Our nation just experienced another mass shooting. This one, in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., ranks as the worst by the number of people shot: 71, with 12 dying of their injuries. Some who survived will suffer lifelong debilitating conditions as a result of a bullet.
The ripple from this shooting is being felt worldwide. Most people in the civilized world wonder why our country puts up with mass shooting after mass shooting with no talk of how to prevent them. When an oil spill occurs, the public is outraged and demands there be no more. When any environmental disaster happens, it's the same. After 9/11, safety measures were taken at airports and at other places to prevent other such horrific attacks against Americans.
It only takes a month for the number of Americans shot by bullets to equal or surpass the number who were killed in the 9/11 attacks. More than 80 Americans a day are shot in gun homicides, suicides and accidents. Guns murder 32 a day.
We are better than this. These numbers are so much greater than any other developed country not at war; that's staggering to consider.
After every mass shooting, we grieve, we wring our hands, we sign petitions, some of us demand action, and then we move on. Why? The National Rifle Association tells us we shouldn't do anything in the aftermath of a shooting. It's not the right time.
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So then time passes and the right time never comes. If not after a mass shooting, when is the right time? If we wait until the next one, more people will die senseless and violent deaths. If not now, when?
We can do better.
Why aren't we having a national discussion about military-style assault weapons being so available to civilians? Weapons of war can be purchased legally in our county at gun dealers, at gun shows, over the Internet and via a variety of other private venues. In many of these venues, no background check is required. Only at federally licensed gun dealers are background checks required. If the theater shooter hadn't passed a background he easily could have purchased those very same guns somewhere else without a background check.
We can do better.
Why are 100-round ammunition magazines available to just anyone? It's ludicrous and insane that in a civilized country like ours, civilians can mow people down on an almost monthly basis with assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. It's harder to buy decongestants than it is to buy 6,000 rounds of ammunition in three months' time.
We are better than this.
We can contact U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and ask them these questions. Then demand they do better for our communities. Demand they protect the communities they represent by passing common-sense gun laws. Demand they stop being anemic in the face of pressure from the NRA. Demand they stand up for victims.
Tell them their silence is deafening. Tell them this is an issue supported by the majority of Americans and Minnesotans in poll after poll. Tell them they are representing the wrong pressure group when they acquiesce to the NRA.
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Also, call the White House hotline and demand that President Obama make this a priority in the coming election. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." If the NRA is feared, it wins and we lose. We lose way too many lives to bullets. Everyone knows all gun deaths will not be preventable. But to do nothing is not an option. It's time for common-sense solutions and a meeting of the minds in order to save lives.
We are better than this.
If we let our politicians continue to get away with avoiding the discussion that must happen we all are complicit. We all are potential victims.
We all felt the horror and pain of the latest victims of yet another mass shooting. Aug. 5 will be the 20-year anniversary of the shooting of my own sister in a domestic attack. I understand the pain and the tears. I know we are better than this.
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The writer urges anyone who wants to join a national conversation on preventing gun deaths and injuries to go to www.wearebetterthanthis.org .
Joan A. Peterson of Duluth is co-president of the Northland Chapter of the Brady Campaign and is a board member for the Brady Campaign/Center to Prevent Gun Violence, for Protect Minnesota and for the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs-the Duluth Model. Read her blog at commongunsense.com.
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