UPDATED JANUARY 6, 2013, 7:01 PM
Gun policy is an emo tional topic for me because its failures have been responsible for the ongoing slaughter of children.
I have worked in Harlem for 30 years and in that time, I have gone to too many funerals of young people slain by handguns, held the hands of too many weeping mothers.
I have gone to too many funerals of young people slain by handguns, held the hands of too many weeping mothers.
Anyone who has attended one of these tragically unnecessary funerals can only be outraged that this country continues to make buying and owning a gun easier than buying and owning a car.
As the bloodied bodies have continued to fall by the tens of thousands, those directly affected have been joined in grief and outrage by other Americans who sympathize -- and who maybe wonder if their loved one is next.
I didn’t know any of the children gunned down in Newtown, Conn., but I was still moved to tears. The thought of those small, lifeless bodies brought back a flood of terrible memories: the children I knew, some of whom I raised as my own, whose lives were cut short by a handgun. Why were they denied their Constitutional freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? These children were no occupying army and their killers were no militiamen.
I simply cannot believe that James Madison and the members of the first U.S. Congress could envision, much less condone, the savage slaughter of innocents that is being politically enabled by the so-called defenders of the Second Amendment.
I understand sportsmen want their rifles. I even understand -- though disagree with -- fearful citizens who want to keep a gun to defend their home. But I cannot understand how anyone can advocate for the easy availability of deadly weapons. I have seen enough angelic faces at rest in tiny caskets to make any argument about the unrestricted rights of gun owners moot.
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