HERE WE GO AGAIN

Here we are again with “thoughts and prayers, paranoia about losing the 2nd amendment and more innocent people murdered because we refuse to do anything in this Country about gun violence. Does anything even matter anymore to people when it comes to gun violence?

 

The latest incident was when suspect, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa shot and killed 10 people at a Boulder, Colorado grocery store Monday, March 22, 2021, when he walked in around 2:30 p.m. and began shooting, according to law enforcement. "He was taken into custody about an hour later with a gunshot wound in his leg. " And if I may say so, it looked like he was going through a stroll in the park, the way police offers casually walked him across the parking lot, with the media speculating that he may have just been a victim and arrested as a precaution.  Seriously?  And also I'd like to add that there is a race problem in this country, especially when it comes to gun violence but that would be a whole other article.

Back to the topic at hand...Do you know how ignorant we look to the rest of the “civilized“ world every time we have a mass shooting in the United States!? It is absolutely shameful that this Country’s obsession with assault weapons and guns, apparently outweighs our need for safety!  

 

If you don't see a pattern here, (see image below) then we have nothing further to discuss. 

 

(Image source: Twitter/Adam Best)

 

 

Half of the battle is in trying to have an open dialogue regarding this gun violence issue. Recently, my husband was on a panel at a local television interview (relating to this issue) and there were two other guests on the show, who were proponents of gun ownership, as well as a gun expert on the panel.  The entire interview was steered in the direction of dissecting the differences between automatic weapon and semi-automatic weapons, and the legalities of the 2nd amendment, completely missing the point of the problem we have in this Country.  No one (at least not myself, my family nor people I have spoken to on this topic) want to take away gun rights.  The 2nd amendment states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  Basically, it states that the people have "the right to bear arms."  However, with that being said, we must also remember that assault weapons were not taken into consideration back then, when they said "right to bear arms," nor did they have the bump stocks and powerful amounts of ammunition that are so readily available today to any civilian.

 

We can banter about semantics all day and argue about different types of weapons but the point that NEEDS to be addressed, is that there IS a problem with gun violence and we keep sweeping it away with useless thoughts and prayers."  Those thoughts and prayers are too little too late for the victims. 

I was there the day that March for Our Lives, co-founder, Cameron Kasky (then a high school junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas,) asked Florida Senator, Marco Rubio, if he would reject money from the N.R.A. (Nation Rifle Association.)  He could not answer the question directly, but the roundabout answer was the N.R.A. buys into his agenda.

 

 

 

 

Basically, the NRA "owns" a lot of the politicians in office. Politicians, that we the citizens, keep in power, even though they appear to have some kind of sick symbiotic relationship with each other (politicians and the N.R.A. that is.)  Sure, there are other forms of lobbying that go on in Washington (D.C.) but right now this is one of the most dangerous ones!  The results speak for themselves. 

For example, "Nearly three years before a gunman walked into a crowded supermarket in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with an AR-15 style weapon and killed 10 people, the city of Boulder, Colorado, voted to ban assault weapons...But just 10 days before the March 22nd rampage, the measure was blocked in court after a lawsuit backed by the National Rifle Association. The ruling came under a Colorado law that bars local officials from making their own gun laws."

 

How in the world can you deny the correlation?  And at the federal level, President Joe Biden said Tuesday that “we have to act” to pass reform legislation and Democrats said they are pushing toward a vote on expanded background checks, but it faces a difficult road in the Senate. Congress has not passed any major gun control laws since the mid-1990s, leaving most significant gun legislation in states’ hands. 

 

We have to come together NATIONALLY and try to agree upon gun reform that makes sense to try to keep us ALL safe.

There are so many things we can TRY to do to help prevent mass shootings in this Country. Instead, we watch as innocent people die, we send thoughts and prayers and nothing changes, all because gun-obsessed individuals stuck in the mindset that they need their guns to protect themselves from the government or some apocalypse or something catastrophic that they fear may happen. It has transcended from a “right to bear arms” into I must go around owning the most powerful weapons I can because I am fearful.”  I understand the right to bear arms and protect yourself and your family, I really do!  Recently, in that television interview I mentioned earlier, they asked my husband if he had a weapon at the time of the shooting at our daughter's school, would he have used it?  I can say that if I had been there with a weapon, in a position to defend my first born child and other people, I damn well would have done what I had to protect them. I don't disagree with gun ownership - with that being said (hypothetically, of course,) I would be a legal gun owner (which, for the record, I do not own any weapons,) I would have hypothetically passed a background check and I sure as hell would not have purchased a weapon in the back alleys of some random street!  

 

My point is that yes, everyone wants and feels the need to defend themselves but I also think there is a huge difference between the right to bear arms and the ease with which weapons are readily available, as well as the type of arms in question. There has to be rules and regulations in place when it comes to gun ownership. At this time there are too many loopholes and way too much money involved with the N.R.A.

How is an assault weapon in the hands of civilians anything remotely productive? There are pictures on the internet of grown men at grocery stores toting assault weapons, strapped on their backs.  The only thing I see when I look at images like this is that we are on our way back to the days of the “wild, Wild West,” only this time, on steroids. 

 

 

How can you look at the picture above and be okay with living like that? Surrounded by weapon-toting citizens, who may or may not have passed a background check or are perhaps mentally unstable? How does this remotely make you feel comfortable?  We can argue statistics, semantics, technicalities etc...but the truth is, we have a gun-obsession problem in this Country compounded with mental health issues, among many other problems!

It is truly shameful that high school students had to lead this Country into a “March for Our Lives” because adults failed at protecting them! They deserve all the respect and credit for being so young and brave and wanting to make change. However, they are still kids and it is OUR job as adults to protect our children, our families and our future!

We can try to make changes without infringing on the 2nd amendment. Why can’t people from opposing points of view have these civilized discussions? I can completely understand the right to bear arms and the need to protect your family but how far will we go with this?

Why does any civilian need an "assault" weapon that is used in war and tactical exercises?  I know there are hundreds of other things that are detrimental to our health and our society but right now, the topic at hand is gun violence and gun reform.

When the 2nd amendment was established, I am sure AR-15s (and similar weapons) in the hands of civilians, was not taken into consideration.

So I ask, What is so wrong with universal background checks? What is wrong with restrictions on weapons of war? What is wrong with restricting mentally unfit citizens with owning weapons? Why does your gun-toting obsession outweigh my need and my children’s need for safety?

Sure, we can argue statistics about how only a small percentage of people die in mass shootings, but why should any die at all? When people started dying at the hands of drunk drivers, we tightened up the rules there and tried to do something about it. When people died because of tainted Tylenol, we did something about it. When the “shoe bomber” boarded an airplane, we did something about it! Damn, we still have to take off our damn shoes to get on an airplane!

Do we not have rules, restrictions and regulations for other things in our lives? Why is this any different?

I will tell you why! Money and the NRA! It always come down to business and making money for the lobbyists and gun manufacturers in this Country, especially when it comes to this issue.

Sadly, we keep talking about this, writing about this, having interviews about it but the sad reality is, that if nothing changed after Sandy Hook, where innocent little kids were massacred, nothing will move the needle. That is the discouraging conclusion I come to each and every time there is a different mass shooting.

We currently live in a society where people are obsessed with being right no matter what. We live in a Country that still thinks it is the “greatest nation on Earth,” when we are far from it. (You can disagree with your government and some of its laws and still love your Country by the way.)  It is not unpatriotic to want to fight for innocent lives and speak up for those who no longer can.

Gun reform may not solve all the problems of our gun violence epidemic right away, but it should not be easier for someone to buy an automatic weapon, than it is to get a drivers license or to vote! Sometimes, girl's clothing in school is more regulated than guns in America! And that is just not right!

I will keep writing and lobbying for gun reform as long as I can. I am forever grateful that our daughter survived a school shooting but it should have never happened. Period.

In the words of my husband, who addressed Marco Rubio and Rick Scott on TV, the day after the Parkland massacre, “Do Something!”

 

I also read something on the March for Our Lives Instagram page right after the Boulder, Colorado mass shooting and it said, "We deserve a Country free of gun violence."  And I couldn't agree more.

Do you agree? 

 

 

THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS VS. PROTECTING OUR KIDS

A NEW DAY...another school shooting and life goes on...May 8, 2019, was the most recent date of yet another school shooting, (that I know of!) This one was in Highlands Ranch, at a STEM school in Denver, Colorado and it was barely breaking news or a top of the news hour kind of story. When you literally have to Google a shooting because it is not plastered all over the news, we have a problem, meaning, we have become numb to this type of occurrence.

Now, we just count how many died and measure the gravity of the situation by the number of kids shot dead.  Only one this time, so a lot of people don't even know about it.  Sounds callous right?  Well, that is what we have become, callous and apathetic.

Sure, some will argue: "let's ban guns, bring back school prayer, discipline kids better..." well, guess what? They are all correct!  ALL OF IT MATTERS!

"Todos los poquitos cuentan!" (~JJR)  

WHAT IS HAPPENING? Well, it is the culmination of a LOT of things: Gun obsession, frayed families, politicians in the pockets of the NRA (National Rifle Association,) lack of faith, the integrity of the family unit has been broken often times, lack of discipline and so much more; however, the biggest thing (in my opinion) is that our fetish (in the U.S.A.) with guns has superseded the need to protect our children and citizens in general, and that within itself, is detrimental. 

The original concept of the “right to bear arms,” I’m sure was not intended for today's assault rifles, high-capacity ammunition magazines and weapons of war on our streets. 

Things have to change and we have to start somewhere. People often times comment on my social media posts that there are "too many guns in the streets" or "it's too late," some even say, "that things can't be changed at all."  What kind of world do you want to live in?  What kind of world do you want to leave for your children and grandchildren?  I know I don't want it to be this kind, a world, and a country where school shootings happen so frequently we lose track of the victims and the school names. That is just unacceptable.

I am all for the "right to bear arms" as per the Constitution, but I am also all for common sense, to which, apparently, we have lost! 


I believe you can be a gun owner and believe in the right to gun ownership (the "right to bear arms") and yet, NOT have to back NRA-funded candidates. It is always about greed and money when it comes to politicians (that are A-rated by the NRA.) The gun manufacturing industry is a very profitable industry and the NRA is at the forefront of all it!  The real problem is that gun violence has not really affected those that make the decisions, not in their families and not in their pockets!

Here in Florida, we have a three-day waiting period to purchase handguns, but that restriction doesn't apply to assault rifles. Really?! We also have the infamous "stand your ground" law (2005), which basically lets people go around shooting others if they feel threatened in some way. How crazy is that?!

PARKLAND,FL 2018

Florida also has no restrictions on large-capacity ammunition magazines.How in the world does that make any sense? These are things I am referring to when I advocate for common sense gun reform.  How does it offend someone to require age limits, background checks, waiting periods, restrictions on assault weapons?  And for crying out loud, what about mental health and gun ownership - that is a ticking time bomb!  I think that if someone has a track record of mental instability, owning a gun (especially an assault weapon,) may not be the wisest decision.
   
Back when the Orlando, Florida massacre happened, then governor, Rick Scott, was asked about assault rifles and his response was:  "The Second Amendment didn't kill people. Evil killed people."

And so, while I have to agree that there is obviously an element of "evil" to every mass shooting and gun violence incident, there should also be some semblance of common sense.  Let's take for example, my daughter's high school, where on February 14, 2018, an 18-year old was able to enter the school (with "evil intent") except, he had an assault rifle in tote and literally blew up 17 people, and injured another 17 and wreaked havoc emotionally on an entire community.  

Now, had he had a knife or baseball bat, for example, do you think he would have left behind so much destruction and carnage?  Even the surgeons attending to the victims at the hospitals talked of the irreparable damage caused by automatic weapons to the organs of the victims.

It is sickening what is happening in this Country and many are unmoved by it.

People will start the "a vehicle is also a weapon" argument but honestly, I am not even going to engage in those debates right now because we don't have a "drive a car into a school" epidemic,  we have a serious problem of gun violence in this Country. You would have to be blind not to acknowledge that. And while statistically, you may argue that the problem is not of epidemic proportions, losing the life of even ONE child at school, is one too many!

And so in conclusion, my belief is that while we do have the right to bear arms, we also have a right to safety, especially for our kids.  A gunman's hobby and obsession, should not trump the safety of our children. There has to be balance, common sense and legislation passed to enable gun reform and a safer future for all. It has to become more difficult to obtain  weapons of war. 

In case you are wondering  who the NRA spends money on and who the members of the House and Senate are here is a detailed list  of Senate and House members with the most contributions from the NRA. In the 2016 election, the NRA spent $11,438,118 to support Donald Trump—and another $19,756,346 to oppose Hillary Clinton. That’s over $31 million spent on one presidential race.  We could be using that money to invest in better education for our children, who are our future and keep them safe!

Even though this list and graphic is from a few years ago, not much changes. Some politicians come and go, but the fact remains that they are happy to fill their pockets with "blood money," while our children cower under desks during school lock downs and active shootings.

So, therefore, I will be actively advocating to NOT vote for any NRA-funded candidates. We have to hit them where it hurts, their pockets and show them that the lives of our children are worth more than their greed and desire for control and power!

Thoughts and prayers mean nothing when our children are being shot dead at SCHOOL!!! 

BLOGGER:

Lissette Rozenblat - 

Bilingual|Blogger|Network Marketing & Social Media|Mompreneur|Organ Donor Advocate|Online Boutique Owner|Author in Progress|Brand Ambassador|Gun Reform Advocate|Passion for Inspiring Others




Sources:
The Washington Post
Fortune
Open Secrets

A REMINDER...IT IS NOT OVER

This morning, as I scrolled through my camera roll on my cell phone to delete pictures I don’t want anymore, I came across this one (the graphic shown below, which I will continue to hold on to.)

It is a simulation picture of what happened on February 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This picture and those green dots (which represent fatalities,) reminds me how fragile our lives are. It should remind us all.  

I keep it to remind myself of just how close our daughter came to being a victim of this school shooting. I keep it and I analyze it and I am reminded of the horror she and her classmates had to live out that day at school, especially those in the 1200 building, which is where she was. Her classroom was 1251. It was a matter of sheer luck, timing, divine intervention, whatever you want to say, that the shooter didn’t turn around and shoot into the classroom she was in. This graphic reminds me of that, every time I see it.  That is why I keep it.  

Most people have moved on, especially those not affected and not in the Parkland/Coral Springs area, but it is not over, not by a long shot.  It is not over because these students, teachers and staff have to go to the scene of a crime, every day. Sure, they don't walk into the 1200 building, but they do have to go by it every morning and every afternoon.  They have to walk along the border fence of that building. The students have to attend classes where they once had classmates who are no longer there because they are now dead. 

They still have to close their eyes at night and see visions of dead bodies in the hallways, blood on the walls and hear the echoes of victims crying out in pain.  I cannot begin to fathom the pain of those sights and sounds. I can only sympathize with what my own daughter experienced, and even then I will never truly know the details of what she saw and experienced and truthfully, I am afraid to know. It is heartbreaking that innocent lives were taken away that day and teenagers have to endure their high school years with such painful memories.

Personally, it reminds me of the lapse of time when there was no communication with our daughter. It reminds me of how the last thing I heard from her at around 2:40p.m. was: "Mommy, there is a shooter in school. I'm okay, but I am terrified. I am hiding. I can hear someone crying because they got shot. Please call 911."  

That was it, then we didn't hear from her again for another 30 to 40 minutes.  Those were the absolute worst moments of my life, of my family's life. All I could think of was that she was close enough to hear gun shots and then all we got was silence.

It is a reminder that for these students, their families, their teachers, it is NOT OVER. Especially for those families who lost loved ones that day. We use the term “lost,” but the truth is, they were not lost, their lives were brutally TAKEN by a troubled teen, who had access to an assault rifle.

It is NOT OVER because it KEEPS HAPPENING!!!
 

There is nothing we can do to change what has already happened, but we sure as hell can do EVERYTHING in our power to make sure these tragedies don’t continue to happen in our schools! 

I have written of this tragic event before and I will continue to do so, to remind myself and others, that the repercussions of this incident boil over onto many aspects of life and our community. 

It reminds me that although we experienced the worst moments of our lives, we were blessed to welcome our daughter home safely, (forever, changed emotionally, but physically safe.)  Seventeen families were unable to do that on February 14th. They had their family member taken from them because of gun violence, lack of school safety and mental health problems.  ALL issues we must take on.

This November, during midterm elections, it is our duty to VOTE!! Vote for leaders who want to keep our kids and our streets safe. Vote for those who want to make sure assault rifles do not fall into the wrong hands. No one is coming for your guns. This is about safety. 

This is why we are part of Families vs. Assault Rifles PAC, to make a difference. Not to ban guns, not to go and take your weapons, but to re-classify assault rifles. FAMSVAR PAC is working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation that severely restricts access to assault rifles.

Many people think it is too late, that there are too many assault weapons out there, however, we HAVE to start somewhere and do something! We each have the power to make a change or at least try.  Voting is a privilege that many have given their lives for.   We, as citizens of the United States of America, cannot take this privilege for granted.

Everyone aligns themselves with the cause that best interest them and I think that by working together and communicating, we can slowly but surely bring about change. 

So, let this serve as a reminder, that we must all do our part to make the world, the country and our schools a safer place for our children and grandchildren. 

PHOTO BY: MIAMOON PHOTOGRAPHY

Never Again. Never Forget. It's Not Over!