“We’ve Become Numb to this”

Obama’s statement to the nation, following the horror of yet another mass shooting, rings sadly true. Here is, in my view, the heart of his statement:

Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America. Next week. Or a couple of months from now.

We are not the only country on earth that has people with mental illnesses who want to do harm to other people. But we are the only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.

The United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings…

Somehow this has become routine…We’ve become numb to this…

It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.

It is stunning that our elected leaders have not yet been willing to take necessary measures to curb the violence, to save lives, to stop this excessive, un violence.

No, we cannot stop all violence. And no, we cannot stop all gun violence.

But we can try like hell to make it much more difficult than it currently is for people to access weapons of destruction.

“How can we get our government to change our laws and save more lives?” Obama asks.  The frustration and anger in his voice is palpable. It should be in ours, too.

We need to demand change in the laws. Now; not after the next mass shooting.