We Live By The Gun, We'll Die By The Gun

How many more people have to die in the US before we declare a stand against gun violence? It's scary because regrettably the gun nor the bullets do not know the difference between race, class, nor gender. Yesterday as I was living my aloof life, gun violence struck again, this time, at an elementary school. For me, this is now where the issue becomes personnel. As a father of a 6 year old boy in kindergarten, I blindly assume that when I take him to school, that's a safe haven. He shouldn't have to go to school with it looking like a military camp. As this news story unfolded, a school called Sandy Creek Elemantary in Newtown, CT went from innocence to carriage where 20 kids and six adults were brutally murdered, dispatched by the all too familiar narrative of "The Lone Gunman." Picking my son up from school yesterday was an experience because I realized that though my life isn't perfect, in light the yesterday's catastrophe, I was blessed. Where I get to buy Christmas presents for him, there are 20 families who have to buy coffins for their children and six others who have to do the same. Last night, I was drunk with anger and took to twitter. I was seething mad because this could have been my child. One of the things I did, which I still find myself shocked about, is that for a while, I took race off the table. Race for a few moments in my life became a side note and I even counseled a follower, respectfully mind you, that race at this moment was discretionary. As I sobered up emotionally, I am still bitterly angry yet the anger for me at least is becoming more focused and I'm starting to ask some pretty damn grown up questions.
1) What is the emergency safety protocol at my child's school.
When Red and I talked about this last night, I was happy to know he knew the basic package. He listens to the teacher, he go where she says go and does not leave until I or someone on our family tree list picks him up. In fact, I know at his school they have campus resource officers (city police).
2) Do I need to get a gun?
For me, the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. I have a child in my home who has prying eyes and fingers. If he will look for my iPad, he will look for my gun. The best way to keep him and me physically and morally safe is not to even bring a gun in the home. The thing I have to consider as a parent is do I ask the parents of his friends, do they have a gun? Personally, I don't think I want my son to have sleepovers when a gun is in the house. I'm a realist and I know that I'm not bullet proof; that said my contribution to gun control is to stay the hell away from them, and live a peaceable life where I don't have to entertain the thought. I'll own it, I'm non-confrontational, and to the untrained observer, one could call me a coward. I simply will not catch a bullet for anyone, with the exception of my immediate family. If I have to face that scenario, chances are either I or they have done something incredibly wrong or we are in worst case scenario and its just our time. But the best defense against gun violence is a good offense and for me, that's being a person of piece.
3) What is my role in the solution of the epidemic of gun violence?
Know your role and shut your mouth. Though I don't like the WWE, I think those words adequately express my position here. I'm a mass comm professor who loves cultural studies. What an opportunity to put that to the test. Unequivocally, America is a country and culture of violence. Malcolm X put it bluntly, America was founded on violence. The cultural discourse of violence must stop. We speak a language of violence with an ideology of machismo. Our blood is infected with violence and we are in need of a transfusion. How and where do we begin to teach a political and cultural ideology of peaceable transgression?
Part of the solution is to disarm our language. Not everything is about confrontation and defense. Another part is to emasculate violence. In America, our cultural icons were violent people. We have to bury the images and call them what they are, anachronisms. Last, we must de-incentivize irresponsible gun ownership. To me this means if you own a gun, you must be required to carry multimillion dollar liability insurance. Ammunition should be expensive, $1000.00 per bullet (I stole that from Chris Rock). I think if you own a gun, you should pay federal tax per weapon every year. If you illegally have a gun, there should be automatic state and federal time. If you commit a crime with a gun it too should be automatic state and federal time with maximum sentences. If you kill a child in this country with a gun, and it is deemed unlawful it should be an automatic capital crime where the death penalty is on the table. I would add that we should take guns off the street, even in the hands of our police. The only folks who should carry guns are the military and those in clandestine service for the government. State police and local police shouldn't carry guns. It's weird but in China, there was an attack where I think 22 people were slashed, but NOBODY died. At the risk of editorializing, it's ironic that in our country it takes 12 years to get a high school diploma, yet you can get a gun in 12 minutes.
These are only MY thoughts. I do hope that you are equally considering this and solutions...