I still remember the profound sense of horror I felt after the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and especially at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Then a few years ago, I felt a different kind of horror when I realized my only response to a shooting on Thanksgiving Day was, “Oh .. another shooting.”

I’d become numb to the everyday slaughter that has come to define our nation. And now I’m realizing a new horror as I see that fear has crept into my subconscious. Fear is starting to influence my thoughts and actions.

Even before this recent spate of shootings, while grocery shopping, I actually thought about what my strategy would be if someone started randomly shooting. It was disconcerting to have this thought while doing such a routine task. Yet recent events have proven that something as mundane as shopping at Walmart can have lethal consequences.

White supremacists present the biggest danger to Americans. Call this what it is: domestic Terrorism. The vast majority of Americans want sensible gun control. This does not mean taking away everyone’s guns. Weapons of war, however, are designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible — and they have no place on the streets of a civil society.

When the police are on the scene in one minute, but dozens of people are already dead or wounded, no amount of law enforcement or “good guys with guns” will ever be enough.
The only chance to save those lives is to prevent the shootings, and that means keeping guns out of the hands of domestic terrorists.

It is the job of Congress to create laws to protect people. Without meaningful gun control laws, the senseless slaughter of innocent people will continue. What kind of governing body would refuse to pass legislation to help make it safe for Americans to go to school, religious services, movies, concerts and shopping without fear of being mowed down by gunfire?

Thoughts and prayers without meaningful action amounts to complicity. I expect my senators and representatives to do something.

Pam Swift

Palermo