Marching Against Gun Violence

My husband and I were in Washington yesterday marching against gun violence with our sister-in-law who lives in the DC area. The air was cold, the sky white. Signs abounded, many bearing the name of victims of the December 14th massacre in Newtown. We hadn't thought of bringing our own, so we carried one that was handed to us. It had already had several bearers. We carried it a few blocks and passed it on to waiting hands. Behind the security fences that lined Constitution Avenue, men and women stood silently holding small placards which read: "I was shot" and displayed a name and a face: those of victims of gun violence whose murders never made the headlines...
The march was silent but some cars honked in sympathy and since traffic moved along slowly, we seemed to be walking in a tenuous tunnel of sound.
I looked at the faces around me, grave and resolute. I thought of the upcoming fight about gun control, of the seemingly gaping divide between gun enthusiasts and gun control advocates. Do we have to pick sides? Couldn't we agree on the simple fact that as responsible citizens, we are all against gun violence, especially when it targets innocents? I remember reading that some of the Newtown victim families were and remain pro-gun. Whatever gun ownership means for these family members in practical terms, it is safe to assume that they are bleeding internally from the violence which took their kid, parent, spouse or sibling away. They too want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Newtown didn't choose to make headlines but now that it has, now that the whole country is grieving with the town, let's find a common ground and build on it. Let's make sure we move forward together, one step at a time.