What is tragically missing in this tug of war with gun safety legislation is the reason why a person’s right to have any weapon takes precedence over the safety and future of our children. A comment by a legislator at the judiciary hearings on March 7 underscored this misplaced understanding. After testifying about how upsetting it was to watch a young child being passed out a window during a safety drill at her child’s school, one of the legislators on the Judiciary Committee responded by asking if the women was against gun safety drills. I was appalled when I heard this.

I am a grandfather. All of my grandchildren have grown up in a world in which they have gone to school wondering if they will be the next victim of gun violence. That fear has shaped who they are and how they are able to learn. If only one child is so affected, it is one too many. That fear has profoundly affected the parents of these children as well as their teachers, and is exacerbated by the need to have ongoing active shooter drills to be prepared for the possibility. In the midst of this, to ask a parent if they are against these drills is a response that is seated in ignorance, a disregard of children, or a blatant attempt to placate their voter base.

In the 25 years since the mass murder at Columbine, the majority of the responses speak of the infrequency of these tragic incidents being the reason for not enacting gun safety legislation. It is as though we are looking for some sort of magic number to decide whether protecting our children is more important than having whatever weapons we desire. Apparently, we are still looking for that magic number.

The AR-15 was developed in the 1950s. Its presence became dominant in the early 2000s. Since then, it has become the weapon of choice by mass murderers. Before 1999, the kind of mass murders that have become so commonplace in our country were rare. I honestly don’t know why the availability of this type of weapon changed who we are as a nation. It is, however, evident that it did.

I’m a 70-year-old disabled veteran. That likely does not give me much credibility before Maine’s Legislature. It just gives me a longer history as a citizen of this country. I don’t long for the way our country looked in the 1950s or 1960s. I do, however, want my grandchildren and their children to feel that they have the hope of growing up with the same level of security in this terribly violent nation as I did. It is past time to start putting our children first. I urge you to let your legislators know that without doing so, we are condemning our progeny to a life of fear.

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