Don't Shoot

 It's all about the sanctity of life. 

That's why California governor Gavin Newsom announced over the weekend that he will push for a new law modeled on Texas’ abortion ban that would let private citizens sue anyone who makes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns. 

Because it's all about the sanctity of life. 

For a very long time, it has been apparent that the right is very particular about saving every life from that ill-defined moment of conception, but not so keen about how to protect those lives once they spill out into the world. No family leave. No universal preschool. No universal health care. No increase in the minimum wage. And the list goes on and on. Once those children have been forced into a world they and their parents do not control, they are on their own. 

Oh, and good luck dodging the bullets that seem to fly around places where our most vulnerable citizens seem to find themselves at the exact wrong time. 

So, if those who are connected to the taking of a life are to be prosecuted and punished, why not go after all the killers? Every day, twenty-two children between the ages of  one and seventeen are victims of gun violence. Five of them die. This is a portion of the one hundred six Americans who die every day from guns. 

It doesn't take a degree in child psychology to divine the connection between the prevalence of guns and the desperation felt by children placed in unhealthy and dangerous environments. Neil Young once sang, "There's one more kid that'll never go to school/Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool." The kids who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jasper Wu from Oakland, who didn't live to see his second birthday. Twenty-two kids every day.

It's about the sanctity of life, and if we are going to insist that everyone connected with abortion including the Uber driver who takes a woman to a clinic is liable, then we need to start going after everyone who brings a gun into the world. 

Oh, and if it's really about the sanctity of life, why not get a vaccination and wear a mask.