“IT’S ALL THAT MATTERS,” Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Facebook page proclaims, referring to the favorite saying of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung. That’s the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Adam Lanza shot and killed on Dec. 14, 2012. MDA’s asking its Facebook followers to like, share and join their civilian disarmament jihad while honoring Ms. Hochsprung’s homily. Because all you need is love. Not those icky guns. C’mon, I hear you mutter. Really? Well now that you mention it . . .
Really. The antis believe that creating a society of peace, love and understanding is the key to eliminating “gun violence” – indeed all violence. They dream of a happy, safe society – without guns. Because people don’t need firearms in the caring, sharing community of tomorrow. In fact, civilian disarmament is one of the most important steps for creating this utopia. Or, at the very least, moving us closer to its realization.
A sensible person would think, yes, well, first you create the peaceful society and then we’ll lay down our arms. M’kay?
Here’s the really weird bit: the people of Sandy Hook thought they’d done just that. Before Adam Lanza shot his mother in the head and headed for Sandy Hook Elementary School, the lilly-white Connecticut suburb had a crime rate so low a snake couldn’t have slithered under it. But a snake did just that, and murdered 26 people.
There’s horrible irony in this.
Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach were meeting with other faculty members when they heard, but did not recognize, gunshots. Hochsprung, Sherlach, and lead teacher Natalie Hammond went into the hall to determine the source of the sounds and encountered Lanza. A faculty member who was at the meeting said that the three women called out “Shooter! Stay put!” which alerted their colleagues to the danger and saved their lives. A teacher hiding in the math lab heard school janitor Rick Thorne yell “Put the gun down!” An aide heard gunshots. Thorne survived. Lanza killed both Hochsprung and Sherlach.
Hochsprung didn’t recognize gunfire because she lacked knowledge of, or preparation for, firearms-related violence. You could even say her naïveté – reflected by her favorite saying – led to her death. And, it must be said, contributed to her failure to take more effective countermeasures against the spree killer in her school.
That same pro-passivity gestalt defines Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Shannon Watts’ mob are adamantly opposed to citizens protecting life by force of arms. Not that they say it straight out. Because that would be unpalatable to people who A) own guns to protect life and B) have common sense. As always, MDA’s followers clarify the mothership’s memes in the comments section. Here’s Facebook supporter David Perkins’ take:
The gun crowd would say “being armed makes us nice to each other”. I strongly disagree. I say “being civilized makes us nice to each other”. All a gun does is make us less civilized!
There’s no arguing with that. But there is organized resistance. I suggest you continue to do your part to help it. Do it for the children.