Fill in the blank. My sister was killed in a domestic shooting. But thousands of Americans could say :”My daughter was killed in a shooting.” “My brother was killed in a shooting.” “My son was killed in a shooting.” “My boyfriend was killed in a shooting.” “My mother was killed in a shooing.” “My father was killed in a shooting.” “My girlfriend was killed in a shooting.” “My friend was killed in a shooting.”
My sister was killed 23 years ago. The passage of time doesn’t make it any easier. It just makes it less fresh. But I can still cry at odd moments when something reminds me of her or I think about what she has missed or what her family has missed after her shooting death. And when we learn about and see the media coverage of yet another tragic shooting, we have flashbacks. We are a club. Californian Amanda Wilcox experienced what many of us went through last week. We relive the day we got our own news that someone we loved was shot. From the article:
When she watched the video of Alison Parker gunned down on live TV, the 2001 murder of her own daughter played out in her mind as if it just happened.
“We relive it in our mind all the time about being shot and never thought about whether she screamed or not,” she said.
Her 19-year-old daughter Laura was also shot and killed at work by a man she didn’t even know who had no history of violence.
This is Amanda’s story. We all have stories to tell, as club members. It’s part of the dues. I communicated with many last Wednesday as the tragedy unfolded. We all had the same awful feeling in the pits of our stomachs.
Since my sister’s shooting death I have been working to change gun laws, change the mind of politicians, change the conversation and change hearts and minds. I believe some of this has happened since my sister was shot. Some hasn’t. Hearts and minds are changed for sure. Gun laws in some places are weaker than ever and in others stronger. The gun culture hasn’t changed. And the politicians are largely ignoring the issue of gun safety reform. Shame on them.
Andy Parker just joined the exclusive club of those affected by gun violence in America. The dues to the club is a lost loved one. He is speaking out in the name of his daughter, Alison and Adam Ward, the two journalists who were gunned down last week on live TV. Their friends and family also belong to this club and are mourning their deaths.
Andy Parker, the father of Alison Parker is now entering the fray and joining the club to which no one really wants to belong. Welcome Andy. And good luck. The parents of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims joined the club almost 3 years ago. I can’t list the members. There are far too many. But Andy Parker’s voice is going to be heard. Here is just some of what he said in the linked article:
I plan to devote all of my strength and resources to seeing that some good comes from this evil. I am entering this arena with open eyes. I realize the magnitude of the force that opposes sensible and reasonable safeguards on the purchase of devices that have a single purpose: to kill.
Andy and Barbara Parker. (Stephanie Klein-Davis/Associated Press)
That means we must focus our attention on the legislators who are responsible for America’s criminally weak gun laws; laws that facilitate the access dangerous individuals have to firearms on a daily basis.
(The above photo was included in the Washington Post article I have linked here.)
It’s the legislators at the state and federal level who pass or reject the bills that can lead to safer communities. I like that Parker named them. We don’t want to name the killers- the shooters. But we should be naming those who refuse to stand with the victims who have names and families and unrealized potential.
So what do we want- the members of the club? We want stronger gun laws that will make it harder for those who just can’t be responsible with guns to be able to get them legally. Laws like expanded Brady background checks that would require a background check on all gun sales- whether at a licensed dealer ( where they are now required), a private seller at a gun show, flea market or at on-line sites like Armslist.com. We need to finish the job started in 1993 with the passage of the Brady law. The only way any other laws make sense is for this one to happen. It makes absolutely no common sense that every gun sale does not require a background check.
Just like it makes no common sense that every passenger departing from our airports does not go through the same screening process before boarding a plane. Just like it makes no common sense that all drivers don’t go through driver’s training and pass a behind the wheel test before taking to our streets. Just like it makes no common sense that all physicians and other health care providers don’t get the training necessary to treat patients.
You know what I mean. Our gun laws don’t make sense.
What makes sense are laws similar to the Gun Violence Restraining Order that passed in California recently.
Also strengthening and fixing our background check so that people slip through the cracks as in the Charleston church shooting and the Lafayette theater shooting.
Also since many crime guns are stolen, mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns and strengthening the gun trafficking and straw purchasing laws.
What about only allowing the purchase of one gun a month? Realistically does anyone NEED that many guns?
Or requiring guns to come with trigger locks and pushing forward with the technology for Smart Guns or other such technology to make sure a gun can only be shot by its’ owner in case of a child getting a gun or a stolen gun.
The Brady Campaign is working to hold “bad apple” gun dealers accountable. Seems like a good idea. If just a few are letting a majority of crime guns get into the hands of people who shouldn’t have guns, they should be held accountable. Makes common sense.
Making sure all gun permit holders get background checks and training before venturing out onto the streets and other public places with their guns. The gun lobby is pushing for the opposite as if it makes sense. Insane.
Child Access Prevention laws? Yes. Good idea.
There are others. It’s the slippery slope to the corporate gun lobby. But they will need to explain how these laws would affect their members and law abiding gun owners. They can’t do that and they don’t and they won’t. Why? Because perhaps gun purchases will decline? Or are they already? Walmart is discontinuing the sale of AR-15s. Hmmm… The largest gun retailer in the world won’t be selling AR-15s.
I could go on and on with other things that could change the way we view guns and gun ownership like the risks to owning a gun. And the ASK campaign and others like it to make sure there are not unlocked guns in the homes where your children play. Those are conversation and culture changes.
Welcome Andy Parker. We are ready for your voice and your resolve and we will support you in your efforts. We hear you. We know your anguish and your grief. We’ve been there. And just maybe your voice will make a difference that others have not. In Alison’s name, we will work with you to do what it takes to get this done.
The club is getting larger. The voices are getting louder. When your daughter is killed in such a public way, the public is paying attention.
Are our leaders paying attention?
commongunsense 
Unfortunately there are still some ugly truths we all must face. Those include:
1. How we think things should be is not the same as how things are.
2. Crazy and terrible people, unrestrained by society, will do crazy and terrible things.
3. Laws which, by definition, will be obeyed only by the law-abiding will do NOTHING to deter those who, by definition, are law-breakers.
4. When you don’t have enough hose-dragging firefighters, bandage-bearing paramedics, or gun-carrying cops to shepherd 320 million people one-to-one 24/7, those people need fire extinguishers, first aid kids, and guns to ward off death until the designated professionals can be summoned in to help.
And yes, it IS that simple.
I couldn’t disagree more. It’s not simple at all actually. It’s very complicated.
Unfortunately there always will be evil in the world, I’d think. The issue confronting we Americans is how to mitigate, as effectively as possible w/o trampling upon civil rights, the impact of that evil. Regarding the illicit use of guns there are laws that could reduce the carnage and still allow legitimate gun ownership & uses. Presently the troubles with our federal background check law are big loopholes and an incomplete data base for NICS. These can’t be entirely erased but they certainly can be much improved.
In a nutshell, when gun transfers are permitted without a background check it requires the transferee to follow the law as though it is an honor system. But what about the times the transferee is not honorable – a felon, mentally ill person, etc? The federal background check law, as it stands, is an honor system for the dishonorable. So, of course, it works poorly.
A universal background check law, on the other hand, puts the onus on all transferors, not just FFLs, to only transfer a gun when the transferee has been cleared by the authorities (via the background check). This is a much less porous system and most people will follow such a law, which means the flow of guns into criminal hands will be constricted.