Yesterday was a horrible day that will live in our memories as Americans. I just could not go another hour without sharing my thoughts on this. It has so affected me I refuse to believe we can’t do more to change the laws here.
Beautiful humans- mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters, sons, daughters and friends lost their lives in another senseless act of gun violence. We cannot pray or say our hearts are with the victims anymore. The words are sounding hollow, especially as they were echoed by multiple congressional Republicans yesterday whose own campaigns have been padded with NRA funds. Something must be done before our country as we know it is gone forever.
The fact is America has put the right to own whatever weapons we chose, above the safety of us all. After Newtown and the slaughter of small children in their classrooms with their teachers, we still did not pass gun legislation. Unbelievable. Our apathy knows no bounds. The NRA continues its reign over the Republican congress who seem to have black hearts. How they live with themselves I do not know, and this group includes Paul Ryan and Mike Pence. Trump spoke at an NRA gathering in April and promised to ‘Come through for them,’ and that he would ‘Expand gun rights.’
Tell me what about gun rights needs to be expanded?
Just one of the great charts by Vox show we have too many gun rights.
Polls show a majority of Americans are for safe and effective gun control. So why aren’t our politicians following through on this? No one needs automatic weapons and machine guns. We need to follow the example of Australia, who changed the gun culture in their country after a mass shooting by buying back guns and making gun laws much more stringent. It has been amazingly effective and they have now one of the lowest gun violence rates in the world. This great article with gun facts and studies on Vox tells the statistics and facts we should all see about how gun ownership affects our safety in so many ways.
What makes us defend weapons that kill so many? No idea. Apparently some believe it is for personal safety. The NRA keep peddling myths like guns will be confiscated and you’ll need to defend yourself. Don’t forget your Second Amendment Rights. ( Written at the founding of our country when we needed a militia.) You have the right to bear arms. Against what? The zombie apocalypse? The crime rate in the United States is the lowest it’s ever been. Statistics and study after study show that those who live in homes with guns are personally more at risk for homicides- to be killed with their own guns or to have a family member commit suicide.
Allowing any kind of gun purchase with no regulations on the internet and without background checks leads to anyone buying them. Other nations have tough tests one needs to pass to register and use a gun and rules about storage of firearms you must obey. Not here. Each state can have its own laws, which makes it easy to buy in one and bring to another. Storage? Go ahead and leave it under your bed if you want. Frightening.
It is also easier to get a gun than a driver’s license thanks to the NRA’s insidious influence on our laws. Thus we have a country where we openly carry guns in some places and some even believe in vigilante justice, taking the law into their own hands to protect themselves. I ask you has any of these shootings been stopped by gun toting individuals? No.
I do not wish for my children to live in such a world, do you? We can do better. Let’s look to other nations who have less guns and their correlating death rates- lower suicides, homicides, and mass murders. This video is excellent in pointing out the fact that remains indisputable – less guns equal less gun deaths. It’s simple math and cannot be refuted.
We’ve got this. We are stronger together. There are so many of us who are done with this way of living among guns. Let’s be the change by doing all we can to save our country from this scourge. By pushing for laws, only voting for those who support gun control, and beginning initiatives like gun buy-backs through independent endowments we support or start we can make a strong start. Read here about how this excellent buy back program in Australia caused deaths to plummet. These are just some ideas, but we need to hear more and think out of the box. If we begin today and work towards this every single day, maybe we can make this country safer for future generations.
I refuse to live in a nation that is normalizing mass shootings and where moms carry their guns in their baby bags to Walmart. I want us to live in peace together without weapons.
Let’s value the lives of humans in our country over the ability to own any weapon we want.
Thank you for listening,
Kim
Some places to start.. Join these online, like them, contribute, share and get involved as soon as you can. We need to make this movement as huge as the women’s march and we need everyone to participate.
Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense In America momsdemandaction.org
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence csgv.org
Everytown for Gun Safety everytown.org
The Brady Campaign bradycampaign.org
Newtown Action Alliance newtownaction.org
Violence Policy Center vpc.org
Americans for Responsible Solutions americansforresponsiblesolutions.org
States United to Prevent Gun Violence ceasefire.org
Stop Handgun Violence stophandgunviolence.org
Thank you for this. I agree wholeheartedly.
We need to start electing people who will stand up to the NRA! How many more times do citizens have to be slaughtered on our streets?
Well said, Kim!!! Total agreement!!🙏🙏🙏
Thank you ❤️
We have to act on this now and if we don't our country as we know it will be forever changed. Right now the NRA and the gun lobby is setting laws and making them in our country -and brainwashing too many. We need common sense gun laws and now. There's more of us than them who believe this and we can do it.
Thanks so much- for the positive feedback and for being here.
Rick, this is not a design blog, but a lifestyle blog. Part of that is expressing the kind of life I aspire to and world I want to live in. The world is made uglier for all of us when guns are easily gotten especially weapons of war, and human life is valued less than the right to buy whatever weapon one chooses. I do not wish to bury my head in the sand and look the other way when this scourge is ruining so many lives and destroying the safety of our precious country. Those who don't agree are free not to read here. You can easily find a lot of fluff on any blog. If you want what's really happening in this world, I'm sorry but I'm taking about it. I want a better world for us.
We absolutely cannot continue to bury our heads in the sands of escape…There has to be voices proclaiming the craziness of all of this…I couldn't look at a fashion blog or an "inspirational" escape today…I don't need escape, thank you…I need to be reminded of the lives that were so senselessly taken for no reason…I have to hope that my voice at least is heard crying out in the wilderness of this insanity…"STOP…PLEASE STOP"
(And Kim, you , too, feel the need to make your voice heard because, you have written with your usual care and factual consideration…..Thank you!…I always know I can come to
your blog as a comfortable place to fall…Peace and hope for all of us…Dianne)
"Stay on topic"?? I would say that this is the topic on everyone's lips/screens/pages right now, so why wouldn't Kim, or any other blogger, try to make some sense of it through their writing? I'm watching the US from not that far away, and I can tell you that reading Kim's words reminds me that there *are* still Americans who are caring and kind and want the best for their society. Believe me, these days I need that reminder.
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Thank you Dianne and Patricia so very much for your words of support. I'm so glad you feel the same about this. I really appreciate having this forum to share with you all. I'm just trying to find some hope or ideas to stop what is becoming a way of life for us in America.
Thanks for writing this and sharing your thoughts. I was sort of astounded that almost no blogger acknowledged this event and did regular shopping posts, which I found offensive. We've got to do something about this and you've given us many ways we can help. Thanks again.
Thanks so much Kathy. I was party inspired to write as I went to look on other blogs to see what others were saying and there was very little of anything which shocked me. One blog even had a post titled 'Good Things' and I just couldn't resist leaving a small comment that it might be a good thing to share some of the ways to help. She deleted my comment! I just can't stop thinking that we've got to get some traction here and begin a huge movement, not unlike the Women's March. I would think we could get even more people. Thanks so much for your support! Kim
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I love everything about your blog. It brightens my day during happier times, and I find comfort in it during the many sad times we've had this year. Thank you for being brave. Your words are right on, and I agree wholeheartedly. We must find a way to stop this senseless destruction of lives, families and peace. Thanks, Kim!
I will 'follow' right after I leave a comment. I'd fallen away from 'Blogdom' due in large part to the head-in-the-sand tone of all the blogs I used to follow. You have given me hope and heart. I live below the 49th parallel, so am closer to the US than to the rest of my own country. What happens south of the border has a profound impact on all of us. I look forward to reading more about your part of the continent.
Thank you. I hope to keep it real here. I just find it hard especially now, to compartmentalize that part of life and blog about pretty things and not address what is happening all around us. It may be to my own detriment, but this how I make sense of life and sharing with you all helps.
Jane, You made my day. Thank you. It helps to know so many of us feel the same! I agree together we can change this and I refuse to believe otherwise. There are too many good people in this country to let this continue.
Kim I'm a bit late to this post because I was travelling when this happened. So well-written and I applaud you for the courage to say it. It's such a contentious issue in the US. We were in Scotland when this terrible event occurred and the news stations talked of nothing but the lack of gun laws/the gun culture in the US. There was some talk of Australia too and the job they did collecting up the guns and the change they've made.
As you know part of my family is American so I'm very aware of the average person owning guns, and having them easily accessible with ammunition etc. Here in Canada I do know people who own guns, hunters exclusively. The gang violence in our big cities is increasing however with the gun culture being pervasive there.
When I was 16 years old a friend took his own life using his father's hunting rifle. I didn't even know his father hunted, it seemed like a hobby he didn't take up any longer but he still kept the gun and ammunition in his house. I've always thought that if hunters were obligated by law to keep their guns in a safer spot, a club with regulations etc that this tragedy would never have happened. He might have found a way to harm himself but perhaps he wouldn't have died.
I don't have any answers but it's no use not discussing it, that is not the way! Thank you for this post Kim, big hug to you my friend xxDani