You Can't Undo Dead.

My heart is so broken over this newest incident of mass murder. I've had to just be quiet with it for a bit. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all who lost their children and family members in CT last Friday.

How in the hell does anyone shoot a six year old 11 times? I cannot begin to imagine the suffering and sorrow of those families and that town. And at the same time I am angry! I am so freaking pissed off! Because this was not the first time such a shooting occurred and at this rate it certainly won't be the last!

There have been SIXTY TWO (62) mass shootings in the past 30 years. With a total of 959 victims who were either murdered or injured. That's NINE HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE HUMAN BEINGS!! And the majority of the shooters got their weapons legally. (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map) For me the deeper horror beyond the immediate acts is that these events continue to happen and they are accelerating in occurrences at an alarming rate. But despite this knowledge we as a nation still do not address the dual cause, a lack of accessible quality mental health/addiction care that includes as needed long term residential treatment and the ready access to the kinds of weapons exacting such carnage.

I know there are those who resist the idea of restricting and regulating further the access to certain types of weapons. They argue that they are responsible gun owners. Just as I'm sure Adam Lanza's mother most likely considered herself to be as well as other family's whose guns were stolen to commit a mass shooting. You must admit there is something very wrong with the fact that we can get such a weapon far more easily than we can get competent mental health care. There is no denying that as our mental health system access has disintegrated our rates of these kind of shootings have grown. 

As the parent of a child with extremely debilitating mental health issues I have long seen firsthand the disparity of access to mental health care, particularly for low-income and uninsured families. For years the mental health system has been systematically dismantled closing the vast majority of long term treatment facilities. For those dealing with mental health issues by self-medicating there are even less resources that focus on a duality program of mental health and drug and/or alcohol addiction. (http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/272-39/15054-americas-dangerously-gutted-mental-healthcare-system)

Five of the world's top ten weapons manufacturers are American companies. So, I'm pretty sure we know why the NRA keeps pushing the lie that our rights as Americans are intrinsically tied to the need to own assault rifles, large ammo magazines and other rapid fire weapons. During the time this country had an assault weapons ban gun manufacturers modified many of their products to evade the law and still sell high powered rapid fire weapons. These same manufacturers also lobbied incessantly to have the ban removed. A new and effective ban on these kind of weapons will take guts, strict laws and enforcement. Other countries are doing it. Why can't we, a world leader, stop this violence in our own back yard? To date, from where I sit...it looks like it's because the NRA, the weapon manufacturers and the politicians that they own are simply not going to allow this to happen.

I have no idea why we as a country are so enamored with the idea that we must  own assault weapons. Seriously! Why do we need handguns that can rapidly fire multiple rounds of high powered ammo? Other than the military and law enforcement to what end do we really need these? I'm sick to death of hearing about "the criminals have them and we need to be comparably armed". Seriously? In most cases people with guns are at a high risk of having them stolen or in the event of a crime, taken from them and used against them. And the reality is that if you ever, ever find yourself in a situation where you need an assault rifle or a semi-automatic handgun with maximum capacity magazines chances are you won't be where the gun is or we have been invaded by foreign interests using guns instead of the current weapon of choice, banks. We certainly are not in danger of being unable to hunt given the various rifles that can be used quite suitably for that purpose without having the capacity to kill scores of people all at once.

Our country has eviscerated our mental health system allowing folks who do these kinds of shootings to fall through the cracks. We keep being told there isn't enough, despite the fact that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world. We can't afford to take care of our citizens, but we can continue to purchase and disperse billions of dollars in weaponry as we continue our armed conflicts.

Me. I'm a gun owner. I love to shoot. But there is nothing I do or ever hope to do that requires assault weapons or semi-automatic handguns with large clips of ammo. And I bet you all of those who had family members murdered or injured in this newest mass shooting can't begin to imagine why we ever needed such weapons either.

What is wrong with our society that we love the idea of freedom to own these kinds of weapons, these inanimate objects more than we love the actual people; living breathing children, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, etc. How do we justify the need to own these weapons in the face of all of the deaths of innocents from them? What is wrong with this country that we love war more than we care about taking care of our citizens who are in need of care?

I wonder how these NRA folks, the weapon manufacturers, our congress members and the gun fanatics who have chugged the kool-aid would really feel about these guns availability and the lack of mental health care access if they were crouched inside a cubby listening to the pop, pop, pop of gunfire as their friends and teachers were being murdered. How would they feel sitting there, hiding and waiting for that terrible moment when the shooter finds them...what if it were their children they had to go and claim from the morgue? Dead is dead. There are no I'm sorry's. There are no do overs. There's just dead. 

We must hold our elected officials accountable, the means for mental health care must be found. And if you really, really need to have access to such guns, go join the military and in the meantime let's stop this madness. Literally.