Too many guns! Too many mass shootings!

Over the past few years, I've gotten more and more concerned about the frequency of mass shootings in our country and the proliferation of guns in our society. Almost every few days, there's news of yet another mass killing. In fact, it's almost become routine for yet another mass murderer to assault yet another group of innocent citizens in another city or town. Just the other day while I was waiting at a bus stop on Lake Street in Minneapolis early Sunday morning, I heard a loud volley of shots at a nearby intersection. A squad car slowed down near where I was standing, and a cop asked me if I'd heard anything. I told him I had heard some shots and pointed him in the direction of the sounds. A growing number of my friends have also told me about the gun violence they've witnessed in their neighborhoods.

It makes me very angry that so many of our state and national legislators lack the will and courage to stand up to the NRA and other right-wing gun lobby groups. Instead of just bemoaning the fact that more innocent people have been killed in yet another mass shooting, they need to pass significant legislation to enforce stricter gun controls such as an outright ban on assault-style rifles. I keep asking myself: "How many more people have to die or be maimed before enough people take this issue seriously enough to do something about it?"

I believe that gun violence is merely a reflection of a greater malaise in the fractured fabric of our society that affects all aspects of our lives. We desperately need to restore our sense of civic responsibility and tolerence of differences in order to bridge the widening rift that threatens to destroy our democracy.

In that light, I would like to do my bit to let state and federal legislators know how I feel about this issue by writing a petition to enforce stricter gun control laws. Then I plan to collect signatures from my church community to that effect. I hope that, in this small way, I can make a small difference and effect a positive outcome. Yes, I think our country is in sore need of a lot of healing.