20 Children

  Four years ago today a twenty year old man walked into an elementary school in Sandy Hook Connecticut then shot and killed six staff members and twenty children. Twenty children. Twenty. Stop for a minute and imagine that number. Twenty six and seven year olds.

  Gun violence is not uncommon in the U.S. in fact it's ever too common. And mass shootings are so common that while they still are front page news, their life cycle isn't half as long as you would think. It's as if people expect it on a regular basis.

  Somehow I thought, naively, this would be different. This would be the final straw. This wasn't a shooting of adults who, while it would be awful, led full lives and experienced some of life's pleasures. These were children. Little children. Surely this was different. I was wrong.

  Yes there was outrage. Lots of it. Vigils and candles. Tears and calls for reform to gun laws and stricter regulations. The result? Nothing. No changes. Congress passed no new laws. No long wait times or in-depth background checks. No changes what so ever on guns. A few states strengthened their laws but others made the laws even weaker. And the NRA said that gun free schools were bigger targets and there should be armed police at every school in the country.

  I'm no expert on guns or gun control. I don't know how you keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. But wait times, back ground checks and banning assault rifles would be an excellent start. I'd bet money on it.

  Take an extra second today to hold your child. And think about the families who cannot.

  Ang