How Many More Kids Have to Die Before We Start Valuing Them Over Guns?

I’m sick of reading about mass shootings

I’m still not watching the news. I’ll occasionally watch something on YouTube, but unless someone’s written an article about it, I don’t know about it. And after what I read today, I think I’ll still unplug from the news.

I took a break from writing today and caught up on some reading. First, I saw the article by Brianna Bennett ✨.

And then I read this one by Rachael Hope.

Both these articles predicted what’s going to happen next. I agree with their predictions.

Next week, it’s going to be all over the news about the government having talks and debates about what to do about guns. Congressmen will have press conferences. Cheeto-Voldemort will deflect from the issue or use it as a distraction from his impeachment hearings.

Maybe there will be a vote this time? There was when Sandy Hook happened. But you know what came out of that? Not a god damn thing.

I’ll be shocked if anything comes out of this.

How many more kids have to die?

I was in fourth grade when Columbine happened. I have a vague memory of having an evacuation drill after that occured as a result.

Easy access to guns didn’t get blamed. Marlyn Manson did.

I was sitting in my dad’s bar when Sandy Hook happened. He and I watched in stunned silence while they showed ambulances racing to the school, saying little kids were lying dead.

Easy access to guns didn’t get blamed. It was a mental health issue.

Mass shootings after mass shootings and easy access to guns weren’t being blamed. One of the last things I remember getting accused was video games.

I wonder what’s going to get blamed this time to deflect from the fact it’s too easy for people to gain access to guns.

The scary part of all this is both times the shooting came up, the low body-count wasn’t too far behind. You know what Racheal’s article and the conversation I had had in common. This phrase.

This time, it wasn’t that bad.

It scares me that’s our reaction to two kids dying.

South Park was right

In the twenty-first season of South Park, there was an episode about school shootings. Every day, the kids had a shooting in their school. Stan’s dad was numb to it, but Stan’s mom freaked every time.

Until one day, her son got injured from a shooting. She should’ve been panicking at that point. If it were my child, I’d be scared shitless for their safety. By the time her child was injured, she became as numb as the rest of the town.

Before Stan’s mom let the numbness get to her, she kept saying over and over again, “This shouldn’t be normal!” They treated her like she was having a bad period instead of taking her seriously.

Every episode after that season began with another school shooting. The way we’re going, we’re slowly turning into another episode of South Park. And it’s not funny anymore.

I wish I knew the solution

I see both sides of the gun issue. I grew up in a part of the States where most people hunt. They were taught responsibility with guns. It’s common to go to someone’s house and see a rifle or two in the home. It’s no big deal in that part of the States.

But not every part of the States is my hometown. The older I get, the more I want to see done with gun control.

I want to see background checks before buying a gun. I want to see a psych evaluation before someone buys a gun. I want to see guns be harder to purchase than fucking birth control. I want to see people valuing their children more than a fucking gun.

Or, we could be like Switzerland and have the guns but not be allowed to carry ammo. The pro-gun people could still keep their guns, but they’d have to go to shooting ranges to shoot them.

I don’t know what the answer is to the gun problem. I wish I did. I wish I could go somewhere to give my solution, and then my solution works out.

But even if I did have the solution, would anything be done with it? I’d like to stay in my fantasy world and think so. I’m fucking tired of reading about another mass shooting and more tired of the fact the government would rather sit on their asses than do anything.

How many more kids have to die before we start valuing our children over guns?