‘I Suppose If Your Innocent Son
Is Shot…’
A poignant
open letter from
Annette Holt, a Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief and mother of Blair,
who was killed in 2007 from gun violence:
Our
country suffers from an epidemic that’s uniquely horrible in the developed
world. Gun violence is twenty times worse in the United States than in
any other developed country. Worst
of all, it inflicts damage on our children in the place where they should feel
safest — at school.
_____
Shootings
take place at schools almost every week in this country. In fact, Everytown for
Gun Safety has documented every time a gun was shot on school grounds since the
Sandy Hook tragedy. They’ve found that in the 77 weeks since that day, there
have been 74 school shootings. These 74 shootings reflect an even more
disturbing statistic — eight
children and teens die from gun violence every day.
_____
But
it’s more than just a statistic. It’s eight families who will never see their
most precious gift ever again.
My
son Blair was an honors student. He was the most important thing in my life.
And in 2007 a gang member killed him — and injured four others — on his way
home from school on a public bus with many of his classmates. Blair died trying to save
another girl’s life. He was just another innocent bystander whose life was cut
short because a gun was in the wrong hands.
_____
But
to CNN and other media outlets, murders like my son’s don’t count. You see, they looked
at the list of 74 school shootings and picked and chose the 15 they thought
were worthy of mentioning. Their reasoning? Because our innocent sons and
daughters are killed by gang members, they don’t deserve a spot on the list.
_____
According
to their own count of school shootings, the ones with “personal arguments,
accidents and alleged gang activities and drug deals” don’t merit mention.
_____
Whenever
a gun is fired at school, parents are rightfully terrified. Students are
rightfully terrified. Try explaining to a shocked and devastated community that
the school shooting it’s mourning is disqualified because the gun was fired as
the result of a “personal argument.”
_____
I
suppose if your innocent son is shot by a gang member, it doesn’t make the cut. Or if he was shot in
an “accidental” shooting (how it’s an accident that a gun wound up on school
grounds to begin with is beyond me). Or if he pulled a gun out in a classroom
and shot himself. Or if he got into a “personal argument” and was shot down in
the type of mild playground fight that happens every day in schools, but turned
deadly in that instance because a gun was present.
_____
Maybe
I should be giving CNN credit because they’ve
managed to do something Washington politicians could not. They’ve reduced the
number of school shootings across the country. But their insistence that 59 school
shootings — which have killed 25 people and injured 40 others — don’t matter
isn’t much consolation to parents like me.
_____
Maybe
I’m being selfish to think that my son’s murder isn’t discredited by the fact
that he was shot by a gang member. Or any of the other horrible episodes of gun
violence that gangs perpetrate all over the country. Let’s discuss solutions for
keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people — gang members, criminals,
the seriously mentally ill — but we can’t address the violence if we don’t even
acknowledge these shootings exist.
_____
The
fact is, 33 lives are cut short by homicide by gun every day (and some 50 more
by suicide), and each of those cases deserves our attention. The families of victims
deserve our sympathy, not our scrutiny. And they also deserve some basic reforms,
like closing the
loophole that allows criminals to go online and buy a gun without a background
check.
_____
There
is no single solution that will stop every instance of gun violence. But there
are simple measures that are proven to save lives and enjoy the support of 90
percent of Americans. CNN can do its part to make a safer
America by holding the politicians who reject these measures accountable, and
not by sweeping gang violence, suicides, and “personal arguments” that turn
deadly under the rug.
I can’t imagine losing a child. I don’t even want to
think about it. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. I’m grateful to Annette Holt
for telling her story and challenging the media. I hope more parents speak out.
More than that, I hope laws change until reasons to write such letters and tell
such stories – will no longer exist.
Special Thanks To Huffington
Post For Posting Annette Holt’s Open Letter
Leslie
Salzillo is a pro-choice mother, Rush Limbaugh boycotter, political commentator and
visual artist. She began contributing to Liberals Unite in June of 2013. Join her on the new
Facebook page, Pro-Choice Liberals.