Tag: gun control

Haiku & Other Poetry, History, Random Rants, tutto e niente

The American Way

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Is This the American Way?

Enough is enough!

But Freedom Ain’t Free They Scream

Now Ready Aim Fire

And Slaughter Just One More Child

It’s the American Way 

Yesterday, the March For Our Lives: Road to Change Rally  came to town. Students from local Pinellas County high schools joined with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas to demand their voices be heard. They spoke eloquently about their continued anger, sorrow, fear, and frustration. They reminded us that guns kill nearly 100 people a day in the United States. That’s 13,000 people a year! Every day we lose seven kids and all their potential. Each month fifty women are shot and killed by their intimate partners. And it’s not just homicides and avoidable accidents. Over 60% of gun deaths are suicides.

They also reminded us that the vast majority of Americans support gun control in some form. They are rightfully angry and frustrated because they understand that money and politics and money IN politics has stymied efforts for change up to this point. But they also know that they are the future. They believe that their voices and their will to change things is stronger than the NRA’s stronghold on policy. They warn policy makers that if their demands for change are ignored, they have the numbers to vote them out. Their passion is undeniable. They rally like their lives depend on it.

And I want to believe change is coming! I am moved by their passion. But my cynicism has proven to be remarkably resilient. I want that cynicism to be washed away. I want to have that just-dunked-evangelical-cleansed-of-my-doubts-oh-so-fresh baptismal feeling. But dirty thoughts keep rising to the surface. Like, for example, the horrifying reality that between 1998 and the fall of 2017, the NRA spent over 203 million dollars on political activities. And that spending has spiked significantly since 2012 (in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre). Dirty thoughts about a lot of dirty influence.

Those dirty thoughts lead me to doubt and the doubt tries to lure me into apathy because, if nothing is going to happen then why try. Right? But then I look at a picture of the young people fighting. Or I think of the seven kids that are going to die today. Or I wonder how many of those fifty women that were gunned down last month would still be alive if guns weren’t so easy to get. These thoughts demand attention, so I push back against the apathy and cynicism. I pledge my support to the kids, my vote to the least NRA corrupted politicians, and my money to forces for change.

administration america art banner

This is My American Way

Enough is Enough!

Freedom Claims A Road to Change

So March for Our Lives

And Save Tomorrow’s Future

That’s the American Way

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Stats courtesy of Everytown for Gun Safety and Politifact

Thanks to Hello Giggles for a great article on gun control organizations, if you’re looking to donate your time and/or money.

And finally thanks for the “Enough is Enough” Writing Prompt Putting My Feet in the Dirt

Random Rants, tutto e niente

Less Guns. Guns that Shoot Less.

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Like a lot of people, I’ve been thinking a lot about guns lately.

Thinking and feeling impotent.

I want to believe we can do better. Find a path that leads to less.

Less blood. Less death. Less heartache. Less shame.

I’ve contacted my legislators. I’ve marched for Our Lives.

Surely, I hope, that will make a difference.

But I’ve also marched for women and Black Lives. I’ve stood up for Dreamers and trans* rights and Love is Love is Love (so bake the damn cake).

And those paths still seem cluttered with obstacles.

Actually, sometimes they feel like they’re turning to quicksand.

Sinking, sucking, suffocating hope.

But, still I’ve been thinking a lot about guns.

I wish for less guns and guns that shoot less (in case you weren’t sure what I’ve been thinking).

They say only “good guys” with guns can protect us so if I wish for less guns and guns that shoot less then I must want the “bad guys” to win. I must be a feminazi cop-hating communist fascist bitch who hates freedom and wants to rip up the Constitution.

And in some respects they are right. I can be a bitch.

The rest seems a bit hyperbolic.

I hate all things Nazi. Ditto for fascism. But I don’t hate all cops. I’ll plead guilty to thinking communism has SOME merits. But the US Constitution is a pretty damn good foundation to build (keep building) “a more perfect union” so I’m for amending not destroying. And that whole “good guy” with a gun thing—really? Are we in a 1940s gangster movie?

And I am a FEMINIST. No apologies for that.

But I’m also not entirely what “they” think I am.

One of my first jobs was working at a gun club. I’ve lived in houses with guns. I’ve fired guns. (I liked it. But it scared me too.) I’ve owned guns.

But, still I’ve been thinking a lot about guns.

Less guns. Guns that shoot less.

And wondering why the “good guys” don’t want the same? How are less guns and guns that shoot less bad?

I think that maybe they have can’t see the Forest for the Trees.

They are so focused on those damn trees, they can’t see the forest is burning. And they don’t understand that burning down the forest will also destroy the trees.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about saving the forest.

And less guns. And guns that shoot less.