In the last couple of weeks we have had various tornado warnings much as we do every May and June. We take these interruptions in our daily lives of TV and radio communication as a necessary interruption that may help save our lives and those of our loved ones, especially our children. Beyond the warnings at the moment of the danger, we often have as much as a week of warning before the bad weather comes. Last winter we twice had warnings a week in advance.

The weather bureau is a highly functional service of our government. They have been over the years a front runner in new forecasting technologies and has helped reduce deaths due to extreme weather dramatically. The weather bureau is probably the most accurate weather forecaster in the world, with radar that can take us down to block by block real time live radar pictures. While nothing can stop people from choosing to do something stupid like going out for a walk in a tornado, we can’t say most people weren’t warned.

In order to be ready we now build buildings to withstand powerful storms. Public buildings that may be gathering places for large numbers are built with extreme weather in mind, thus preparing for the moments when such buildings will be needed. These are all actions that we, through our government, have decided are for the good of our society as a whole. So we fund further research, better equipment and require stronger buildings as part of our effort to save lives.

The weather Bureau is only a small example of how we as a country have asked our government to study problems that lead to death or major injury, recommend remedies, execute remedies and then enforce those remedies through fines, jail times and retro fitting if necessary. The reason we do this as a society is that if it were not mandated, few private entities would fix problems in order to save money. One of the greatest examples of this is OSHA. We probably all know of instances that the very threat of an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) inspection caused dangerous on-the-job situations to be addressed that had previously been ignored.

As a nation, as a society we have a problem that causes over 30,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of major injuries every year. That of course is guns. People don’t want to die in extreme weather so we have built warning systems; people don’t want buildings to collapse so we have implemented standards and warning systems; people don’t want to die in fires so we have engineered in sprinkler systems and warning systems; people don’t want to die in car wrecks so we are constantly engineering in safety and creating rules for driving; people do not want to die by gunfire but thanks to a small contingent of gun crazies the whole country is held hostage from engineering in solutions, from creating better more comprehensive laws to slow or stop the spread of firearms.

The murderous rampage in Santa Barbara is only the latest in what has become an almost monthly sacrifice of Americans to guns. The reports have become almost blase in their reporting and their impact. Since the Santa Barbara murders America has lost more than a hundred more to guns. Each one of those is someone’s child, parent, grandparent, friend or co-worker. Each loss leaves a huge hole in our communities. Each life lost is a life that shouldn’t have been lost. It is a family that shouldn’t have been ripped apart. It is a future of a young person cut short.

Imagine if you can going to your only grandchild’s funeral. He or she was 5. Never had a chance, gunned down in what was thought to be the safety of school. Does even the thought of it make you so mad that you will do something to stop this insanity?

America has put up with this war on its own citizens for far too long. We attack other problems with study and actions to mitigate impact. Why are we so afraid to do it here? Are our politicians so afraid of an NRA that has been shown to be toothless? The very first thing we need to do is to let politicians know that if they refuse to face up to our gun crisis in this country we will find someone else.

More than anything right now we need a unified front for gun laws. There are more than enough of us to make a huge impact. The NRA represents only a small portion of America, but their focus on one issue and their ability to deliver votes gives them the ability to make politicians quiver in their boots and piss their pants.

There are many, many groups out there purporting to favor gun control. Some how we must pick one to unify behind. And we must do so quickly, before one more is killed uselessly.

Perhaps you heard what the father of one of the victims had to say last week. I think he says it for most of America

“I don’t care about your sympathy. I don’t give a s— that you feel sorry for me,” Richard Martinez said during an extensive interview, his face flushed as tears rolled down. “Get to work and do something. I’ll tell the president the same thing if he calls me. Getting a call from a politician doesn’t impress me.”

It seems to me that the college campuses that have been one of the major attack points would be a good place to hold protests against a society of fear.