The following is a reprint of “Three years ago today: Sandy Hook”
This 6′ × 24′ graffiti mural was the work of Gamma Acosta, Longmont, Colo. “Crayons” was his statement about the Sandy Hook school massacre, done a day later. For the story of the mural and what happened to it, see “Acosta’s ‘Crayons’ mural recalls Sandy Hook.”
I repost this photo today because it embodies all the emotion and tragedy of the terrible Sandy Hook shooting that happened three years ago today. We need to be reminded that it happened, that it was horrendous, and yet three years later, not a finger has been lifted to ensure it never happens again. Mass shootings continue in this country at a horrible, unconscionable rate. And each time we all wring our hands and say, “Somebody needs to do something.” Each time we say, “This must stop!” Each time we send empty prayers and platitudes to the survivors and their loved ones. Yet each time we know what must be done.
It doesn’t really matter who does the shooting. Or why. Terrorists. Lone wolves. Gun nuts. Mentally ill. High on drugs. Fired employees. Religious fanatics. It doesn’t matter. The victims are still dead. And all were killed by the same thing.
Is nothing going to change? Is this the way life in America is going to be? I very much fear it will be, at least for the remainder of my years. Perhaps the younger generation will be wiser, or the generation after that, or the one after that.
I’d like to think I’ll live long enough to see the change, to see a return to sanity, safety, and peace in our communities. But I’m not optimistic.
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There have been more than 4,200 mass shootings in the US since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. The latest was just yesterday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. According to CNN, there have been more than 70 school shootings in the US just this year.
I don’t seen gun control happening in my lifetime, even though polls have shown that most Americans support some kind of gun control. And just this week another mass shooting at Brown University. That this is a preventable tragedy makes it only worse.
The Brown shooting got my attention immediately. One of my granddaughter’s best friends goes there.
I can’t even imagine going to school these days thinking you could be shot or killed on any given day, and having regular active shooter drills. The worst I ever saw were fire drills and tornado drills (which paid off when my high school’s auditorium burned). The only guns I ever saw were my dad’s shotgun, the .22 I got for my twelfth birthday (it was my dad’s when he was a kid), and the rifles we used for riflery class at CU.
That most Americans favor some kind of gun control and yet don’t get it because of NRA influence in Congress is depressing.
It’s very depressing, but, these days, what isn’t?
Too true.
every day another, when will we take the guns ?
That’s always my question, too.
johnthecook…according to the internet, there are more than NINTEEN THOUSAND-gun control laws in effect in America today.
Obviously not the ones we need, or not the enforcement we need.
John has a point about the laws. I recently gave one of sons a pistol that had belonged to my father. He delayed taking it because of legal restrictions on shipping. Finally took it home this year by buying a TSA-approved carrying case to pack with luggage on the flight. The thing had to have two small padlocks on it, designed to be openable by TSA. I thought it was a good example of an unduly-restrictive law. The tiny cables could easily be cut, so why two? And, why wouldn’t simple declaration that it was in the luggage be enough? That said, the line should be drawn at assault-style guns. They are as much a weapon of war as a rocket-launcher RPG.
I agree assault-style weapons should be forbidden to the public. Period. We used to have such a ban but despite public support, it was allowed to sunset. Shame on Congress for letting it go.
I don’t know anything about laws re shipping guns. Somehow my dad’s .22 rifle got from Oklahoma City to Boulder. Either it was shipped or somebody in the family just transported it by car. But that was several decades ago. The laws were likely changed. Still, it should have been a simple matter to either ship your dad’s pistol or put it in checked luggage in the plane’s cargo hold.
Well now we have joined you, after a fashion.
I was so very sorry to see that news. Somehow I’d come to think Australia was exempt from all this gun craziness.