Gun Violence or Trombones?

So now we add three more names to the list of places impacted by mass shootings:  Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton.  A day at the Garlic Festival.  Some school shopping at Wal-Mart.  A night out on the town.  Everyplace, every event, a so-called soft target.  Events and places which are especially vulnerable, especially subject to the possibility of such violence.

According to the experts I spend a lot of my time at a spot deemed a soft target--church that is.  Though we've taken some steps to tighten up our security, things could still go awry here.  I think one of the lessons from this past week (not that it is a new lesson, just that it seems even more obvious at this point) is that such violence could (and does) happen anywhere we gather as a community.

There is little that I can write here that is new.  I have said much of it before, as have so many others.  Things like, we need to tighten up gun control with better, more thorough, more comprehensive background checks.  We need to ban assault weapons of all kinds.  We need to tone down the rhetoric when it comes to talking about people of color, LGBTQ people, immigrants and so on.  We need to deal with racism and xenophobia. We need to fund research into gun violence.  We need to address the holes in our mental health systems.  We need to consider the impact of violent video games, movies and television shows.

The problem is this:  we know what to do.  Yet for some reason we just don't do it.  I don't mean to be negative here, but give this all a week or two and we will probably move on to other things, other concerns.  And we will leave this one unresolved. I hope not.  I will still write my legislative representatives and once again encourage them to take action.  But I've done that before.  Many times.  I will consider positions on gun control when I vote in the upcoming elections.  But I've done that, too.  I will send money to support groups working on the issue, groups addressing mental health concerns and so on.  But I've done that, too.  And, of course, I'll keep speaking out.

I really wanted to devote this week's blog to telling you about the fabulous 280 piece band my granddaughter is in, and the great presentation they offered up for families after a two-week intensive time of preparation.  I really did.  They even have nineteen trombone players!  (My band had three!)  But instead, I've felt the need to address, once again, the gun violence in our nation.  My prayer is that one day we will be able to concentrate on kids making music, instead of worrying so much about their safety.