What are we going to do about it?

While World War II was raging, we had to practice hiding from the enemy. As a little boy growing up in Muskegon, I was seriously frightened during the air raid “blackouts” of the 1940s. I would tremble in the arms of my parents. I had nightmares about Hitler and Hirohito. 

Decades later, it was a different story.

When our kids were little, in the 60s and 70s, the threat of nuclear war was real and Civil Defense leaders recommended bomb shelters where families could hide from deadly radiation. There were practice drills in cities and schools. 

Today, it’s a different ball game. The kids in our schools must practice hiding and protecting themselves from shooters! Architects are even designing new school buildings to allow for hiding and protection. 

None of that helped 8, 9 and 10-year-old students at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, yesterday. A young gunman shot and killed 19 youngsters and 2 teachers before police shot him dead. 

I’m afraid our perception of the Second Amendment has run amuck. 

Maybe you’ll recall the words of the NRA head following a similar tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut back in 2012. His profound statement: The only thing to stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun. 

It is that kind of wacky thinking that has so derailed the debate over the Second Amendment that nothing makes sense any more. It has made a shambles of our two-party political system. And so, while Republicans claim Democrats want to take away our guns and our rights, and Democrats claim that Republicans want everyone to take arms for protection, our nation becomes not only the laughingstock of the world, but the slaughterhouse. We have more guns than people, more guns than motor vehicles! Mass shootings have become commonplace. 

The Washington Post reports that, since 1999 and the Columbine massacre, more than 311,000 school kids have been exposed to gun violence! 

As Michael Moore put it yesterday, “We love our guns more than we love our children.” 

Muttering “thoughts and prayers” isn’t enough. We’ve already had 27 school shootings this year! 

How many more precious jewels must we lose before we do SOMETHING to reduce this insanity?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to contact the author, Mark
Read more