Columbine. Parkland. Sandy Hook. Santa Fe. Uvalde. This is no longer tolerable. All of these schools are now ingloriously known for the massacres that took the lives of so many precious children, causing a lifetime of grieving families and losing generations of talent, love, brainpower and smiles. I know so many people who are sick of hearing that action must be taken, but by the time we are blue in the face debating the change that NEVER comes, another act of carnage happens. And this disgusting cycle repeats. Everyone needs to wake up and demand change.  

This rhetoric about our inability to enact laws to stop massacres is untrue. By starting now and making changes, we will prevent needless deaths. I get that the 2nd Amendment will never be repealed, and the current makeup of the court is making it harder to regulate guns. But the court has left openings that must be pursued. 

First, mental health background checks must be implemented. Number two, no 18-year-old should be allowed access or purchase by any means to an assault rifle like an AR-15. Ever.  If an 18-year-old isn’t deemed responsible under federal law to legally consume a can of 4.5% beer, then s/he is not yet legally responsible to access a weapon of mass destruction. Thirdly, magazine clips must be restricted in size, as well as the high-velocity ammunition that goes into them. There also needs to be stringent reforms at the local level. Unfortunately, every school now needs a metal detector and, at a minimum, zero-tolerance brave resource officers. We cannot let our children’s lives be controlled by one special interest group only.

Our children are our collective future, and the 1.5% of our country that are NRA members should never be allowed to tell me or anyone whether my child should live or die because they have long-held beliefs of times of lore. Get over yourselves and your false sanctity of the hallowedness of the 2nd Amendment, and instead do something to save lives. If we are going to be a gun society, then we must be models of that society and not the horror of the world as they watch the slaughter of our children.

Yeah, I’m saying it. The blood is on all of you who refuse to make any change. Stop chasing fool’s gold. One last thought for you all who are still on your one-inch soapbox proclaiming freedom and liberties: I promise you that the last words of those innocents were either mom or dad while the barrel was pointed at them, taking their last breath.

NRA, you may now step down.