This is getting crazy. Parkland represents the 17th
school shooting in 2018 alone, a statistic that’s on the rise in significant and
frightening ways.
As if by script, responses from politicians have been
predictable and represent very little nuance. The NRA has yet to issue an
official response, but I’d be surprised if it reaches beyond the standard
response to school tragedies and mass shootings: “We need more, not fewer guns.”
Which is a curious response, it seems to me. Already there
are over 325 million guns registered (note, “registered”) by private citizens in
the US, more than twice as many per capita than any other country in the world.
Even more shocking, 36 countries have reported a school shooting since 2000. The
US reports twice as many as all other countries combined.
We need more guns?
We’ve been debating this issue for years, no doubt, and if
you’ve been around me very often you know how I feel. I didn’t grow up in a
family system that enjoyed the use of firearms, although I’ve often envied
friends who did, especially given the bond it often generates between father
and son. And though I’ve never had a gun in my home, I’ve been around gun
enthusiasts all of my life, especially in the Shenandoah Valley, where we lived
for 13 years – a region that syncs school calendars with the beginning of
hunting season.
Bottom line: I don’t have a problem with guns. In fact, I
think it’s a rather fascinating part of our social fabric.
But isn’t it time we started talking about what’s gone
wrong? Isn’t it time we had an honest, gutsy conversation about gun regulation
without fear of retribution or attack?
Perhaps – perhaps –
that’s what’s happening these days. It’s far too early to say, but the Parkland
shooting has stirred up more than emotion. It’s stirred up a hive of high
school activists who are saying “enough is enough.” Just nine days removed from
the Parkland shooting, high schoolers have stormed Washington, Tallahassee, and
the majority of our nation’s capitals. Even President Trump said, “It’s time to
listen.”
My prayer is that good folks on both sides of the issue will
use this tragedy to do just that: listen to one another. We’ve heard enough
opinions. We’ve drawn too many lines in the sand. We’ve already spent too much
campaign money. It’s time to listen.
And as we listen, let’s pray for spiritual freedom – that minds
on both sides might be open to new insight. That our hearts might be enlarged
to consider new possibilities.
That’s precisely what happened during the great suffrage and
civil rights movements in the United States. It’s precisely what guided the
Peaceful Revolution to a united Germany.
It’s what we need right now. Let’s not wait for yet another
mass shooting. Let’s do the hard work of listening to one another.
