After Uvalde

I think about how twenty-five years ago my dad took his gun got in his truck to go hunt down the kid driver who caused the car accident that killed my baby brother. My dad told me later, he was in his truck with his gun, weary from trauma and no sleep— who could sleep after such a tragedy?— grief ridden, traumatized when he was stopped by a train coming down the tracks. The railroad guard rails held him back for the three minutes of pause it took for my dad to come to his senses. Come to his senses. Maybe he thought, how much more pain and trauma and death does one want to cause out of twisted anger, tortured deepest hurt like your heart is being ripped from the middle of your chest cavity. I wonder now, how does killing repair, resolve anything?

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 Anything can become a weapon.

Words
    for expression
    harsh enough can
    cut a person’s heart
    kill their soul
             Harsh words tamed can heal, renew
  
Iron skillet
    for baking
    wielded in terror can
    crush a skull
    break a hand
            The iron skillet can hold food to nourish

Coffee cup
    for drinking
    broken into shards can
    slice arteries
    gouge eyes
           Filled, the cup can soothe a weary mind

Gun
    for hunting
    for sport
    shoots to maim
    aims to kill
            A gun in the right hands might protect.

Automatic Assault Weapon?
     with a magazine coupler
     that in one round bludgeons
     beyond recognition
     the lives of 30 human beings?
             Its sole purpose to slaughter en masse

Our precious children, our devoted teachers in school,
our wise elders in the grocery,
our faithful worshipers in the temple, in the church,

Good people,
       as long as assault weapons are
       in untrained unwell civilian hands
 We are not free. 
​       We are moving targets.

                                                                                                                              Karen R. Clark
                                                                                                                              May 25, 2022

                         

Until background checks are enforced, the purchase of semi-automatic assault weapons by civilians must stop.

• Training, testing, licensing must be enforced.
• The NRA, the manufacturers and owners must be held liable for the terrorism, the death and destruction caused by their guns.

These measures will not bring back the lives that have been lost. Nothing can heal the gut wrenching pain and forever broken hearts of loved ones left behind.
But they might save lives and someday return our nation to compassion for each and every citizen’s hope to pursue happiness.

VOTE OUT ANYONE BACKED BY THE NRA (National Rifle Association) AND ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) EACH AND EVERY ONE— OUT!

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