Good Afternoon All,
I hope that your day has gone well as we salute Survivor Holton ! Unfortunately, once again we begin a week on a somber note following yet another horrific mass shooting on American soil. Although we know that school is not officially in session, we will honor those victims by respecting the recently issued Presidential Proclamation. While that edict is designated for federal buildings and similar entities, we will follow most of the nation in displaying our school flags at half-staff until sunset on June 16, 2016.
We are reminded once again that the mere redundancy of these tragedies strikes at our very souls. That point was reiterated when I heard a BBC report beginning with the headline" Just another day in America". It makes us wonder about the current global perspective on our nation. Whatever the temperament of that view, it has certainly been clouded by these ongoing acts of unspeakable violence. After each shocking incident, we pause in disbelief as if to reset our moral compass. Yet, we have to ask if that did not happen when young lives were lost at Sandy Hook, then when?
I am going to step on the soap box for just a moment, so just bear with me briefly. My perspective on the impact of violent deaths by firearms is undoubtedly bias. My father shot himself to death when I was just six years old. In nearly 30 years with the Metropolitan Police Department, I witnessed the shattering ramifications of homicides upon families and communities. Miraculously, I survived an active shooter incident at Police Headquarters as a gang member armed with a TEC-9 machine gun stalked the halls seeking unwarranted revenge. He uiltimately killed three innocent colleagues and seriously wounded another. In the end, those victims had nothing to do with his twisted motives.
In the effort to stop this maddness, I feel that we must first peel way at the seemingly impenetrable barriers of ideology and politics. Considering the deep ideological divide that exists within our nation, that feat seems daunting at best. It is always crucial to remember an important principle when seeking solutions to this carnarge. That principle reflects on the responsibility of elected officials to enact public policy and legislation that seeks to serve the collective good. Our Consituition is indeed the foundation of our very existence, yet I believe that our Founding Fathers also expected us to exercise sound judgement and common sense in the implementation of laws. Here again we revert to the true obligation of public service. The cherished tenets of life, liberty and happiness are severely tested in a society when lives are consistently intersected by mass acts of violence.
In the effort to be apolitical, it would seem that as a nation we could reach an agreeable accord in addressing this issue while respecting our inherent Constitutional rights. Yes, it is challenging to predict the nefarious actions of a lone individual. Furthermore there exists no panacea for the cessation of criminal acts. However, we must focus on those initiatives that we can more directly control. Prominent among those efforts includes measures to address the availability, accessibility and regulation of high-powered assault weapons on our domestic front. How we choose to proceed upon that action will represent a true test of our collective goodwill.
Thank you for allowing me to opine about this issue. Please feel free to let me know what you think.
Have a good evening my friends.
Ken