If you believe your right to bear arms (that shred human innards beyond repair and leave exit wounds the size of oranges) is more important than my kids’ right to live, explain how I’m supposed to tell my young children that there are people in this country who believe more in their firearms than the most precious of lives.
If you believe the NRA’s stronghold on our politicians is of no consequence, explain how I’m supposed to tell my young children that there are people in this country who would rather uphold the status quo than engage in conversation about how to keep our young people safe.
If you believe the call for common sense gun reform is nothing more than “liberal snowflakes” shedding their “liberal tears” in the name of “liberal safe spaces,” explain how I’m supposed to tell my young children that there are people in this country who would rather a student have the right to open fire on his classmates than kids have the right to attend school without fear.
Because if you believe it is your Constitutional right to buy and sell semi-automatic weapons unchecked — that the laws that govern our great nation aren’t in need of reexamination as society and technology evolve — then that’s what you’re claiming. That guns are more important than children.
Quit pretending that’s not what you’re saying. Quit pretending you’re just upholding the Constitution. Quit pretending this is about precedent.
If you’re going to stand by your assertion that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” and that we don’t seriously need to take a more reflective look at the kinds of weapons available to the public, who has access to firearms, and how we vet these individuals, then grow the balls or the labes it takes to admit what you’re really saying. Don’t respond to debates about common sense gun reform with your same old, trite excuses. Comment with the following: “I’M A SELFISH ASSHOLE WHO DOESN’T VALUE HUMAN LIVES MORE THAN PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO TAKE THEM.”
Go ahead. Do it. Put it all out there. OWN IT. Because we already know this about you. We’re just waiting for you to admit it. We’re just waiting for you to take a long look in the mirror and come to terms with who you really are. Because we’re not the ones you’d be confessing to. We’re well aware of your state of mind. You’d be confessing it to yourself.
And if you can do that — if you can concede this most vile truth and still stand by your convictions — then I don’t really need you to tell me how to have the hard conversations with my children. Because you’re incapable of the empathy required. And I don’t want your ideology anywhere near them anyway.
But if you can’t. If you can’t openly state that’s who you are, then cut it out with this shit. Be willing to have conversations and take action that lead to compromise. Conversations and action that allow you to still maintain your Second Amendment rights while allowing our children to enjoy the unalienable ones outlined in the Declaration of Independence — the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without the constant worry that these rights will be taken from them in what is supposed to be one of the safest institutions in the land: school.
Because I’m willing to bet few truly believe human life comes second to the right to own weapons that take it. I’m choosing to believe we are good people — all of us. In fact, I know we are. And I’m willing to bet we have more in common than we think.
And I’d really like for us to set the bullshit aside and come together to work on it in the name of our children and the generations to come.
To learn how to advocate for common sense gun laws in your community, visit Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.