We all know the places. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Fort Hood, Charleston, Chattanooga. Schools, churches, military facilities. We hear the Special Reports on radio, TV, on our phones. It has become the term that makes us shutter, “Active Shooter”. How many are hurt or dead? How long will it last? Did the police get the shooter right away? What’s the final count? And then, Who? Why? How did he get the gun? Stories of heroism and families torn apart in a split second. People, children just going to school, work, or church.
This past weekend my wife and I were at a weekly outdoor concert in a park in a small shore town. There were hundreds of people there sitting on their beach chairs. Old and young. Kids running around. There was the usual ice cream truck and hot dog cart parked on the edge of the crowd. A scene played out in thousands of communities on a beautiful summer evening.
The police were there watching. I noticed the commanding officer. He was probably in his 40s. He was directing several younger officers. I thought, what if? Like most of our public places, everyone has access. There were no metal detectors. No one checking bags or purses. This was suppose to be the classic American summer evening. Ice cream, hot dogs, music, and families.
What if it happened here? The loud pops. People running and screaming. People falling. People trying to protect each other. How would I react? How would those young police officers react? Who would be unlucky?
The same thing always happens after one of these public massacres. The body count. The devastated families and the heroes. The local mayor and congress person, and even the president says this has to stop. We have to do something about tightening gun laws. The defenders of the Second Amendment say we have too many laws about guns now. If everyone obeyed those laws, these things wouldn’t happen. Guns don’t kill. Bad or sick people with guns kill.
My personal feelings about guns is not the point here. Americans have lived with guns since the first settlers arrived. They had to hunt for food and protect themselves. It was ingrained in the American character. Some would argue times have changed drastically since the Second Amendment was written. It should be changed. Others warn this will lead to people wanting to change other amendments they don’t like.
In our fractured political climate, where it’s all about ideology, and no one wants to compromise or accommodate. What do we do to make our world safer and saner? This is not something that happens to other people. Do you think the parents of those Sandy Hook children, or the people in the bible study class in Charleston thought it could happen to them? They were in a place that was suppose to be safe and secure.
The “Active Shooter” can strike at any time, in any place, and for no reasonable motive. He is the lone wolf terrorist in our midst. In some cases, they shouldn’t have had a gun because of a felony conviction or mental illness, but because someone made a mistake or didn’t check properly, or they bought on the street, or they got it legally, they had it.
We will never agree on how to control guns to everyone’s satisfaction. No system is perfect. And we’re never going to take peoples’ guns away. The real question is what kind of a society do we want to live in? How many more piles of flowers and teddy bears do we have to see and eulogies do we have to hear?
When we go to the mall, or movie theater, or church, or work, or a concert, we should be enjoying ourselves. But, do you ever think, What if? We shouldn’t have to live with fear in our hearts. But it will take open minds to stop the “Active Shooter.”
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