How many more innocent children must be slaughtered before we do something?
How many more grocery shoppers, or church-goers?
How many more fellow citizens must die or be maimed in petty arguments that escalate due to the presence of guns?
How many more women must be threatened, stalked and killed by gun-wielding ex-lovers?
How many more loved ones must be gone forever, due to suicidal thoughts and access to a gun?
I’m asking Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who just signed legislation allowing adults to carry a concealed handgun without a license or training, and the governors of 22 other states who have signed similar laws.
I’m asking every member of Congress who refuses to even consider common sense gun regulations. The same ones who tweet out their thoughts and prayers every time another senseless — and likely preventable — mass shooting happens.
Thoughts and prayers. It began as a cliché. It became a joke. It has putrefied into a national shame.
If tonight, Americans do turn heavenward in pain and grief for the lost children of Uvalde, Texas, they may hear the answer delivered in the Bible through the words of Isaiah:
“And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”
Large font text above from this article by David Frum in The Atlantic
But I’m also asking you, Mr. and Ms. Responsible Gun Owner. Because I have more hope that you’ll do something to stem the tide of bloodshed.
The shock and horror of mass shootings focus our attention. But most of the casualties are inflicted one by one by one. Americans use their guns to open fire on one another at backyard barbecues, to stalk and intimidate ex-spouses and lovers, to rob and assault, and to kill themselves. Half of the almost 48,000 suicides committed in 2019 were carried out by gun. All of this slaughter is enabled by the most permissive gun laws in the developed world.
David Frum in The Atlantic, Sept. 1, 2021
We’ve trapped the cause of the plague
In the land of the free and the home of the brave
XTC “Melt the Guns”
While you’re sending out your thoughts and prayers, here’s something else for you to think about:
In virtually every way that can be measured, owning a firearm makes the owner, the owner’s family, and the people around them less safe.
Same article as above.
We know the germ
Which is man-made in metal
Is really the key to your own tomb
XTC “Melt the Guns”
My prayers are that more Americans start to realize that more guns in more hands will mean more senseless deaths.
You’ll gather your senses, I’m sure
Then agree to
[Chorus]
XTC “Melt the Guns”
Melt the guns
Melt the guns
Melt the guns and never more to fire them
Melt the guns
Melt the guns
Melt the guns and never more desire them
You done said…