Wednesday, August 26, 2015

STRICTLY PISSED OFF

Allen Berk
Jack Berman
Mike Merrill
Shirley Mooser
Deborah Fogel
Jody Sposato
David Sutcliffe
John Scully

On July 1, 1993, an asshole with guns came to my office building at 101 California Street and killed the eight innocent people listed above, wounding six others. I feel like a broken record sharing this story. I share it because those names above are important to me. They are and were even more important to their families. And I'm ashamed that my country, representatives, and fellow citizens have let the status quo stand. It enrages and depresses me that the loss of those eight people was just a ripple on the pond that eventually returned to smooth surface water, forgotten.

August 26, 2015. More than two decades later. What has changed? Seemingly nothing. A reporter and her cameraman were shot and killed this morning during a live television report in Virginia. Thousands in between. Tens of thousands is probably more accurate. Children. Teens. Church attendees. Movie-goers. People simply going about their daily lives. This doesn't even take into account those killed accidentally while cleaning, "playing with," or otherwise handling (mishandling) guns.

Here are just a few statistics from 2015 to date (from gunviolencearchive.org):

GUN VIOLENCE ARCHIVE 2015 TOLL OF GUN VIOLENCE 

Total Number of Incidents 33,127 
Number of Deaths 8,473 
Number of Injuries 17,282 
Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed/Injured 486 
Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed/Injured 1,680 
Mass Shooting 219 
Officer Involved Shooting 2,871 
Home Invasion 1,467 
Defensive Use 778 
Accidental Shooting 1,222

THIS LINK is to a blog post written by my friend Chris Holm. I'm sharing it because he says it all much better than I can and I hope you'll go read it. Chris' post includes a link to a website where you can go to identify your state representatives. I will also include that below. As Chris does, I encourage you to write your representatives. Say what you have to say. Express your outrage. If you don't know what to say, Chris has shared the letter he wrote. Start with that and edit it to reflect your thoughts and fears and pissedoffness. Maybe it's not much, but it's SOMETHING. If we all do something, maybe we'll gain just a little bit of traction.

HERE is the website to identify your representatives and how to contact them. I hope you'll take a minute out of your day and do so. Who holds the power for change? Who are we going to let have the power for change (or lack thereof)? As Chris does, I dare you to be part of the change. For if we let this continue, if the names continue to add up, how long before one of those names belongs to someone you love (if it doesn't already)? What would you do to save someone you love?







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About Malcolm Avenue Review

I was lucky enough to be born and raised in a nifty, oak-shaded ranch house on Malcolm Avenue, a wide-laned residential street with little through traffic, located amid the foothills of Northern California. It was on that street and in that house I learned most of my adolescent life lessons, and many grown-up ones to boot. Malcolm Avenue was "home" for more than thirty years.

It was on Malcolm Avenue, through and with my family and the other families that made up our neighborhood of characters, that I first learned about and gained an appreciation for the things I continue to love the most to this day: music, animals, photography, sports, television/movies and, of course, books.

I owe a debt of gratitude to that life on Malcolm Avenue. It gave me a sense of community and friendship, support and adventure. For better and worse, life on that street likely had the biggest impact on the person I've become. So this blog, and the things I write here, are all, at their base level, a little bit of a love letter to Malcolm Avenue.

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