Permission to be shot

Here’s a dilemma for a concerned father.

Soon, my daughter’s 5^th grade class will participate in an active shooter drill during school.  If you haven’t heard about these very 21^st century educational extras, this provides a pretty good overview.

Now, I hate America’s gun culture with every fiber of my being. I hate the fact that we cannot address common sense gun control in our country and I hate that a putrid, violent and wholly a-moral cabal of misfits and fraidy cat racists like the NRA hold complete sway over our political leaders.

I also don’t want to do anything within a micron toward consent of that wonderfully American sentiment best described as, “well, what are ya gonna do?” regarding the prevalence of guns in our culture.

Yet, I will willfully sign the letter of consent my daughter brought home which allows her to participate in the exercise.  I don’t have to. I could say no and have her simply go read some books in the school library while her classmates are learning how to throw binders and I-pads at a would-be assailant and how to swarm the active shooter from all sides so as to lessen the odds that everyone in class gets shot.

Indeed, I could protest our brain numbing cultural which happily accepts regulations that all but place land-mines around a woman’s reproductive systems, yet practically stuffs handguns and assault rifles down our throats at every turn. But I won’t. I want my daughter to take the class and be prepared.

Thus, we have lost the battle for our soul when it comes to guns in America. We will never have sensible laws that help protect innocent people from mass shootings. We will always have gun violence and we will always live with the real possibility that your child or mine will be killed at school or in a movie theater or in a mall.

And so, we will simply shuffle along and instead of taking on the route cause, sign permission slips which lets our children learn about defensive tactics.

When it comes to guns, Americans are sheep. We let our government regulate cars, medicines, air travel, sports, X ray machines, chemicals and thousands of other things that can cause harm. We willfully, register our cars and take tests to prove we can drive them, yet no one screams that the DMV is trying to take away our Hondas and our freedoms.

Nice work everyone.