Editorial: Remembering Newtown's Nightmare

— by Margie Doyle —

It happened again, just last week: a kid with a gun shot up his school.
It happened again, just yesterday: a kid found his grandfather’s loaded gun and killed his sister.

So how do we keep — our kids in particular — safe from our appreciation of the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the right to bear arms?

That was the “noble experiment” that Fred Klein, Marta Branch and 41 other Orcas Islanders developed last year when Klein convened the four-day “Orcas Response to Newtown.” The theme for the discussion was “Build Trust First, Reaching Consensus is the Easy Part.” Well, trust wasn’t easy to reach, and it never was whole and healthy trust.

However, an off-shoot from that effort was the monthly “Meet Your Deputies” gathering, organized by Under-Sheriff Bruce Distler and myself. It was well-attended by a cross-section of islanders, including mental health professionals. At the last of four meetings, two Orcas’ students made the point that it wasn’t more education that was needed to lead healthy lives and avoid risky behaviors, but a relief from the pain and alienation they feel in our imperfect lives. Our habits — be they sports, dog-walking or other physical activity; church-going or “happy hour observances,” crafts/hobbies such as sewing, journalling, making music, wood-work, stamp-collecting; or coffee-shop browsing, newspaper reading or TV watching — are pursued because they satisfy some longing in us, and make us feel good about ourselves.

I guess that includes gun-collecting and arguing.

Something else that happens regularly, which most people consider pesky, though not violent, is telemarketing or phone solicitation. Nowadays, I mostly say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any budget to support your cause, good luck.” But I try to speak respectfully, because they ARE doing a job, for which they get paid very little, and actually most often I DO support their cause.

I got a phone call last October from Americans for Responsible Solutions, the organization founded by Gabby Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who in 2011 was shot in the head by a crazed gunman. She has said, “My husband and I have… made it our mission to reduce gun violence in a way that was consistent with being gun owners ourselves.”

When asked to contribute, I said, “What good would my contribution do?”

The spokesperson then talked of efforts in various states to win public support and pass legislation for gun registration, required safety courses, gun locks and background checks.

I gave a donation, and now I regularly receive emails from the organization. The one I received on the third anniversary of the Arizona shooting, strengthened and inspired my resolve to work to make our kids safe from gun use:

Three years ago today, a gunman walked up to one of my Congress on Your Corner events, shot me in the head, killed six of my constituents, and wounded twelve others.

I’ve spent the last three years learning how to talk again, how to walk again, and how to sign my name with my left hand. It’s gritty, painful and frustrating work, every day. It’s never easy because once you’ve mastered some movement or action, you move on to the next. There is no rest.
Along the way, I’ve learned that our campaign to change our gun laws has a lot in common with my difficult rehab.
Every day, we must wake up resolved and determined. We pay attention to the details, looking for opportunities for progress, even when the pace is slow. And every day we recruit a few more allies, talk to a few more people, and convince a few more voters. Some days it comes easy, and we feel the wind at our backs. Other times, we tire of the burden.
I know this feeling … but I know that we’ll persist.
…
This year, I resolve to draw strength from the Americans who have joined our fight, and cede no ground to those who would convince us the path is too steep, or we too weak.
Over the last few months, I have achieved something big that I’ve not spoken about until now. Countless hours of physical therapy – and the talents of the medical community – have brought me new movement in my right arm. It’s fractional progress, and it took a long time, but my arm moves when I tell it.
And maybe that’s what it will take to change our gun laws — determination, teamwork, and incremental progress.
But I know we’ll get there, and I am thankful we’re in it together.

Gabby Giffords

What I am doing, incrementally and locally, is working with the League of Women Voters to end gun violence as a sad feature of “the American Way of Life.” It’s not the only way of course, but LWV is an organization that has been effective in the past, and hopefully can be effective in this mission: https://theorcasonian.com/orcas-lwv-sub-group-invites-conversation-about-grassroots-government

That’s why I’ve arranged monthly meetings to talk about the issues that affect our government — they’ll be held at the public library on the 3rd Monday from 6 to 8 p.m., starting this Monday, Jan. 20. We’ll use the LWV’s position paper, “Impact on Issues” as a framework for discussing eight major focii of the LWV:

Gun Safety Learn More
Defending the Environment
Improving Government
Reforming Immigration
Reforming Money in Politics
Protecting and Engaging Voters
Global Democracy
Advancing Health Care

Thanks to Fred Klein for organizing the “consensus” group last year, thanks to Under-Sheriff Distler for continuing the conversation, and thanks to the LWV for working to make civic involvement as much a part of the American Way of Life as telemarketing and gun violence