It's Time to Start Hollering

Prepare for a screed.  Prepare to be harangued.  Prepare to be brow-beaten.  I've come to the conclusion that the only way to get on the national radar is to holler.

I'm not using the word in a pejorative sense.  I'm not condoning screeching or other loud noises.  Hollering, when I was growing up, meant speaking with more than the usual amount of intensity.  The voice did not need to be raised; it was the emotion powering the words which turned normal, Long Island forcefulness into hollering.

It's time for us to start hollering about sensible gun legislation.

I'm not getting into a 2nd Amendment argument.  I've managed to stop the conversation by reminding my interlocutor that the first few words of that Amendment include well-regulated, which to me, condones some measure of control. I'm not a constitutional scholar; I can't parse the verbiage beyond read the words, for crying out loud.  That piece of the argument is fruitless, and is why we have a Supreme Court.

I'm talking about common sense.  I'm talking about making government work on the business at hand.  I recognize that there are many opinions on the topic; I'm asking our government to shine a light on the issue.  I'm finished with hearings.  I'm finished trying to change minds.  I want to know where my representatives stand.  I want them to vote on measures which could have prevented, could have minimized the damage, could have deterred the mass shootings in Tucson, in Aurora, in Newtown.

I want to know who is on which side.  I want you to tell me who you are.

Michael Bloomberg wants to die a pauper.  He's putting his considerable wealth behind Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He's been successful, as the Christian Science Monitor reports:

Score one for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his national gun-control campaign. The candidate whom his political-action committee backed for a congressional seat in Illinois – to the tune of $2 million – won the Democratic primary Tuesday...

Suddenly, the money is being matched.  The Chicago candidate put her pro-gun-control position front and center in her campaign, and she won. She attacked an opponent's A+ rating from the NRA, and promoted her own desire to ban assault weapons and she won.  As the winner, Robin Kelly, said in her post-election speech:

You sent a message that was heard around our state and across the nation. A message that tells the NRA that their days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end. And their days of scaring Congress to submission on gun control is coming to a close

There are lots of us out there.  We've just been flying below the radar.  Now is the time to start to holler.

A beloved relative's posts have been blocked from my Facebook news feed because I was tired of deleting four or five or ten or twelve Glenn Beck re-postings. All day, every day, he was trolling for that which supported his cause.... and he was sharing it widely. Rarely, he included a joke.  For the most part, he was preaching to the choir/converting the uninitiated/annoying the hell out of me.

But, he also got me thinking. Perhaps he was on to something, my wrong-headed relative. He was promoting his agenda, shoving it in my face, forcing me to think about it. It occurs to me that, perhaps, I ought to do the same.

Those on the other side are on talk radio, are writing letters to the editor, are calling and emailing their legislators on the local, state and national level.  They aren't one-and-done, either.  They are on the phones and the interwebs every day.  They have been hollering for a long time.

We, on the other hand, polite and right-thinking as we are, make our one stab at contacting our Congressman and then, patting ourselves on the back, move on to the next good deed on our list.  It never crosses our minds that we need to use our voices, that we need to make a statement, that we are not being heard. I'm here to tell you that we are not heard, we are not valued, we are not considered.  There is no reason for us to be part of the equation - no one knows we are out here.

I'm going to use my Ashleigh Burroughs Facebook page to repost, to share, to holler about sensible gun legislation.  If you're not my friend already, send me a request and it will be granted. The messages will be tweeted  @ABattheBurrow, too. I'll be encouraging you to share and repost as well. Our time is now. If a stricken Congresswoman, an assassinated Federal judge, twenty dead kindergarteners, movie patrons mowed down on opening night... if all of that doesn't move you, please let me know what will.

I'm willing to engage in the conversation.

I hope you are willing to carry it on, to push it forward, to holler along with me.  Thinking right thoughts is wonderful, but not as wonderful as acting on them.