You are out of excuses, America

by samuel warde

Americans are frustrated and frightened as well as saddened by the events of last week – the sixth such tragedy this year.

Our problems are getting worse and there needs to be meaningful dialogue. A reform of gun laws is inevitable, like it or not – it will happen.

I certainly do not advocate taking guns away from citizens any more than I believe in the denial of free expression. But the fact remains, our citizens are no longer safe. Indeed, our children are no longer safe at school.

And adding more guns to the mix won’t fix that. Improved mental health services is not enough. There needs to be real and substantial change when it comes to how we approach firearms and their continued use and availability in the United States.

And there is more than ample evidence from our own history as well as the example of other countries to suggest success, to some degree is possible.
The fact that we cannot prevent every senseless act of violence in our society is no longer an excuse for inaction.

Our lives and those of our children depend on what we do right now – today – and moving forwards.

I can no longer remain silent in the wake of six acts of mass violence this year and after the senseless slaughter of twenty innocent children.

And if you are not interested in talking about solutions, if you want to evade the subject through the use of empty rhetoric, false alarms about tyranny, or asinine statements that guns don’t kill people – well my friends – then YOU are part of the problem and not the solution.

The lives of our children and the future of our country literally rely on what we choose to do moving forward. We cannot shirk our responsibilities to actively engage in dialogue. We must come together in peaceful protests against the violence in our nation. It’s time we stand up for ourselves, and stand up for the memory of those who’ve died so senselessly — our children — and demand change.

I hope that you choose to do the same.

Please tell us what you think in the comments section below. Let us know if you have any ideas, any solutions.

Cartoon by www.facebook.com/MacLeodCartoons

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