Barbara Mezeske: Say it out loud

Barbara Mezeske
·4 min read

When it comes to guns, gun violence and the murder of school children and their teachers, America stands alone.

  • Mass shootings, rather than being rare, as they are in other developed nations, are the expected norm here. There have been 27 school shootings already this year. (Education Week, as reported by NPR 5/25/22)

  • There are an estimated 120 guns for every 100 Americans (BBC 5/25/22)

  • Since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death in Americans under age 19, beating out car accidents and cancer.

Since the Columbine High School mass murder in 1999, we have allowed an entire generation of kids to grow up with the fear that they may be shot in their classrooms or on their playgrounds. For them, live shooter drills are as common as fire drills. High school seniors graduating this month have never known school without the threat of mass shootings.

Instead, we have taught them how to hide, how to throw staplers at an assailant, how to huddle away from windows in dark corners of classrooms. We have bought them bullet-proof backpacks.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. right, listens to Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, speak about the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the U.S., during their joint news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Abbott was in Washington with Cruz to support a bill Cruz has introduced in Congress banning any refugees from Iraq, Syria or other countries deemed to be controlled by a foreign terrorist organization. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Texan Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Abbott were quick last week to warn that Democrats would politicize the Uvalde shooting, as though “politicizing” was disrespectful to the dead and to their mourners.

Isn’t it more disrespectful to make no effort to change things? No effort to limit gun sales, to institute universal background checks, to ban civilian ownership of guns designed for war, to create “red flag” laws to keep guns out of the hands of people we know are dangerous? Isn’t it disrespectful to block any such measures?

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Despite what Abbott and his sort say, the Republican Party has been politicizing guns for decades. How many times have we heard from Republican candidates that “Democrats will take away your guns”? No qualifiers, no subtlety there — just a bald-faced lie intended to get votes from gullible gun owners.

We have seen politicized Christmas cards featuring candidates and their families cradling weapons. Just this month, a Republican candidate for governor of Georgia operated a campaign bus emblazoned with “Jesus Guns Babies.” The National Rifle Association contributes to political campaigns, including those of Bill Huizenga and Peter Meijer. Both Abbott and former President Trump addressed the NRA convention in Texas, just days after the massacre in Uvalde. If all that isn’t politics, then what is?

In its purest definition, politics is the exercise of power. Power is a tool to solve problems. Why bother to run for office if you don’t believe that political action can shape the world we live in?

And therefore, why pretend that guns are not a political issue in the aftermath of the murder of eighteen fourth graders? After all, we politicize everything else: health care, pregnancy, masks, gender identity, school curricula.

Barbara Mezeske
Barbara Mezeske

What we see in the Republican party is a power block that does not want to change anything about America’s gun problem. No change for gunned-down elementary school kids, or for grocery shoppers in Buffalo, or concert-goers in Las Vegas, or people shopping at Walmart. No change for a prayer group at Emanuel AME in Charleston, or for a Pittsburgh synagogue, or an Orlando nightclub. The Republicans in our Senate and House vote in lock step, according to what the party elders want. The Republican party is firmly in support of unlimited gun rights and easy access to deadly military weapons by just about anyone, regardless of his mental stability. We see how this Republican party treats members who try to think independently on this or any other issue. Just look at Fred Upton, Justin Amash or Liz Cheney.

Is gun violence inevitable? Probably. Our politics have created the perfect situation: lots of weapons, easy access, loose regulation, protection for open carry, availability of military weapons designed to kill people, and a major political party committed to keeping that status quo. We can begin to chip away at the problem — if the Republicans get out of the way. But as long as they stand firm, offering their thoughts and prayers as though that is what we need rather than political change, then we will continue down this dark path.

But at least let’s see who they are. This is a problem created by and perpetuated by Republicans. These deaths are made possible by Republican policies, Republican votes, and Republican rhetoric. This is who they are, and where their values lie. The Republicans own each and every school shooting in this country.

Say that truth aloud.

— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Park Township. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Barbara Mezeske: Say it out loud