IN THE WAKE OF THE ORLANDO, FLORIDA, SHOOTINGS

Last night, I didn't sleep well. I don't have to tell you what made me restless. During the night I woke up several times and thought of the 50 people who were killed in Orlando, Florida, and their grieving families and friends, and I prayed for consolation and and peace for them. I thought of the 53 wounded and their families and friends, and I prayed for healing.

I thought of LGTB friends who, while they have seen progress in acknowledgement of their rights and privileges as citizens of the country, were forcefully reminded yesterday of the hateful and life-threatening prejudice that remains.

I thought of the Founding Fathers who wrote the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution in the days when "well-regulated militia" were allowed to own muzzle-loading muskets. How, in God's name, did we arrived at this moment when citizens (not militia) are permitted to own military style assault weapons? Could the Founding Fathers ever have envisioned or intended us to be where we are now - in a place where, under the guise of 2nd Amendment freedom, people are permitted to own weapons of mass destruction?

If, after 20 children and 6 staff members were shot in their school in Connecticut, we did nothing, then I have little hope that the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the country targeting an LGTB nightclub in Orlando will bring change. But I know this: we can't give up; we can't stop trying for change.

RANDOM QUESTIONS FROM A GRIEVING, RACING MIND

Are we now seeing the beginning of the breakdown of civil society in the United States?

Have we ever had a civil society in the US?

Is there greater violence now, or were we always a violent nation?

When is a massacre by a white person a terrorist act, an existential threat that we must fight with all our might?

When will we give attention to the phrase "a well-regulated militia" in the Second Amendment and seriously discuss the meaning of the words? Or does the phrase signify nothing whatsoever?

Not that I expect answers, but I do believe we need to start talking about these matters.

Though I know them to be true, I was saddened by President Obama's words.

We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.

Now is the time for mourning and for healing. But let’s be clear:

At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it.

It is in our power to do something, but we will talk about the shootings for a while, and then we will do nothing.

The president said further:

The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history. This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked. And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.

The dark part of our history goes back to the beginning, with the Founding Fathers acceptance of the institution of slavery for the sake of unity.

IT'S NOT THE GUNS - PART 8

Authorities in Louisiana don’t know how a 5-year-old boy managed to shoot a 3-year-old boy, but they are pretty sure that people taking care of the children are lying about the incident.

According to The News Star, Monroe Police Sgt. Mark Johnson said officers responded to reports that a 3-year-old had been shot by a 5-year-old playing with a gun after 1 p.m. on Thursday [Aug. 1].

“We think there may be more going on than we’ve been told,” Johnson explained. “This is a serious situation. Some people may have given us untruthful statements.”

One day later:

 A child shot at a Dixie Avenue residence in Monroe died Friday after being taken off life support.

According to Sgt. Mark Johnson, the child, whose name was not released, was declared dead around 1:30 p.m. Friday [Aug. 2] at St. Francis Medical Center.

Around 1 p.m. Thursday, police responded to 201 Dixie Avenue in relation to the shooting of a 3-year-old child.

An investigation revealed the child was shot by a 5-year-old and the 3-year-old’s mother rushed him to the hospital.

Part of the what the NRA says is true.  It is the guns, but it's also ignorant, reckless, irresponsible  people who own guns.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

How does a well regulated militia come to include people who leave loaded guns around accessible to toddlers and children?  Where is the regulation?  Who is responsible for the killings?  How long will we allow such senseless deaths to continue?

"A RIGHT TO BEAR GLOCKS?"

From Gail Collins at the New York Times:

Today, the amazing thing about the reaction to the Giffords shooting is that virtually all the discussion about how to prevent a recurrence has been focusing on improving the tone of our political discourse. That would certainly be great. But you do not hear much about the fact that Jared Loughner came to Giffords’s sweet gathering with a semiautomatic weapon that he was able to buy legally because the law restricting their sale expired in 2004 and Congress did not have the guts to face up to the National Rifle Association and extend it. (My emphasis)

If Loughner had gone to the Safeway carrying a regular pistol, the kind most Americans think of when they think of the right to bear arms, Giffords would probably still have been shot and we would still be having that conversation about whether it was a sane idea to put her Congressional district in the cross hairs of a rifle on the Internet.

But we might not have lost a federal judge, a 76-year-old church volunteer, two elderly women, Giffords’s 30-year-old constituent services director and a 9-year-old girl who had recently been elected to the student council at her school and went to the event because she wanted to see how democracy worked.

Even if you accept that we are all militia, as the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled, and we all have the right to bear arms according to the 2nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, what about regulation of automatic weapons? That in certain areas, there are no laws against the purchase of automatic weapons seems insane to me. What citizen needs an automatic weapon for self-protection? But our Congress stands immobilized by fear of the N.R.A. As Collins says:

Most politicians won’t talk about it because they’re afraid of the N.R.A., whose agenda is driven by the people who sell guns and want the right to sell as many as possible.

Doesn’t it seem like the least we can do?