Today is February 14, 2013.
Today the world gets all gushy about love, in the name of a 3rd century Roman saint about whom very little is known but it gave an opportunity to connect traditions of courtly love in the late 13th and 14th centuries to a saint and thus sanctify the practices.
Today is my birthday. As a kid, I used to get teased about being a LOVE child because of my birthday. Nowadays, I just tell people that you're guaranteed to get chocolates and flowers for your birthday.
Today is also the 14th of the month, marking the day that "It is Enough", an informal Christian social media group to which I belong, is marking its support for stronger gun laws. On the 14th of every month, they are urging folks to speak up in favor of stronger gun laws. To write their reps, tell their stories, get the word to others.
I am in favor of stronger gun laws. My personal story is very relevant to my current position.
I grew up with guns in the house. My father was an enthusiast--for hunting (which he did regularly) and history (he knew a lot about guns made for warfare from all parts of history). I was taught to fire a gun; there was a point in my life when I was quite good at shooting tin cans with my dad. My dad gave me a shotgun for Christmas one year, even had the stock cut down to fit me. I used it once or twice with him in the backyard on the villainous tin cans. My father taught me, and later my brother, how to use guns. We were taught from the very start that the first rule is that guns kill. We were taught never to point at anything we didn't intend to kill, even if we "knew" the gun was empty and unloaded. Guns were supervised and taken as tools but tools meant for killing. There was nothing glamorous about them; their sole beauty was in their usefulness as the tool for which they were designed.
My brother, who was born on April 6, 1974, was shot in the head and killed on November 15, 1994, by a friend and roommate of his. That man is now serving a 40 year prison sentence.
On this day, I am aware that gun violence and birthdays have coincided in my life. That gun violence has stopped my brother's birthdays. That we are rapidly approaching the point where he will have been dead more birthdays than he was alive. That no mother/father/sister/brother/friend/lover should have to experience what my family has.
On this day, I believe that gun availability was a contributing factor to a dispute/upset becoming fatal. I feel that I see this in the news a LOT--situations that having a gun at hand makes the violence boil over. I don't believe that taking guns away completely is possible; I would support massive government buy-backs, however. I would support any legislation to make getting guns harder (universal background checks, sale limits, etc.). If you want a tool like a gun, it's worth doing the things to make that tool safe. I would support legislation limiting capacities (because rage boils over too easily; it feeds on itself). I would support legislation requiring personal responsibility (trigger locks, etc.). For me, I cannot support the tragedy of loss in order to have freer civil liberties. These liberties come at a cost that is too great for me to sustain.
I am an art historian. I will continue to mark the 14th with art as we move to make our voices heard to end gun violence in America.
