Category: Angry Rant

When I was asked to use my voice and blog platform this week to address a letter to Congress about solving our gun problems here in America, I’m not gonna lie, there may have been an eye roll.  Or two.  Or twenty.

Asking Congress to do anything these days, from my humble voting point of view, is senseless.  Our representatives in Washington are staging an epic battle of tantrums that put the toddlers we raise to shame.  Our President is throwing up his hands and asking for grass roots involvement to solve the problems Congress is too dysfunctional to address, let alone solve.  Honestly?  I have issues with that, too.  If you are a leader, please lead.

I was inclined to decline and told myself my reading audience didn’t need another gun post from me, that you, dear reader, would quit me for my continued gun rants.

But that’s not right.  That is defeatist thinking right there and defeatist thinking gets you nowhere.

Donna taught me to choose hope, and I try really hard to do that each day of my life.  Another thing Donna taught me was to be realistic and to practice acceptance in my day-to-day life.  I could not prevent my daughter dying of cancer.  It was going to happen regardless of my pleas and prayers and wishes.  What I could do, and what I tried to do, was live a life with Donna that made her happy and carefree and that surrounded her with love.

Choosing hope, for me, is more than a platitude.  It is salvation, direction, the promise of better things yet to come.  I choose hope so that I can wake up in the morning and do it all again.  I choose hope so that I don’t succumb to bitterness or anger.  I choose hope for my two surviving children and my husband and my Dad, so that I can still do and be for them as they need me to be.

I choose hope for America where guns are concerned, too.  That is why I will keep writing my occasional gun rant, and, I hope, you will keep reading and considering.

And because my hope is tempered with acceptance, I will not address a letter to this Congress, asking them to suddenly come to their senses and start behaving like the elected officials we want and need them to be.  I do not have hope for politicians that cower in fear of not being reelected and losing the perks and privileges that go hand in hand with representing their voters.  I do not have hope for politicians that stood passively by after a classroom of first graders were killed, sprayed with senseless bullets, they being more concerned with how the NRA would characterize their votes, than with preventing further mass shootings in schools and other public spaces.

I do have hope for the American voter, though, which is why I have pledged to vote for those public servants who want to make a difference and affect positive change where guns are concerned.  Now, mind you, this doesn’t mean taking away the guns of Americans.  Be still, your Second Amendment rights will remain recognized and protected.

What it does mean is that new laws should be put on the books that take a better look at who is sold a gun (extensive mental health and/or criminal records should preclude this right), just how quickly a person can access a gun, and how that gun can be utilized in public spaces.  Greater attention also needs to be given to gun manufacturers, who somehow (can you say NRA?) enjoy a freedom from regulations that teddy bear makers and cheese artisans do not

As someone who has written about gun violence, I have heard more than a few arguments in favor of gun rights.  A primary one is that criminals will always have guns, and that we law abiding citizens need our own guns as defense.  Yes, that is human nature, criminals will continue to break any and all laws, but it is the law abiding gun owners and manufacturers that give me more pause these days, as gun laws vary so incredibly from state to state and many states require not an ounce of training or paperwork to become a legal gun owner.

For better or worse, law abiding gun owners, caught in horrible circumstances, or suffering a momentary lapse in reason and judgment now rely on the false sense of invincibility their guns provide them and behave in shameful, senseless ways.  Law abiding gun owners are leaving their loaded firearms in places they shouldn’t be, providing unfettered access to toddlers who don’t know any better or troubled teens who feel their own sense of false invincibility or extreme persecution from bullies.  Law abiding gun owners are now allowed to carry guns in bars, restaurants, and churches in certain states, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the gun lobby.

So while I won’t be drafting a letter to Congress anytime soon about common sense gun laws, I will continue to choose hope that America will find her way out of this ammunition and weapon heavy gun loving place we find ourselves in.  Call me pie-in-the-sky, call me stupid, mock my gender and intellect, try to demean me by telling me to bake cookies.  Do as you will.

None of that will stop me from believing we have lost our way in America where guns are concerned, and none of that will prevent me from choosing hope that we can find our way back.  Hope is a powerful thing, you see.

If you, like me, are interested in learning more about candidates in your area that want to put common sense gun laws on the books, sign the gun voter pledge for information specific to your area by clicking HERE.

Not less than eight hours ago I was fielding compliments from the moms on the playground about my new super cool Target summer sandals. Right now, I am sitting at my keyboard in a pair of Target brand pajama pants.  Before I go to bed, I will wash my face and brush my teeth with products purchased from Target.  When I wake up, I will serve my baby oatmeal cereal purchased from the Target baby aisle, put a fresh Target purchased diaper on his little bum, and dress my five year old in Target brand clothing before he goes to school.

Five years ago this summer, the day we brought my daughter home from the ER under hospice care, she defied all odds and came out of what the doctors thought would be her last hours.  Her request that evening?  “Can we go to the Target with the escalator, Mommy?”  Well, you know just where we went that evening and you know we spent some dollars on her.

Folks who know me, folks who read my blog, know how I feel about Target.  It is my mother’s lifeline.  I rely on it for clothing, toiletries, home accessories, beauty products, all things baby and kid related, shoes, kitchenware, holiday items, office and organizational items, the occasional prescription, groceries, electronics, and on and on and on.  A few weeks ago, after a long and hard run with the kiddos, I needed to step out to catch my breath.  Where did I go to spend an hour alone?  My happy place, of course — Target.

I am the best damn brand ambassador Target could ever hope for.

No more.

Tonight I learned that the Target Corporation has been dragging its feet in responding to the “open carry” activists that have used Target stores as part of their public arena in their sickeningly brutish displays of slinging long arm weaponry openly as a means of asserting their Second Amendment rights.  The Open Carry Texas group, itself, refers to Target Corporation as “very 2A friendly,” suggesting the stores are welcoming of their antics.

For those of you who don’t know what the open carry movement is, well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here it is:

And per their website, the goals of the Open Carry Texas movement (“OCT” — and never have I been so sad to be a Libra before) read a little something like this:

Our purpose is to 1) educate all Texans about their right to openly carry rifles and shotguns in a safe manner; 2) to condition Texans to feel safe around law-abiding citizens that choose to carry them; 3) encourage our elected officials to pass less restrictive open carry legislation for all firearms, especially pistols; and (4) foster a cooperative relationship with local law enforcement in the furtherance of these goals with an eye towards preventing negative encounters.

I don’t know about you, but I think all of us need to be concerned when we start hearing that gun slinging activists want to start talking about “conditioning” people to feel safe around open firearms.  And from where I stand, the best way to “prevent negative encounters” with the people you are trying to “condition” is to put your damn guns away.  Part of being a responsible gun owner is knowing how to use firearms properly and showing respect for them.  The open carry movement is the antithesis of responsible gun usage.

Now the last time I wrote about guns, I was accused of being a “hysterical mom” with a “fourth rate mind” who needed to “stick to baking cookies,” but Imma try really hard to apply common sense here and be very clear and explicit in my language so the Target Corporation knows just where I stand.

I do not want to shop for diapers and pajama pants and toilet paper and school supplies and lip gloss and Legos surrounded by men strapped with long arm rifles, assault weapons, and semi-automatic guns.  

Is that clear, Target Corporation?  It seems obvious to me that very few mothers in America would want to shop under those conditions, but you don’t seem to be taking that into consideration.

Now I know that I live in Illinois, which does not have any open carry legislation on the books, and many folks think these kinds of open carry intimidation antics — and they are absolutely meant to be intimidating — are restricted to Texas, but open carry rallies at Target stores have also been held in Alabama, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Washington, and Virginia.

That’s a whole lot of mothers on the line, Target.  Are you sure you want to remain silent on this issue?  Your own website touts the statistic that 80%-90% of your customers are women.  Do you know where my husband shops?  NOWHERE.  He doesn’t shop.  He leaves that to me.  Do you know where I will now be shopping?  You can bet your sweet bullseye it is no longer at Target.

Target Corporation needs to make an explicit statement that carrying firearms in its stores nationwide is not allowed.  They need to do as Chilli’s and Starbucks and Chipotle and Sonic Drive-Ins have done, which is demonstrate common gun sense.  As a corporation, they would be infringing on no American’s Second Amendment rights by doing so, but they would be providing reassurance to millions of moms around this country.

Two other things I purchase at Target?  Bread and butter.  I sure as hell hope Target knows where their bread is buttered.  Until they figure it out, I will be making all my purchases elsewhere.   Will I miss my happy place?  Yes.  Emphatically.  But I refuse to spend a single dime of my family’s money at a store that remains welcoming towards these senseless, bullying, ridiculous, and grossly unsafe practices of the open carry movement.

If you agree with me, please exercise your voice and sign this online petition, letting Target know that you, too, believe the corporation needs to change their in-store firearm policies.

And if you like what you read and think I can bake a mean cookie and still be entitled to voice my opinion, why don’t you subscribe to my blog? Here’s how:

Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

If you’re local to Chicago, you might have been following the story of a suburban boy who was suspended last week from Hinsdale Central High School for wearing a t-shirt with an image of an AK-47 on it.  As reported by Annemarie Mannion in the Chicago Tribune, the student in question wore the t-shirt pictured below and was stopped by hall monitors because of its provocative nature.

The dean of students then gave him three options:  1) remove the t-shirt; 2) turn the t-shirt inside out; or 3) go home for the day and be marked with a suspension.  The boy opted for the third option and was sent home.

Today, the boy appealed his suspension to the Hinsdale School Board, arguing his first amendment rights were violated.  The Board then reversed the dean’s original suspension and it will be removed from the boy’s PERMANENT RECORD.  You all remember the threat of something landing on your PERMANENT RECORD, right?

So much of this story disturbs me, I don’t quite know where to start, but let’s do this.

• Guns have no place in our schools.  I don’t know what else to say about this.  Guns and schools do not mix.  End of story.
• First amendment, schmirst schmendment.  This kid went in front of the School Board to assert that his first amendment rights were being violated.  “I decided to go home for the day because I felt it was a infringement of my First Amendment right to freedom of expression,” he told the board.  What, exactly, was this student attempting to express by wearing the inflammatory image of an AK-47 on his t-shirt?  The AK-47 is an assault rifle, an Avtomat Kalashnikova, first manufactured in World War II Russia for the sole purpose of killing in a military combat setting.  Not hunting.  Not providing food for family.  Not for sport.  Solely for killing human beings in a more efficient manner.  Do you know how many results will be found if you Google “school shootings with AK-47”?  1,650,000.  If this student could articulate what exactly he was attempting to express, not whine that his rights were being violated, I would want to hear it, but I am fairly certain I would strongly disagree with any POV that advocates for personal use of an AK-47.
• Discipline must be consistent.  Hinsdale Central’s school dean is who first meted out the suspension on the grounds that the provocative t-shirt, and yes, the image of an assault rifle is provocative, most especially in a school setting, violated the school’s dress code policy.  Per the Tribune, “The handbook states that students are subject to disciplinary action when they wear clothing that ‘is deemed vulgar, inappropriate, unsafe or disruptive to the educational process (e.g., advertising/display of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sexual innuendo).'”  The dean determined that an AK-47 depicted on a t-shirt in the school environment was indeed inappropriate and disruptive, correctly, I believe.  The school superintendent originally agreed with the dean’s actions, stating that schools maintain the right to prevent school children from wearing offensive clothing.  Today, the board reversed the suspension.  Kid wins.  Hooray for AK-47s being glamorized in schools everywhere!  Parenting 101 mandates that when a punishment is handed out, a punishment is handed out.  The best and easiest way to create chaos for children is to provide inconsistency in their parenting and discipline.  If an assault rifle on a t-shirt is found to be disruptive to the educational process, then it is disruptive to the educational process.  My writing this blog post is evidence of that — it is front page news in Chicago.  Send a message to our children that discipline is discipline.  Be consistent.  Stand by your dean and common sense.
• Guns have no place in our schools.  Again, this is self-explanatory.
• Stop confusing the issue of guns.  After reversing their decision to suspend the boy, the superintendent today said that school personnel will, moving forward, attempt to distinguish between lawful images of guns that do not promote violence and other images that do promote violence.  Huh.  Last I checked, all guns promoted violence.  I mean, that’s kind of the whole point, right?  Guns are made to harm and/or kill.  All guns.  It just is the nature of the beast, no getting around it.  What the Hinsdale School Board did with their reversal today was confuse a pretty straight forward issue — guns have no place in our schools.  By opening the door to this idea of gun clubs being harmless entities when those same clubs use the deadly image of an AK-47 with the lingo, “Team AK,” well, they are sending an extremely confusing message to their student body and loads of headaches for their staff.
• Guns have no place in our schools.  

I make no bones about where I stand on the gun issue.  In our beloved Constitution of these United States of America, the Second Amendment guarantees the right of its citizens to bear arms.  I get it, I will not argue with that, own a gun, as it is your right.  But times have changed, folks, and we have become a gun loving society that embraces its guns beyond any stretch of common sense.

This child, an 18 year old Eagle Scout for cripes sake, believes he has the right to express himself in a school environment by wearing the image of a deadly weapon used expressly for the purposes of killing human beings more efficiently. What he is trying to express is beyond my peace loving comprehension, I know, but for the life of me, I cannot understand why the Hinsdale School Board would kowtow to the feeble arguments about expression when children across America are being gunned down in classrooms.

It is simple, Hinsdale School Board.  Set an example.  Structure a school environment that does not tolerate the glamorization or romanticization of guns in any instance.  Be consistent with the message.  Educate instead of placate.  Guns have no place in our schools.  Period.  Class dismissed.

Click here for a list of schools shootings in America from 1764-today.