After President Biden had addressed the nation on Tuesday night in the wake of yet another horrific day in America, I watched as CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL. Of the many things he said to Cooper, one stuck out to me...he challenged anyone watching or even in CNN's studio to name one victim from Parkland, from Sandy Hook, or any of the other mass school shootings that have plagued this nation since Columbine back in 1999.
I'll be the first to admit, the first to plead, guilty as charged. And I'll tell you why.
Especially after Sandy Hook, when the newspapers, magazines and all social media put the pictures of the victims up. The Daily News, I believe, put pictures up of all 20 of the kids that were slaughtered that day on their front page. I should know their names, I should know them and never forget them.
But when I looked at that front page, what I saw looking back at me was 20 pictures of my son
My niece, my nephew. All my friends kids. Any kid that was in my life at that point in time.
And it happened again when I looked at these pour souls that were murdered on Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas. Once again, I saw my kid, my nephews and nieces. All of them.
And I know for a fact I can't be the only person who this happens to. Shit, I can't believe there is anyone out there who this DOESN"T happen to.
And yet here we are.
And we're here because of this stubborn refusal to acknowledge the gun menace in this country.
I've tried. I've tried to see both sides on this. I've tried to reason with the folks who are so protective of the 2nd Amendment, that they are almost willing to look the other way when these slaughters occur. I've tried to understand the people who think they can only feel safe if they have the arsenal of a small nation in their garages.
This animal who massacred these babies paid $2000 for his semi-automatic rifle, and bought 375 rounds of ammunition. 375 rounds? Where did the people who sold him this stuff think he was going, off to Ukraine to fight the Russians? One would think that anyone who sold this kind of firepower to a 17 year old should be locked up with the key tossed away right?
Wrong.
Because they can hide behind the 2nd amendment.
Because they have politicians who are in the back pockets of the NRA. Who won't do a thing to make this issue go away.
And I saw all the excuses, man. I sure did. The usual crap. Mental health issues. Poor parenting. Everything but the fact that this cretin had an AR-15 and 375 rounds of ammo.
And if I have to explain to anyone why a car, which yes, has been used to commit murder, is different than an automatic rifle, I mean, you can't possibly be that blind can you?
What I don't get, what I will NEVER get is, how can we let this happen to our kids? Parenting is hard, believe me I know. I know I've made some mistakes as a parent, we all have. And I've yet to meet anyone who has a child who hasn't made it priority number one to protect them at all costs.
Except there are some who won't speak out or speak up or do anything to stop the gun epidemic in this country. They'll say it's just more liberal babbling. Fine.
I'm not going to stop, I'm not going to back off. When I look at those kids from Uvalde, Texas, I see all the kids I know looking back at me.
I don't want someone I don't know one day staring at a picture of kids cut down by a maniac with an AR-15, and see my kid or kids that I love looking back at them for real.
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