gun violence, it’s time to vote them out! I’m not asking to infringe on anyone’s second amendment rights, but let’s get rid of assault rifles, do adequate background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who are mentally ill, and other common sense legislation.
Alas, it appears that common sense is all too uncommon. Especially on this issue.
I was raised around guns, these were clearly for hunting, cheaper to eat deer and rabbits than to eat your own beef. These guns did not look like machine guns and military weapons. The children are seeing these assault weapons in video games shooting other people and they play these games day and night. Soon one of them will want to try it out for real. The halls of a school match up very similar with the video game scenario, so in my opinion we have two problems, these assault weapons being sold…ban them immediately. Do not let these video games like “Call of Duty”, etc into your home! Then the media broadcast it night and day while the next disturbed kid watches and somehow thinks he could do it better!
I agree on both counts, Stan — and have long been very distressed by the proliferation of games that seem to glorify killing.
As a person who often advocates that family historians should analyze their sources and verify information, doesn’t the same apply to the sources you cite in this blog? The Washington Post has debunked the “fact” that there have been 17 school shootings so far in 2018. If you checked your source and the list of school shootings, you would have seen that the first school shooting on this list was a man in a school parking lot — the school had been closed for 7 months. Don’t get me wrong — killing children is evil and wrong. Just check your facts.
You may not have noticed, but (a) the Washington Post article came out considerably after numerous other sources had provided the number cited and (b) I provided a link to the Washington Post article in response to another reader comment above when it did come out. I will also repeat what I said there: I’m not going to quibble over definitions of what does and doesn’t qualify as a school shooting. A kid committing suicide at a school is, to me, a school shooting; it’s certainly the use of a weapon under conditions where others could easily be endangered. (The one suicide on property of a closed school probably shouldn’t be counted.) But what is crystal clear, as The Washington Post wrote today after criticizing the school shooting count, is this: “What’s not in dispute is gun violence’s pervasiveness and its devastating impact on children. A recent study of World Health Organization data published in the American Journal of Medicine that found that, among high-income nations, 91 percent of children younger than 15 who were killed by bullets lived in the United States.
And the trends are only growing more dire.
On average, two dozen children are shot every day in America, and in 2016, more kids were killed by gunfire — 1,637 — than during any previous year this millennium.” (John Woodrow Cox and Steven Rich, “No, there haven’t been 18 school shootings in 2018. That number is flat wrong,” The Washington Post, posted 15 Feb 2018.)
Early in my teaching career, I experienced an attempted school shooting. A man came into the school with a handgun (thank God it was a handgun), looking for a particular teacher. On his way down the hall to the teacher’s room, he shot up the hallway. I will never forget the sounds of the gunshots, the children screaming, and the teachers yelling, “Call the police!” Every time I hear recordings from other school shootings, I am haunted by the sounds of gunshots and children screaming.
By the time the shooter reached the teacher’s door, his gun jammed. So, he beat the teacher with the gun until other teachers jumped on him. He then took off, and was tackled on the front porch by the principal and a sheriff’s deputy.
Teachers and students are sitting ducks. Many school buildings–especially older ones– have multiple entrances. Classroom doors often open out–not in–and teachers must step out into the hall to lock the door with a key.
Aside from frequent lockdown drills, I have been in several other real lockdowns. When a child tugged at me and asked, “Is this real?” I said, “I’m not sure, but I will keep you safe”–knowing that my ability to keep the children safe from some nut with a gun is limited.
It is way, way, way past time for action. However, it appears that the U.S. will simply lurch from this school shooting to another one, without any attempt to keep children safe.
I can’t imagine what that must have been like. Gentle hugs… 🙁
Thanks, Judy, for speaking out. In my opinion, there are just too many guns. No 18 year old needs to be able to get an AR-15.
My daughter-in-law shared a post from a group of high school students who are talking on message boards about walking out of class on the 20th of April – the Columbine anniversary – and stay out until Congress updates gun laws, because it’s THEIR lives on the line.
Remember, Congress, these are, or shortly will be, voters.
And the sooner they can vote, the better… kids are awesome…
Thank you, Judy! I, too, am sick and angry.