Is it supposed to be the 2nd-before-all-else-amendment?

Dear gun activist friends and family members:

I am going to a concert this weekend.  One of those summer ones where we typically get to share the joy of music outdoors with loved ones and feel a greater sense of community.  I am taking my family even though I don’t feel safe.  Recent news is filled with all sorts of instances of people feeling unsafe or panicking - even just while walking on the street (realizing of course our children in schools have felt this longer in our schools, and many people of color for a lifetime…)

We are not safe. We need to feel on guard all the time now.  Our ability to enjoy our public spaces, to feel at home and part of a public community have been sacrificed.  To what end?  At what cost? Is this your intent?  Is your need for automatic weapons to be available so important that our entire society is affected in this way?    Why is your need to protect your guns more important than everyone’s need to…live, shop, be in a community, worship, etc etc etc? 

You’ve had it your way. The reality is that it is continuing to escalate.  There are more and more guns.  Are more people safe and protected because of it? How is this experiment working out?   

You are enabling this, allowing it.  It is hard to get beyond feeling resentful that this is on you. You have accepted propaganda about this issue. Putting it lightly, we are uncomfortable, how about you?  Uncomfortable enough to do something?  I challenge you to look at the actual research.  There is no intellectual argument that can explain this level of lack-of-reasoning. Open your eyes to the actual results around us. 

It is not ever too late.  It is not too late to take back automatic weapons and automatic ammo. We’ve seen other countries (and states) do this successfully.  Its not too late to keep them from criminals and domestic violence offenders. It’s not too late to require the same type of protections for your family and neighbors that we have for driving cars on the road — licenses and training.   Actually recent polls show that many of agree on some of these points.  Why is not moving forward?

We need you to step it up. Now.

You have the power to be this change.  YOU.  Let your local, state and federal leaders know - while you believe in your right to bear arms and never want to give that up, what is happening now is not what was intended.  This version is not okay, and not what you want.   Please.  It doesn’t have to be the 2nd-before-all-else-amendment (including safety of our lives).  We can evolve.  

You never know, you may even feel a weight lifted from your soul

Love,

Your fellow citizen, neighbor, family member who is scared shitless.