being a colorado native, last friday night's shooting at the movies hit
me in a different way than most, perhaps. i was in middle school when dylan and eric
went into columbine high school and opened fire. we had family friends
that went to columbine, i worked with somebody that went to columbine.
reading and hearing about last friday night also brought with it
memories of gabrielle giffords, trayvon martin,
and the countless victims of gun violence in my own backyard here in
chicago. friday's attacks were awful and tragic and any number of words
that all feel too superficial to actually use as descriptors. yet, not
knowing anyone directly, or even indirectly (so far as i know), who was
a victim or survivor of the attack, i also felt numb.
so often i hear about gun violence, yet it tugs at my heartstrings a
little bit less each time. gun violence has become so common that the
response is no longer "how many were hurt?" or "did anyone die?" but
instead "how many were killed?" it has become a relief to hear that
there were injuries but no deaths due to gun violence! that is not the
way it should be!
then, it comes time to respond. how do you possibly respond in the face
of death? president obama and mitt romney have removed their political
ads from tv in colorado. in light of the tragedy, it does seem right
to stop with the attack ads. both of them also expressed condolences
and shared sympathies as fathers. not being president or a presidential
hopeful nor a parent, those are both out. as a seminarian, reading
psalm 88 today seemed right. as a citizen, though, there is another
response needed.
my deep sympathy and prayers are with all of those affected by the
shooting in aurora last friday, and if you were affected directly, i
hope that you take the time you need and seek out the help you need to
get through this and to continue each day. if you were not directly
affected, if you felt numb when you heard or read the news, if you
posted/tweeted/text-ed immediately your reactions, then i have a request
of you. they say that guns don't kill people, people kill people.
yes, people kill people, but loose gun laws make it a whole lot easier
to do it. this may be the time to stop political attack ads, but this
is the time to change the politics we have regarding guns in this
country.
the nra has plenty of money for lobbying, but we are plenty of people.
laws need to be changed. there needs to be tighter restrictions on guns
and ammunition as well as laws such as the stand your ground law. if
it is harder to buy guns, if there are less deadly weapons available,
there will be a drop in gun violence. it is not fair that the nra
(whose views are more extreme than most of its members' views) continues
to push for fewer restrictions and regulations on guns and ammunition.
this is not a red or blue issue. this is an issue of safety for our
streets, for our movie theaters, for our public officials, for our
health care providers, for ourselves, and for each other. now is the
time to grieve and to mourn, but now is also the time to change. change
can come from laws. congressional representatives and state
representatives have power. call, email, visit (if at all possible,
this is the best option), get the facts on gun violence
and then make your views known to your representatives, find out their
views, make sure they know that you'll be paying attention to how they
vote on the george zimmerman armed vigilante acts
(this would require states to allow people like george zimmerman, the
man who followed, shot, and killed trayvon martin, to get conceal and
carry permits). check out how your state is doing on strength of gun laws (colorado's at a mere 15 out of 100).
jesus did not carry a weapon, he was killed by one. he did not advocate
for violence, in his actions and his words he advocated for
non-violence. in matthew 5, jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
we need healing and we get healing by repairing relationships,
accounting for damage done, and finding ways to make sure the same thing
doesn't happen again. locking up james holmes will not solve the
problem and will not heal the pain. loving our enemy means finding a
way to keep it from happening again. it means praying for james holmes,
that he might find help and that he might know the transformative grace
of god. it means working to repair our broken communities. it means
stopping gun violence.
like with so much else in our country and in our world, if we do not
take steps now, in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, to change
our culture of violence, to work to end gun violence, especially, then
in a few days or a few weeks, the country will relapse, it will forget
the tragedy, just like it has for so many victims of gun violence over
even just the last year. now has to be the time to act.
