After the 9/11 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks, President Bush said we must not give in to terror. Go shopping, to work, school, and church; carry on. But that’s not possible now, is it? The arms merchants and their toadies in government have made sure over the last two decades that anyone with a grudge or “holy” mission can become a mass shooter. The shooting in Allen, Texas hits close to home. I taught for 10 years at Allen High School in the 80s and 90s when Allen was mostly farms and ranches. Rural Texans loved their guns then, too, but in the same way they loved their John Deere tractors and pickup trucks: as valuable tools, not as weapons of war and retribution.
Young men and women earned access to them by taking gun safety courses and proving themselves responsible. No one worried that a mall or school would become a killing ground. Weak and dishonest politicians say we’re helpless, but that’s a lie. We can urge our banks to stop financing the arms merchants. Businesses can pressure legislatures to pass gun safety measures. We can ask candidates for public office whether they support a ban on high-velocity, high-capacity weapons, universal background checks, and training. Only an unequivocal “Yes” should earn our support. We can join advocacy groups and public demonstrations. Our courage and love for our neighbors can defeat this and take back our public spaces.
Jean Lewandowski
Nashua