A thought for you.

Gun Violence Victim Ryanne Mace's father, Eric, asks this question:

If we are the greatest nation in the world
and
our way of life is better than in any other country
and
we are a society of equitable laws
and
our most important resource is our people
and
the most precious among our people are our kids
and
we have the best and brightest minds in the world on our side
and
we order our society by the will of the people
then
why do people keep shooting each other and we can't seem to do anything other than post shit on Facebook decrying another tragedy has occurred?

We can't stop natural disasters.
We can't stop disease.
We can't keep time from taking our loved ones away.
but
We have decided consciously not to fix this.
All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
End of rant.

Good point, Eric, the opposition wants nothing to be done and do everything they can to keep the status quo, or make the situation worse.

The reinterpretation of the Second Amendment by the McDonald and Heller decisions do not block meaningful action being taken in the form of registration and background checks, yet there is no meaningful gun regulation in the United States.

20 million shit laws need to be replaced with one effective set of laws.

Which is what the "pro-gun" side fears most.

Putting a face to gun violence--Ryanne Mace

I know you like to say we are "dancing on the graves of the victims" when we try to put a face to gun violence, but I have a serious problem thinking that Ryanne would be upset by using her memory to make a point on this issue. I am pretty sure her parents wouldn't mind since they are active in the movement (her mother, Mary Kay, previewed this and suggested some edits to this post).

Ryanne was one of five students who were killed 6 years ago at Northern Illinois University. I know that she was only one of the victims, but she shows how the event impacted her family and her friends. It also effected the entire NIU community.   I'll add that Ryanne was an only child.

But this video tribute from Tom Frey is one that really sticks in my mind.  Not only is it a tribute to Ryanne, but it is the memory of someone who knew her.  It shows the effect that gun violence has on people:

This is another of the many tributes to Ryanne that I found while trying to find the one by Tom:



This is Ryanne's mother talking about her being active in the Gun violence prevention movement:


A toast to Ryanne Mace, a lovely young woman who was taken from this world far too early. Your memory is contributing to making the world a better place. Who knows how much better the world would be if you were still alive.