I am a Newtowner

This is a post from February 15, 2013 from my blog Six Loose Cannons

I LIVE IN NEWTOWN, CT

Those words used to mean nothing to most people, except the few of us that enjoy the pastoral New England countryside and chose to live in Newtown and its surrounding communities. “Newton, Connecticut” is what President Obama mistakenly called our town the first time he uttered the words on television.That was December 14th, 2012. He has not mispronounced it since.The shock of the Shooting at Sandy Hook was felt throughout the country, indeed throughout the world.

Today I piled into an old-fashioned school bus with fellow Newtowners to March For Change at the capital. In the time since the shooting things have quieted down and we, as a community, have started to act out the routine of our lives. In the beginning, the horror story consumed us. We worked hard to make sense out of a senseless act that cost so many people so much. Each day it felt like we would never recover. We all just wanted to do something to help the grieving families that lost loved ones, the children and teachers that survived, the first responders, our fellow Newtowners… The truth is we will never truly recover the old selves we were before 12/14.

Today was about moving forward and what we can do to help.Call your elected officials and demand change. One suggestion I heard today was to call every Friday at 9:30. Ask them what they are doing to make sure that legislation to require that all guns must be registered (we have to register our cars) and that handgun owners must pass a handgun safety test in order to be licensed to own one.Don’t vote for someone unless they support the effort to make our cities, states and country safe.Finally, choose love in any given situation. How does this relate to gun control? Without it, we are doomed. It is the opposite of fear and that the person who pulls the trigger is riddled by some form of fear. Maybe it sounds like a bunch of fluff to you but give it a try.