Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

When will we do something? We must protect our children. There have been 165 mass shootings in this country during 2023, https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/.  More than one mass shooting a day. God, have mercy upon us.

I was reminded today that there was a time when, if a mass shooting occurred, we would be glued to the television for days to understand what had happened. Now, its just another blurb on the evening news. Lord, have mercy upon us.

A politician, speaking recently at an NRA convention implied that gun ownership was a “God-given right.” Owning a gun is not a “God-given right.” Rather, God calls us to peace, to love our enemies, to not kill, and to care for one another. God, have mercy upon us.

The Bible does say, however, that, “a little child shall lead them,” (Is. 11:6). More and more, the voices that speak up for gun safety are those of our young people. Thanks be to God for the young persons who have the courage to speak truth to power. May we learn from them.

Today, I lift up one such speaker of truth. The following letter was written by Wyatt Bassow, a senior at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville. It was published in the The Tennessean newspaper https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/04/06/young-people-tired-of-being-patient-for-solution-gun-violence/70089213007/

I hope you will read the letter printed below. And perhaps you will check out some of the groups that work for prevention of gun violence. Perhaps we could at least support one of these groups. Here are just a few.

Mom’s Demand Action

Sandy Hook Promise

Prevention Institute

Alliance for Gun Responsibility (A Washington State group)

God bless, and have mercy on us all,
Coe

 

Young people are tired of waiting for gun violence solutions 

To Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee:

Another recent morning came where I put on my backpack to go to school. I started my car as my mom rushed to hers. We shared a hug and an ‘I love you,’ then we headed our separate ways. Me to school, her to work.

I imagine you did a similar thing not too long ago. I see you giving your kids their love as they head to school. Their backpacks too big for their little backs, their books spilling out of their hands. Then the bell rings and the kids start pouring out of the building.

They wait for their name to be called in the car line. When they get that glorious moment, they are met with a serenade of questions about their day. ‘What did you learn?’ ‘Who did you eat lunch with?’ Those moments are memories. We do not have to think hard about this because it was a cycle repeated for about 18 years of each child’s life.

We mourn The Covenant School shooting, but we are tired

On March 27, three parents made that memory for the final time. Three parents made their kid’s breakfast for the final time. Those three parents did not pick up their kid from school.

Three kids did not pick their lunch group. Three kids learned their last lesson. On March 27, three kids died.

Not only did three kids lose their lives, but three other beautiful people who dedicated their lives to the prosperity of those three children and many more. Together we mourn the loss of minds that were still being molded and souls committed to molding.

Now we may have done this dance of discussion before, but this time is different. This time the blood that is on your hands is only nine years old. This time, they were not only your constituents but your neighbors. They were slain by the very laws that are thought to protect them.

When do you get tired of losing your constituents to laws that you signed? What life lost is the one that opens the calloused heart of yours? When will you say something more than,

‘We are closely monitoring the situation’?

We are tired of asking these monotonous questions.

I don’t want to fear a bullet at school

We have been repeatedly asked to be patient. At this point, patience is ignorance. The reason this keeps happening is not drag shows or video games or a leftist agenda or books or schools or dress code or ‘wokeness’ or civil rights.

This keeps happening because of guns and confidence.

These murderers gain their confidence from people like you who turn a blind eye to the effects of guns. They know it is easy and possible, hence its continuation. They are comfortable with you. They trust you. Shouldn’t you want the kids under your authority to trust you?

Personally, I would prefer to walk out of my house in the morning and not fear the bullet that might hit me in the chest, coming from the gun of a person you enabled, as I unlock my car door.

Now instead, we mourn. We offer our condolences to the victim’s families. We give our thoughts and prayers and say God has a plan.

Dear Bill, I am tired. When will you be tired?