The recent violence at Sandy Hook Elementary impacted me in
a couple of ways first and foremost the community’s name was New Town and
secondly my New Town had been impacted by gun violence earlier that week. While I am glad to say no one was killed
on my end the impact from gun violence was nonetheless all the same.
I am no gun owner; quite frankly I never saw the need to own
one myself. Needless to say I
don’t own a pit bull, firecrackers or any hazardous materials either and
personally I am happy and whole just the same. I said that to say while I have a hefty respect for others to
own guns ownership should not put everyone at risk. Communities, in particular children deserve the benefit of
the doubt when it comes to being able to live healthy and whole lives free of
random shootings at the hands of gun owners legal or illegal. While the death of innocent children is
a collective tragedy, so is the shooting of 5 people in the New Town Success
Zone and 10 people both Saturday and Sunday in Chicago, Jordan Davis and
Trayvon Martin.
Finally, violence, in particular gun violence does not have
to be the norm for any of us and it should not take the death of innocent
children to force us to have a substantive conversation about it. If you feel your personal safety is
that much at risk that you feel compelled to arm yourself maybe you should stop
and look in the mirror and ask yourself why am I so at risk compared to the
countless other people who don’t carry a gun?
This is my truth and I AM sticking to it…
Irvin PeDro Cohen
