Christmas will never be the same for Noah’s grandpa

About the time that maniac was at the Sandy Hook Elementary School I was having lunch with two of my grandsons, both age four. When I heard the news I thought of two other grandchildren seven and five at their school. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about my grandchildren or the twenty children in that school in Connecticut since. When I heard that one of the children killed was only six I cried. Tears come easy every time I read or hear an updated news report. It is impossible to truly empathize with the parents, it is incomprehensible.

In a few weeks, this event will fade from our memories, just as have the other massacres that have occurred in the last year which you have no doubt forgotten; we move on. The parents of those twenty children will never forget, life and Christmas will never be the same … ever. Even though I am a distant observer like most Americans, I too will never get over this horror.

Through rationalization we have come to hear all too often, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Enough, if guns were not so easily in the hands of people, the disturbed among us would not so easily be able to do what they do. What was this killers mother doing with multiple weapons? Oh I know, protection, because the constitution says she has a right to bear arms or she just liked to shoot guns at targets.

While I don’t get it, I can accept hunters owning the equipment they need to pursue their “sport.” Of course, if it were a true sport they would be using spears and bow and arrow, but I guess the challenge of shooting an unaware animal from 300 yards is irresistible. I can even accept that some people feel the need for a handgun in their dresser drawer. Beyond that, beyond a basic firearm there is no need for a society to tolerate more. There is no need for high-powered automatic weapons, military weapons or anything close to it. There is no need for large caches of weapons or hundreds of rounds of ammunition in any home.

There is a need for background checks, for licenses, for detailed records of sales and transfers on a uniform national level. And yes, for limits on the type of firearms in the hands of citizens.

The right to keep and bear arms was born of a different time and for a different purpose by people who feared for their lives if they ventured ten miles from home, who hunted for survival and most of all who we’re just shedding the shackles of a monarchy and were uncertain of what was to come next. I find it incredulous that people can argue so vehemently the case to have guns on an unrestricted basis. What they are saying in effect is that I must have a gun because some day I may want to or have to kill somebody.

We Americans should examine our fascination with guns and violence. If you just have to have your guns stop and look in the mirror some day and ask yourself why. Why do I need an instrument designed with one purpose, to kill something? Does it make me feel powerful, does it fill some primeval urge, am I living in such a troubled society that I am convinced I must have a gun for protection?

Scan your TV lineup tonight or any night and see how many shows have a “V” designation for violence. Does pervasive violence serve some useful or educational purpose? Have we really sunk to the point where we can’t distinguish between entertainment and violence? Apparently the answer is yes. We are shocked and horrified when a sick mind goes over the edge and acts, yet night after night we seek entertainment in the same acts. We allow our children to become desensitized with video games, arcades, movies, even some music built on pure violence and glorification of shooting and killing, hey, you win the game if you kill them all before your ammo runs out.

I know many people won’t agree with me, but it seems to me the discussion needs to go beyond “the right to bear arms.” There will always be crazy people doing horrible things, easy access to weapons designed for mass, rapid killing should not be their tool.

One right-wing radio commentator says the solution is an armed officer in our schools presumably so they can have a gun fight with crazy intruders. Others tout school lockdown, student drills, and other measures. I heard a representative from one state talking about training and arming some school personnel.  Is this how we define our civilized society?  This is too important to let the NRA and its PAC define how we live.

In the last few days I have overheard several parents trying to explain Sandy Hook to their children. They struggled, and all they came up with in the end was, ” You don’t have to worry, that’s not going to happen here.” I suspect parents have said that before…and they were wrong.

Early on I heard one name of a child killed, Noah. Noah was somebody’s grandson. Noah could have been my grandson.