What's Going On: Why 20 dead first graders won’t change a thing

Numb.

There is no better word to describe my reaction to the news that 27 people, including 20 children, were killed last week in Connecticut after another mass shooting.

Tragically, this kind of news is becoming more and more routine in America and, as a result, the impact it has on me personally has been lessened.

And what’s most sad is I’m not alone.

As Americans, we are humane and empathetic enough to stop our day and express genuine remorse at the loss of life. We will post prayers on our Facebook status, lower a flag to half mast and maybe even quietly reflect on the events and say a little prayer for those families whose lives are now devastated.

Then we will forget and move on with our lives unchanged, until the next shooting, when we will react in a similar apathetic manner.

To be brutally honest, no matter what we may say, we just don’t care about 20 dead first graders.

At least, not enough to do something about it regarding the real cause of the problem: guns.

President Obama got another opportunity to address the nation following another mass shooting when he spoke at a vigil for the victims. The president has this speech down pat, after delivering a version of it after the Fort Hood shootings, the Arizona shooting that severely wounded a Congresswoman and the recent theatre shootings in Colorado.

“Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage?” the president asked. “That the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that the violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?”

The answer to the first question may be in debate, but it’s a definite yes to the last two.

The politics are too hard. That’s why Obama will blow a lot of smoke in the next couple weeks about gun control, but will once again forget about it until he has to dust off the mass-shooting speech again.

A president of his popularity level has enough political clout to make one major play in his term and Obama has already chosen his project: health care. He can’t even come close to having the political clout needed to push through legislation that would come close to having any impact on the number of mass shootings in this country, such as banning semi-automatic assault rifles designed for two things: hunting humans and recreational shooting.

But the real tragedy is the last question he asked. We are prepared to allow violence to befall on our children in the name of freedom.

The more shootings that occur and the more rhetoric I listen to about second amendment rights, the more absurd that argument becomes. The second amendment was written nearly 250 years ago when the most advanced gun could be fired once every two minutes, if you were really good at loading it.

Today, if you have $300 and a driver’s license, you can walk into Bass Pro or Cabella’s and walk out with a gun that can fire 120 bullets in two minutes. Yet we still cling to that same amendment written 250 years ago to dictate legislation regarding ownership of these weapons.

Had gun control legislation kept pace with technology, the second amendment would have been forgotten around the 1860s when the Colt revolver hit the market.

What I still find most ironic though in the midst of all the debate about constitutional rights and freedoms in relation to gun control is the Patriot Act.

When President George W. Bush essentially asked Americans if we were willing to sacrifice our freedoms to fight terrorism in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, we unilaterally said yes.

It was a bipartisan rallying cry to pass the Patriot Act, which disregards many more amendments than any ban on assault rifles could ever dream.

We had no tolerance for terrorism on American soil, and we were willing to sacrifice whatever rights or freedoms we had to to stop it.

But 20 dead first graders won’t be enough. It won’t even be close to even start a discussion.

The shootings will continue and the death tolls will continue to rise. Remember Columbine, the granddaddy of all the mass shootings? Only 12 people died there, or less than half of last week’s tragedy.

At some point, Americans will say enough and the same support the Patriot Act received will befall on broad-reaching gun legislation.

What is that point? I have no idea. But 20 isn’t even close. As much as I hate to say it, the number will probably have to be in the triple digits before we really care.

And without fast and immediate changes, unfortunately, that day will come sooner than later.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Red Oak Express and Glenwood Opinion-Tribune. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.