Where is it safe now?

Guns, Guns, Guns

My three grown children are 42, 29 and 27.  It never occurred to me that when each of them left for elementary school in the morning, I might never tuck them into bed at the end of the day.  But that's not the reality parents face today.  

No wonder my oldest son and his bride of nearly six years, who are expecting my first grandchild next month, sent me the following note:  "It's easier to buy a gun than it is to buy infant formula."  Think about that for a moment.

The current shortage of formula on grocery shelves is the result of four children getting sick (two of whom tragically died).  What did the Food and Drug Admin. (FDA) do?  It immediately shut down the Michigan plant responsible for distributing the toxic formula.  

If only there was a federal gun version of the FDA.  Since the mass shooting at Columbine in 1999, more than 165 children have been slaughtered while attending elementary and secondary schools (not to mention those killed on college campuses as well).  

When you add up the death toll of thousands of innocents killed in drive-by shootings, or of those who were attending single events -- like what happened in Las Vegas in 2017 when 59 were killed by sniper fire -- it seems like no place is safe any longer.  

Do you think the 10 people who recently were killed while shopping for groceries Buffalo, NY or the dozens who've been murdered while praying in places like Laguna Woods, CA or Sutherland Springs, TX, for example, feared for their lives when they entered their store, church or synagogue?  I doubt it. 

If you ask me, the collective impact of these heinous acts is clear:  It feels like we are living in a war zone.

I've heard that as many as 400,000,000 guns are in people's hands now.  If true, then I have two questions:  First, how many more guns are needed to make people feel safe?  And second, what should I buy my granddaughter when she arrives next month?  Should it be a stuffed bear, a mobile above her crib, or a toy gun?  

Yes, I know, the latter option is absurd; still, this is the reality we live in today.  How sick, crazy, and deadly is that? 

-DF