(2:30)

February 14th was once most noted in the US as Valentine’s Day, a day for love. Unfortunately now for many in this country February will be forever be associated with one of the most senseless of all the senseless mass murders in this country.

I will not recount the details of the day. That will no doubt be done multiple times in the next few days. There is very little I can add to all that. But I do hope that Americans in all walks of life and especially those who hold offices of trust in this country, take a moment to consider the impact that the proliferation of weapons of war in the hands of civilians has had on this country.

Imagine being a parent and hearing on the radio or getting a flash message on your phone that there is a shooting in progress at your child’s school. Imagine the terror of the children. Imagine the terror of the parents. Besides those immediate victims there are relatives and friends. No other country sets their citizens and especially their children for such a deadly happening.

We were set up for for our current situation by Antonin Scalia’s opinion that made the gun about the only object that is untouchable by laws. What is more maddening is that one party – the now very radical Republican Party – has used the culture of the sanctity of the gun to divide our country and to raise massive campaign war chests on.

As a country we observe many days throughout the year to commemorate our war dead. That is as it should be. On Tuesday, I believe we as Americans should also observe some moments of thoughts to those who have died due to an idea that has been badly twisted over the decades.

Think of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings of those who died senselessly in the course of their daily lives. Think of what you and I can do to change the culture where elected members of congress are proud to wear a lapel pin depicting a machine of mass murder in the halls of congress. 

Chief Justice Warren Burger said it very succinctly: 

The words of the Neil Young song “Ohio” float through my mind frequently. The song is a reaction to the murders of four Kent State students during a Vietnam War protest back in 1972. One line in particular just keeps floating through my mind:

“What would you do 

  If you found her dead on the ground?

 How could you run when you know”

Today is a great day to resolve to do something – especially elect sensible lawmakers – to begin the process of ending these senseless murders.