A response and challenge to Cold, Dead Hands….
We all have a part to play in the gun control debate that gains momentum for a brief time after a massacre. Some have louder voices than others do because family and friends died in the mass shootings perpetrated by people with assault rifles. Although massacres happen around the world, it is a personal story when it happens in our own neighborhoods, our own country or in Western Europe.
The massacre in Orlando grieves us all. What made this massacre hit home for Pittsburgh was the timing. As the shooter took aim in a gay bar in Orlando, Pittsburgh was celebrating a Pride festival. The sixth degrees of separation hits hearts because that violent scene could have easily played out in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is not immune to massacres. Defined as four or more people killed, Pittsburgh experienced a massacre just recently. That massacre of five adults and one unborn child is no longer in the headline news, but the grieving continues for the family. Police say it was a calculated murder. Two men have been arrested for the murders. According to the police reports in the news, the attack was planned for years.
The author mentions Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School. The names are synonymous with the word “massacre”. These watershed events triggered the gun debate too. When I was young, a madman stood in a clock tower at a university in Texas killing people on the sidewalk below. I was too young to pay attention to the gun debate then. Was there one?
Controlling the trigger of a gun has been an issue since humankind learned that if you can’t always get what you want, you could kill someone to get it. Guns are only one of the weapons used. Humankind can be merciless in its pursuit of happiness.
The author used the word “god” in his article so following his lead I reference God here. The Ten Commandments make it clear how we should live our lives. One of them gives very clear direction, “Thou shall not kill.” Ignored, as are the man made laws that detail the consequences when someone kills, we suffer the consequences individually and collectively. Access to guns is not legal for all, yet all of us pay when someone kills.
So you may ask why I think I have a voice in the debate on violence.
I developed a healthy fear of violent responses to conflict while growing up a city hit by riots in the 1960’s. A firebomb destroyed my neighbor’s car. A neighbor’s nephew died when a mob beat him to death with a shopping cart. The dead man wore a police uniform at the time of his death.
Then as a teacher during the 1997-98 school year, I paid attention as school shootings (some massacres) frequently headlined the news. My own classroom of second graders was vulnerable to an angry, violent child who had publicized working knowledge and access to guns, along with regular physical outbursts. I did not ignore the laws nor the warning signs. That school year should have been the wake-up call for every teacher in this country. President Bill Clinton commissioned the Guide to Safe Schools. Published in the summer of 1998, the publication set forth guidelines for schools to follow. The nation woke from its slumber on April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. It did not take much time for sleep mode on prevention to resume. Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook woke us up again. The timeline of school shootings (not all massacres) is extensive. Access to the weapons was illegal in every case.
Therefore, the author’s words in Cold, Dead Hands resonated with me. As I read the well-written article, I felt compelled to write as well. As an advocate and blogger, I learned long ago that controlling the trigger on a gun is only part of the debate in violence prevention. As the author makes clear, the massacre in Orlando should make us all pause and take inventory of our responsibilities in resolving conflict peacefully. Now “We are Orlando” is the new unifying slogan. “We are Columbine”, following the popular slogan of a Pennsylvania university, united the communities surrounding Columbine High School is 1999. The slogan is only a bunch of words if people remain divided after premature deaths. Finding the causes of violence helps prevent violence. Wringing hands does not.
The author, Charlie Deitch*, takes issue with the NRA and Second Amendment advocates hence the title of his article from the infamous words of Charleston Heston, a former actor and former leader of the NRA. The author’s arguments are convincing for debating gun violence. I completely agree that we are all responsible for stopping the violence. However, gun violence is only part of the picture. Therefore, I am going to take several points in his article a step further by drawing parallels between the gun control argument he sets forth and abortion, as both violent means to an end. On the continuum of violence, if one takes into account the innocence of the victims as being the most important factor, then abortion is the most extreme use of violence we sanction in America and around the world to resolve perceived and/or real conflict. Unresolved conflict and misplaced aggression lead to the violence of abortion and gun violence.
(Gun violence quotes are from Mr. Deitch’s article titled Pittsburgh Left: Cold, Dead Hands as published in Pittsburgh City Paper page 13 June 15- June 22, 2016 edition. The abortion statements I wrote as a parallel to Mr. Deitch’s insight on gun violence.)
Gun violence: “But it is most likely the sounds of dozens of bullets flying out of an assault rifle rudely cutting through the sound of music indiscriminately ripping through flesh, killing dreams, ending lives.”
Abortion: “But a knife, vacuum or pill that can be used to fight cancer rudely cuts through the silence- discriminating- ripping through the flesh, killing dreams, and ending lives. One or two targets in mind each time.
Gun violence: “Criminals love gun control- it makes their jobs safer. The NRA and gun advocates have a million T-shirt ready slogans.”
Abortion: Abortionists love Roe v Wade-it makes their jobs safer. Planned Parenthood and abortion advocates have a million T-shirt ready slogans to keep abortion legal.
Gun violence: “Almost as prolific as they are at making excuses and pointing blame in other directions, when someone picks up a gun and butchers people who’ve committed no crime.”
Abortion: “Almost as prolific as they are at making excuses as to why abortion should continue to be legal and pointing blame in other directions, when someone picks up a surgical instrument and butchers people who have committed no crime.”
Gun violence: “People just trying to live their lives. People who have a right to live their lives with some degree of certainty that they’re not going to die in a club or in a school or in a church.”
Abortion: People just trying to live their lives. People who have a right to live their lives with some degree of certainty they are not going to die before they get a chance to go to a club, go to school, or go to church.
Gun violence: “They weren’t armed. They shouldn’t have had to be. They had their lives, their existence pried from their cold, dead hand.”
Abortion: They were not armed. However, they have arms, legs, hearts, brains and souls. They had their existence pried from their cold, dead hands. Then some of those body parts have been sold.
Gun violence: “Am I too harsh to blame every gun owner, advocate group and lobbyist for Omar Mateen’s action. Normally I would think so.”
Abortion: Am I too harsh to blame every abortionist, pro-abortion advocate group and lobbyist for the death of babies in the womb. Am I too harsh if I think we all have a responsibility to save lives?
Gun violence: “So when I say the NRA, the gun lobby and every (expletive) gun apologist in this country is responsible for what happened in Orlando, I’m using their logic to reach that conclusion. These people have spent millions of dollars on lobbyists and on campaign donations to friendly legislators to make sure that gun laws are weak, toothless and never change. You have gone to great lengths to protect your guns, so now you have to own up to your part in this. But, you won’t. You never do.”
Abortion: So, when I say that Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby and every abortion provider and apologist is this country is responsible for millions of deaths since 1973, I am using their logic to reach that conclusion. These people spend millions of dollars on the lobbyists and on campaign donations to friendly legislators to weaken pro-life laws and make sure pro- abortion laws never change.
It seems that gun violence and abortion suffer the same fate when the conversation begins. Mr. Deitch writes:
“…We can’t even have a conversation in this country on limiting access to certain types of weapons without someone yelling about their rights being violated. But what about the rest of us. The last I checked we had certain inalienable rights, the most important of which is the right to live. That right doesn’t put anyone in danger. That right should allow us to go to clubs and to school and to the movies without fear. However, our rights are trumped because we’re not paying millions for lobbyists and members of Congress to care for us.”
I completely agree with Mr. Deitch when it comes to inalienable rights: “The last time I checked we had certain inalienable rights, the most important of which is the right to live. That right does not put anyone in danger.”
That right should allow all to grow up to go to school, to clubs, to the movies and to church, to the playground or barbecue's in their own backyards. The right to life trampled because the unborn are not paying millions for lobbyists and members of Congress to care for them.
(Annually about one million die to abortion violence.)
Why should we continue to sanction the killing of babies in the womb? Do you understand what "inalienable" means?
Marian R. Carlino
