Another shooting…when will it end?

There was another mass shooting in a school. This time the horror was in Georgia.

Last year several authors got together to write a fictional account of a mass shooting with the purpose of highlighting the humanity in the midst of such horror. The gun debate is often just people talking past each other with stats and facts and predetermined sides. No one changes their mind. And hearts certainly aren’t changed. As with most political “debates,” people usually end up more certain they are right as the debate goes on. I’m pretty sure it is rare that anyone changes their mind or opinion about an issue just because they are presented with data, facts, and information – no matter how “right” the data is. We humans have this uncanny ability to ignore or explain away anything that doesn’t fit into our established belief system.

If this is ever going to end, we have to see the cost of not doing anything. But with more than information, stats, and data. There are other costs.

We called the book American Roulette because that’s what this is. Russian roulette is where you have a revolver with five empty chambers and one bullet in a sixth chamber and you spin the cylinder, put it to your own head, and pull the trigger. American roulette is where someone else is pointing a weapon at you pulling the trigger, except you don’t even know you are playing the game. This is what these mass shootings have become.

I see polls that show the public is pretty united in wanting a variety of restrictions on weapons. Yet nothing has changed. So the question is raised – when will it end?

Here’s my thoughts on when it will end.

It will end when we not only agree that something should be done, but demand action from our elected officials in such a loud voice that we cannot be ignored.

It will end when we stop electing people to office who refuse to take action. It will end when we decide that the slaughter of children is no longer acceptable and becomes the most important issue that we vote on.

It will end when we start valuing people over weapons in real, practical ways. And that means we protect people over weapons.

It will end when we see that the Second Amendment isn’t divine or more special than any of the other amendments to the Constitution. It can be changed and altered just like every other amendment. There is nothing sacred about it.

It will end when we start to value how people are treated as the primary concern rather than our addiction to “being right” and winning arguments. Winning is all about me, me, me and feeling victorious and righteous and believing that I am somehow superior because I’m right. Caring about others is being able to see their humanity, their limitations. It’s also about seeing my own limitations and humanity as well and recognizing that I’m not all that different than others. In fact, I’m more alike to others, even others who look, sound, and believe different than me. It will end when we are willing to see the humanity of others and ourselves and people’s inherent value above seeing the value of a weapon or anything else for that matter as primary.

It will end when we see our societal addiction to violence as unhealthy and take action to deal with it. That starts with admitting that we have a problem.

It will end when we stop glorifying violence, or believing that violence is a solution to our problems. Easier said than done since that’s not just an individual problem – but consider we have been at war continuously for decades somewhere in the world. And that we are by far the largest producers of weapons in the world – willing to sell them to anyone with the right amount of money. Of course we go through arms dealers so we can feel innocent. But the reality is that the weapons are American weapons. We make deadly violence practical. That’s what the military industrial complex does. And it’s very profitable.

It will end when we are willing to address mental health in this nation as a real health care challenge. Mental health isn’t the only issue around gun violence of course. But addressing mental health in real ways would certainly contribute to a healthier society and reduce suicide deaths.

It will end when we deal with poverty and criminal justice.

It will end when we acknowledge that mass shootings are primarily perpetrated by young white males who are looking for something that has evaded them throughout their young lives – being seen. There’s a whole mess of things to say about this related to race, privilege, abuse, relationships, etc. Far too much for this paragraph. I’ll just add one more item to this – Imagine if these shootings were primarily perpetrated by someone with darker skin, and/or female. I’m willing to bet that we would have acted a long time ago.

It will end when we deal with the idolatry around weapons. There are far too many men who see a weapon (especially AR-15s) as something more than just a tool or weapon. For some men, these weapons are the very symbol of freedom, courage, manliness, liberty, and more. The weapons have taken on greater meaning. They are the embodied identity of Americanism. That’s not healthy.

It will end when we decide that suicide death by gun needs to be stopped. This is the biggest loss of life when it comes to gun violence.

It will end when we stop being afraid of being called unpatriotic because we want to address gun violence and that includes regulations of weapons.

It will end when we talk with responsible gun owners and hear their concerns and work together with them on those concerns so we can have a safer society.

It will end when we listen to our children about their fears and address those fears in practical ways.

It will end when we listen to families who have lost loved ones to gun violence and suicide about their pain and act to prevent other families from having to experience the same pain.

It will end when we stop complaining that no one is doing anything to address gun violence and instead we each take action. In order to do that, we have to make ending the horror a priority. We have to stop expecting someone else to do this for us.

That’s when it will end.