Enough!

Victims of the Uvalde shooting (photos courtesy of The New York Times)

The wind rustles the leaves outside my window as I contemplate my heart, the universe, the way forward in joy despite suffering. I have always welcomed change, believed that life is an evolution of experiences, each one leading to a better way, even if challenging times accompany them. But I cannot think of the children’s lives that were swept away in violence in Uvalde Texas on May 24th as a change that will bring anything bright or better. I have never accepted America’s fascination with guns as being a “right.” Nineteen children and two adults gone from this earthly plane because a person barely18 years old bought an AR 15 automatic rifle and went to an elementary school. Ten precious victims in Buffalo gunned down in a racist attack a week earlier. Four in Tulsa a few days later. It is tragic. It is preventable.

The United States has more mass shootings than any other country. The US has the highest per-capita gun ownership in the world with 120.5 firearms per 100 people.

We have marched and protested, and we cannot stop.

Please sign the Petition to Stop Assault Weapon Sales now.

As of June 2020, nine states and the District of Columbia have laws in place restricting the sale and possession high-capacity magazines: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York also ban the sale of assault weapons.

How Can We Act?

March for Our Lives, the organization founded after the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida in 2018 continues to fight for a nation free of gun violence.

They have organized a June 11th march: “We’re marching because Congress seems to have not gotten the memo.”

March with us: https://marchforourlives.com/march22/

Congress must pass proven gun safety policies. Please contact your local representative to demand they vote on the Keep Americans Safe Act (H.R.2510 / S.1108) which would prohibit the sale and transfer of high-capacity magazines. 

The Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 would ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

For the babies, for the children, for us all.