A Canadian’s rant about their reaction to a fallen officer and U.S. gun violence

I received an email from a Canadian this evening who reads our blog post diligently and follows both U.S. and Canadian politics. The sentiment within his email touched a nerve. When will Americans start sharing this feeling with our Canadian brothers and sisters detached from any ideology?

Here is the text of the email.

Canadian’s email on the normalcy of our reaction to gun violence

Hi there,

I live in Vancouver, Canada and I follow your FB feed and it’s been excellent. I was struck by something that happened here last night. A police officer died after a gun shootout involving a stolen vehicle — not such a strange occurrence you might say and yet here it is because there is better gun control., because here when a first responder is killed in the line of duty, it is a big deal.

The problem with the US having guns so readily available is that it devalues life. Death by shooting becomes a norm. As a result of that, when an officer is killed people barely blink and yet what they do is brave and has value and should be honored every time because when people are honored for their profession or vocation, they become better versions of themselves. I think!

When this officer died, they stopped the highway with a cavalcade and people lined the overpasses to honor him. Gun death should be so rare that when it occurs people continue to care.

Ok rant over.

Thanks for your time.
Lynne

This new Texas Massacre occurred just over a month after the Las Vegas Massacre. It was scary that my reaction was not to the horror that it should have been. Instead, I merely said, “Not again,” as if resolved that there is nothing we could do.

America has two interrelated problems. We need to muster the resolve to force politicians to pass strict gun control bills. However, if we accept these gun massacres as the new norm, where will that resolve come from at this time where it is most necessary?