Monday, October 2, 2017

Not Normal

Since moving to the USA (Colorado, actually) in late December of 2014, I have most certainly not been vocal with my opinions, probably due to the fact that I choose to live here and I cannot vote. We are lucky to live in a beautiful place surrounded by the front range of the rockies and among a progressive group of thinkers, filled with craft breweries and farm to table restaurants and organic grocery stores in abundance - even with all of this, my dinner conversation with these two lads pictured below stopped my fairytale dialogue.


The day began with a message from a bestie (nickname Mom #2) reporting on a crew celebrating a year of turning 40 and they all headed from Northern Ontario to Vegas, "We are all safe." Fuck, this is not normal.

The evening continued at the dinner table, discussing the details (with the dudes) and explaining it was exactly where their father was a few weeks ago, and the collective reaction was matter of fact, which did not help my attempt to wrap my head around the situation.  This is not the first one, nor the last - I recall very vividly the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 (not a shooting, but an event that should create heightened awareness)  and later writing an article for The Drive Magazine detailing the execution of Timothy McVeigh in June of 2001 - today brought me back to that (and the many others:  Orlando, Sandy Hook and close to my new home, the Aurora CO movie theatre shooting).  

During Clinton's era the Assault Weapon Ban became  law in 1994 (until it's expiration in 2005), those ban years saw a decrease in mass shootings; only 16 from 1995 to 2004, unlike the spike in 2005 to 2012 (27 incidents - source Mother Jones).  This is not normal, assault weapons are not necessary for general society.  I felt more comfortable in Paris this summer with military slinging their semi-automatics across their shoulders.  

We need a new normal - peace and love, vagi