20 children shot, killed, in one horrific instant by one
crazy person with a high-powered gun; think about that for a moment—20 precious little
lives gone, snuffed out forever; 20 children that will never run and skip and jump or build a tree house in the back yard, attend slumber parties or play baseball or sit on Santa's lap; 20 children that will
never dance at their prom, be on the honor roll, experience their first kiss, go to
college, or grow up to be scientists or explorers or artists or teachers or engineers or anything;
20 children that will not marry and have children of their own or grow old and
play with their grandchildren.
I have four granddaughters and the thought that they are not
safe at school is absolutely terrifying. I can't even imagine the immense grief the parents of those children must be experiencing today.
So sickened and saddened yesterday by the news that a gunman had entered an elementary school in Newtown Connecticut and senselessly killed 6 adults and
20 children ranging in age from 5 to 10, I posted an emotional question to my
Facebook status: Anyone ready for a conversation about gun control now? Considering how divisive the last election was, I guess I shouldn't have been terribly surprised by the responses I received. I was a little shocked, however, that some people
were more concerned about the government taking away their precious guns than
they were about the deaths of 26 human beings. It was the same tired knee-jerk
reactions: guns don't kill people, people do; a car can be used as a weapon,
we're safer if we are all armed, yada yada.
Just the mere mention of "gun control" and people immediately freak out. The truth is, gun control doesn't have to mean a full-scale de-arming of the public. In fact, there are many elements that should be part of the discussion, including fixing loopholes in the national system of background checks for gun buyers, such as requiring the checks at gun shows, and how about banning or limiting the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines? A third part of the equation is the conversation we should be having about how programs for mental health care have been dangerously gutted.
I will be the first to tell you, I am not good at debate, but as a journalist, my focus is always on using factual data from reliable sources to get to the truth. And I am not talking about made-up facts and opinion that the faux news echo chamber spews, but real tools and resources for research and fact finding. Do I have my own opinion about things? Sure. Do I respect your right to express yours? Of course. However, I am more inclined to take your argument seriously if I feel like it's an informed one. With that said, I thought I'd share a few links to websites I consider to be good starting points for research and finding the facts.
- Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/) "The definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation."
- FactCheck.org (http://www.factcheck.org/) A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
- Journalist Express (http://www.journalistexpress.com/) A vast repository of informational links.
To conclude, I think debate and discussion is healthy and democratic and good, but perhaps we should put it aside for a day and focus on remembering that yesterday we needlessly lost 26 lives, and that 20 of them were innocent
children.
