By Marcus Goodie Goodloe, Ph.D.  12/16/2012

Columbine '99 (13 dead)
VA Tech '07 (32 dead)
Ft. Hood '09 (13 dead)
Tucson '11 (6 dead)
Aurora '12 (12 dead)
Oak Creek '12 (7 dead)
Portland '12 (3 dead)

I've cried and prayed a lot in the last 48 hours--hugged my kids a lot more too. I have to write something...it's a release... You're the benefactor, sorry.

There is no single answer to address the gun violence in our culture.

Aspects ranging from mental health, education, preventative care and counseling; folks from the faith communities, schools and the like must play their part as well. I do believe a key to such violence is common sense gun laws. I grew up in and around gun violence. I've been shot at, seen people shot, and have lost friends to gun violence.

Access to extensive ammunition clips, armor piercing bullets, bullet proof vests and body armor, and high powered assault weapons for military or law enforcement officials, yes; For a civilized society, NO. These restrictions have no infringement on the 2nd amendment rights. Such weaponry simply does not belong on our urban streets, suburban schools, or rural ranches.

The gun show loop hole, for example, allows for independent gun vendors to sell guns without background checks. Current laws should and must be enforced. But we can and must do more. It begins with common sense. Having universities where students are allowed to carry weapons is mind numbing. Allowing weapons to be carried on Amtrak trains or in our national parks (outside of hunting purposes) is ridiculous (seriously, Obama?!).

"Guns don't kill people... People do!" This is relatively sound reasoning. But it’s a myth, or a half-truth at best. Lanza could not have walked in that school in Newtown and strangled 20 students. He did not use a knife; he did not use a spear or bow and arrow. He did not use a musket. He did not "imagine" them to death, or use abstract powers. He used a weapon that is made to kill human beings. A lot of humans, in the shortest possible time (I challenge you to look up the main weapon of choice he used and its capabilities).

"This is not the time to discuss policy or be political!" Myth. Myth. That statement alone is political. It precludes debate and action, but not out of deference or respect for the victims, but in an effort to protect "our rights" for fear of The Government...taking "our guns," and to promote the status quo, an agenda.

Selfish! When is the right time to change gun laws? Shall an appointment be made? Shall it be in the Fall on a certain day of the week? Shall we have the debate during a particular season of the year? Not Christmas, what about Kwanzaa, or during Columbus Day? Is there a person or group that has the right to debate the matter versus another? Shall those leading the debate come from a particular region of the country? (not the South, of course…It must be from the North, right?!).

A guy comes on a plane with an explosive material in his shoe, and tries to blow up a plane in '09; As a result, the entire country has to take off their shoes when coming to an airport. We've adjusted the size of lotions allowed in our travels bags, and removed the convenience of carrying bottled water into an airport. Yet restrictions on extensive ammunition clips do not exist. Unfathomable.

A guy walks into a school, kills 6/7-year-olds and then we talk about "our rights."

This madness must not go on. How about the right of 20 students to open presents this December and to graduate from high school in 11 years? How about Chicago kids having the right to walk home from school or to play outside in safety, or mall holiday shoppers to be free from the fear of being shot, or a store owner to do business in a community without being held at gun point? Just yesterday, a guy stood outside of his vehicle and shot off 50 rounds of gunfire adjacent to a shopping mall in one of the most affluent cities in America: Newport Beach, CA. Shoppers ran out of the mall in panic and fear for their lives. Thank God no one was injured.

Instead of 2nd amendment rights being argued (which is a straw man argument at the very least here), what about human rights? Reasonable guns laws don't restrict our freedom; they serve as part of a comprehensive approach to save us from this absurdity. Having stop signs at a 4-way intersection does not restrict my travels; instead, it frees me up to move forward. Knowing that folks are to obey the stop signs as they approach such an intersection is a mutual benefit. We are not simply being courteous to one another when we stop. We have allowed ourselves to be governed by reasonable and common sense laws which allow for the four of us to live and operate in safety.

In Newtown, Detroit, Oakland, Minneapolis, Chicago, Compton, Atlanta...it must stop; the shooting and killing of innocent people. It must stop. 9 children a day are killed by gun violence. Enough is enough. If 9 planes fell from the skies over the US a day, there would be change. Quickly!

Our values and priorities are simply misaligned. We have the power, decency, and capacity to address this matter. This will require the mustering of political, moral, and social will-a "coalition of conscience" as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. termed some forty years ago when he referred to the need for people of goodwill to act on matters of injustice. Our focus and fear must not be on three letters N.R.A. (National Rifle Association), and the influence they have with respect to gun lobbying laws. It appears the greater concern should be with another set of letters: R.I.P. (Rest In Peace); these letters should not be placed on the tombstones of six and seven year olds. Those who have died do not have the luxury of being represented by those who work on 'K-Street in Washington, D.C. But this must change. In the theme of an Old Testament question raised by the Transcendent via the prophet Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing?” (Jeremiah 8:22). Are we not all physicians? Are we not all responsible for the care and dignity of one another?

As a person of faith, I realize that the ultimate solution to evil is found in moving people into a personal relationship with Jesus, where their character can be transformed by the light and love of God, and where the Holy Spirit can guide them to “treat the needs of others as holy".

This belief does not preclude me from the use of common sense. My faith does not hinder me from rational thought or from knowing when something is not working. Our current gun laws have failed us. Now is the time for our moral conscience to act, and to move us beyond this madness. Our hearts are heavy. Indeed, there is a tragic injustice about what we have witnessed in recent days. May we move to correction in how we self-govern, in how we treat one another, and in how we live in accordance to the moral and legal laws of this nation.

Goodie Goodloe, Ph.D.
marcusgoodloe@gmail.com
310 729-7464 (cell)

"The ultimate measure of a [person] is not where [one] stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where [one] stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963