Every day...

Every day we drop our son at school and we leave him to his teacher and to his friends.  Every day I pick him up.  I park across the road from the school, he and his little mate cross the road carefully at the teacher/student controlled crossing and then run along the path until they find our cars.  Every day.

Every day I expect to see my son again.  It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't.  Until now.  I am glad that its the holidays now.  Because even though the most recent mass shooting in the US is thousands of kilometres away from where I live, I can't help wondering whether it could happen here.

Rationally, I tell myself that it wouldn't.  Its not a common thing in our country to have mass shootings, I think there have only been a couple in my lifetime.  Its unthinkable that it would happen at a school.  We have tighter gun laws.  Virtually all of my friends don't have guns.  The odd one might have a gun licence, a couple know how to shoot and go hunting but that's it.  We don't have the "right to bear arms" mentality that seems to still be so prevalent in the US.  Sure there are gangs and people with guns in my community where I live but I've never had a sense that they'd be targeting schools.

I can't imagine what the parents are going through right now, the ones who have lost their kids.  If one of mine died it would be like someone had ripped my heart out.  I don't even like to think about.  When I became a parent I realised what love truly means.  I'd walk through fire, I'd stop a bullet.  I'd do anything it took to keep my kids safe... but I don't think I'd ever pick up a gun.

It seems to me, as a completely outsider, that something has to change in the US.  Guns aren't actually safe.  They are dangerous.  Children can get hold of guns and hurt themselves if nothing else.  When you get people able to buy ammo online and people with actual serious mental health problems being able to obtain guns, and serious types of guns at that, then its time to really evaluate whether restricting gun ownership, the availabiltiy of weapons and the types of weapons is more common sense than infringing on civil rights.  Guns really shouldn't be used against other people.

Children have a right to be safe in their schools and homes.  People have the right to be able to go about their daily business without the fear that someone is goign to shoot them dead.  That is a civil rights issue, to be able to go freely about your life.

I don't think the idea that everyone carrying a concealed weapon would help.  Because in all seriousness, most normal people wouldn't go and shoot a few people because they were having a bad day.  Those who do go and shoot a whole bunch of unrelated people are usually pretty unwell.  Most of the time they kill themselves in the process.  I don't think that knowing that they are likely to be killed would stop them.  Maybe its what they want?  Who knows.  But no, that argument seems to be a weak one to me.  People who decide they are going to shoot a whole bunch of people don't care that they might die.  They are that separate from themselves and their humanity that it won't make a difference to them who dies.

The only thing I can do from here is pray.  Pray for those precious, innocent children who died today and for those who saw it happen.  Pray for parents who are passing empty rooms tonight.  Pray that somehow, this will make the people of the US look hard at themselves and the legacies they want to leave their children.  That those in power will put aside their political ambitions and look carefully at the long term impact their decisions are having on generations of people.  God, be there.  Be with those in grief.  Be with them.