THIS HAS GOT TO STOP - NOW!

As the events of this past week unfolded, I once again was screaming this question in my brain, "What will it take to make our country & our people put a stop to this epidemic of senseless gun violence?" It is out of control. Any sane citizen needs to acknowledge that & vow to stop this carnage.

Just over a week ago three people were killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival & many more were injured. That was about 150 miles from our house & it only made page 7 in the local newspaper. Guess only three people dying at the hands of a deranged gunman just wasn't that important. Well, we changed that this weekend.

In the span of 15 hours, a gunman in El Paso, Texas, killed 22 innocent shoppers at a local mall & injured another 24. Later that same night someone gunned down 9 more people at a nightlife district in Dayton, Ohio, & wounded another 27 partiers on Saturday night. That at least made headline news but yet it continues.

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP! What has happened to this country that I love? I was certain that after innocent children as young as six years old were gunned down at school in 2012 at Sandy Hook in Connecticut the laws would change. All of us normal, law abiding citizens would certainly hold our lawmakers accountable saying, "Enough is enough." But that didn't happen. These were children.....innocent babies. My granddaughter is seven. I can't even fathom her & her classmates having the life sucked out of them by these deranged assholes. Who could do this to innocent children?

The Gilroy Garlic Festival shootings included a six year old boy & a twelve year old girl. Don't just skim over this, these are children. Imagine the terror they felt as bullets pierced their young bodies. And it didn't even make front page news. My God! Children were killed in the El Paso shooting at a mall where Darrin & I shopped often when he was working in El Paso for a year. How, in a supposedly civilized society, is this even remotely acceptable?

Our president has encouraged an atmosphere of racism & hatred. That isn't the cause of these massacres but it certainly appears to condone it & he is doing nothing to end this senseless violence. There is no leadership in our country when it appears to need it the most.

This has to stop NOW! Not a year from now, a month from now or a week from now......NOW! Don't tell me it can't be done. It can! New Zealand passed laws banning assault weapons six days after a mass murder earlier this year......SIX DAYS! Those of us who are outraged need to stand up to the NRA & its idiotic members trying to intimidate us with their "guns don't kill people, people kill people" bullshit & stop them. We have the numbers to say, "NO, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! GUNS KILL PEOPLE!"

Write to your representatives & senators - every week if we have to. Tell them you are fed up & won't vote for them unless they stand up & stop this - NOW. Tell them to grow a pair & do their job - NOW. This seemingly daily massacre of innocent children & others has to stop - NOW.

Thoughts & prayers aren't enough. Background checks aren't enough. Limiting sales & ammunition aren't enough. The Dayton shooter could have legally bought an automatic rifle. Stop EVERY sale of automatic weapons tomorrow. Not one more AK-47 or similar weapon can be put in the hands of deranged terrorists, period. Those out there need to be bought back....NOW! In every state in our country.

And when the NRA pitches a fit as we know it will do, all of us reasonable citizens need to stand up & say, "NO!" We aren't taking away your guns for Christ's sake. We are taking away the weapons of war that weren't even conceived when the second amendment was written. You can have your handgun & your rifle if that is so goddamn important to you.

I heard an impassioned plea from Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso native running for president, in which he said, "We need to stop this shit now & keep automatic weapons on the battlefield where they belong." He has my vote!

The rational, sane people of the United States need to take a stand & stop this rampant ongoing slaughter of innocent people in our country. And, please, for God's sake, stop the insidious hate in this country. Do it NOW - before any more people are gunned down just trying to live their lives.

PS: If anyone feels the need to tell me why I am wrong, don't bother. I don't want to hear it. I don't believe it & I won't waste my time responding to you because I know that stopping this senseless violence is the absolute right thing to do. And it needs to be done NOW.