I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was a cold December day. Snow on the ground, the sun shining. It was beautiful.
But that beautiful day, soon came crashing down. 26 teachers and students at Sandy Hook Elementary School were shot and murdered in another senseless mass shooting. December 14th, 2012, will go down as the worst day in Connecticut history.
After Sandy Hook, we said never again. We vowed to never let our children's school's get shot up again. We promised to get legislation passed for stricter gun laws and background checks. We told our children that we would protect them. Yet, there have been at least 290 mass school shootings and 1,898 mass shootings (including schools) in America, since Sandy Hook.
After June 12th, 2016, The Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, we said: "Never Again."
After October 1st, 2017, The Las Vegas music festival mass shooting, we said: "Never Again."
After February 14th, 2018, The Parkland school shooting in Parkland, Florida, we said: "Never Again."
After October 27th, 2018, The Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we said: "Never Again."
And now after November 7th, 2018, The Thousand Oaks Shooting, we say: "Never Again."
When will "never again" actually be "never again?"
I'm sick and tired of saying, "Never Again." Every time we say this, nothing gets done within our legislation. Just this year alone there have been 312 mass shootings and we are only 314 days into the year.
Never again seems to mean nothing to our government officials.
Now I'm not saying I'm a purified Democrat that thinks that all Republicans are NRA loving Americans. I'm definitely not saying that at all. What I am saying is it seems that they definitely are influenced by the NRA. And with Republicans controlling this government, it is very difficult for anyone — and I mean both Democrat and Republican — to pass any new legislation to try and tackle the problem at hand.
My question is, when did America put anything above the safety of our children and citizen? When did the American Government officials put money from the NRA or other organizations above our children?
I know the questions about gun control laws is if it will obstruct the American citizen's second amendment right. But in all honesty, and I hope I do not offend anyone, the second amendment was written when our country was at war and at any moment the British troops could invade your house. It was not written to allow citizens to shoot up schools, clubs, bars and music festivals.
People like me, who are for stricter gun control laws, are not against the second amendment. I believe that someone should be able to own a handgun for personal security and own a rifle for hunting purposes. I think that is our right as American citizens. However, I believe that no one should own a semi-automatic gun or modifiers to make them fully automatic.
With Democrats now vowing to pursue the "most aggressive gun control legislation in decades," I have to say, why now? Why after this shooting did we decide that enough was enough? Why didn't we say enough was enough, but actually did something, after the Aurora movie shooting, Sandy Hook shooting, Las Vegas shooting, Orlando shooting, Parkland shooting or the Pittsburgh shooting?
I'm tired of saying my prayers and thoughts are with the victims and their families. Because in reality, my prayers and thoughts only do so much. We need to stop saying never again, enough is enough and thoughts and prayers. It's time to start electing pro-gun reform government officials who are also sick and tired of seeing our children murdered in vain.
It's time to start making a change in our government. It is time to start putting the youth of America first and stop putting the money from the NRA on a platform.
We need to make a change and we need to make it now.
