The American way of gun violence

Yes, I thought grimly as I drove home.

Yes.

If I/we could, let's be honest, we could come for your guns.

I'd like to regulate the sale and possession of handguns, so that parents don't come home and find

their child bleeding from a head wound in their bedroom.

I'd like to regulate the sale of semi-automatic weapons, (or assault weapons) like the ones used in

New Zealand, which they banned within less than a week,  so that it's harder for a madman to go into

a school and kill six-year-olds.

I'd regulate how you can store your lethal weapon.  I'd regulate sales at gun shows.

When I read about the second allegedly gun-related suicide of a Parkland student this week, I was

standing outside the doors of our church after a pleasant lunch with parishioners.

Seeing the notification, an involuntary "oh my God" escaped my lips.  Quickly I walked away from

the lovely couple emerging from the church doors behind me.

Because I couldn't. I really couldn't.

Let's talk about suicide.  It's on the rise in America for a number of reasons.  A lot of them are drug-

related.

But we know that tighter gun laws have a beneficial effect on suicide rates.  A Vox article

from late last year notes:

"Experts say suicide is largely preventable. Research has shown, for instance, that states with higher rates of gun ownership also have higher rates of suicide, suggesting that tighter gun laws could lower the rate of suicide. The CDC also suggested that an emphasis on housing and financial policies and “promoting social connectedness” could prevent suicide."

If one were a cynic, one might conclude, from the howls of rage that go up whenever new gun rules

are suggested,  that many Americans would rather own guns than protect children.

Their warped interpretation of the Second Amendment is more a fig-leaf than a reasonable choice.

When gun control is proposed,  answer on the pro-gun-rights side so often seems to be: well, THAT

wouldn't work (whatever that happens to be,whether it's gun safety measures or restrictions on who

can own an assault weapon).

With the exception of banning gun stocks (and how many of us own gun stocks) the gun lobby and

members of Congress who are paid off by them fight restrictions tooth and nail - even when data

suggests that they save lives.

Suicide is a messy business, to say the least. I know that from family experience - but I wasn't the one

who had take a trip out to California to identify my brother's body. I wasn't the one who had to

dispose of his things.  I wasn't the one to live with the memory of a beloved child, now gone forever.

And still I have suffered enough to have some dim idea of what the Parkland parents are going

through right now.

But I can't imagine going through a massacre with my child and then losing them.

Three out of ten Americans own guns, according to the Pew Research Center. Right now,  they and

their supporters make choices for the rest of us.

How many more innocents will have to die before that changes?