No More

 Here4TheKids, "a movement of unexplored and unprecedented action led by Black, brown, indigenous, women of color with a team of white women working behind the scenes to end gun violence in the United States," wants the governor of Colorado to sign an executive order banning guns and instituting a statewide buyback program. To make this more likely, they have invited white women along, encouraging them to use their privilege to send a message.

That message? "Us too." That message was sent via an old-fashioned sit-in on the lawn of the Colorado Capitol Building. What's different about this action is not just the invitation to the privileged, but also because Governor Jared Polis has recently signed four bills into Colorado state law limiting access to guns. An assault weapon ban in the Centennial was defeated, much to the gloating of the National Rifle Association.

Increasing the waiting period between purchase and delivery of a firearm as well as an expansion of a "red flag" law is a pretty big deal in any state, and perhaps most notably in the once rootin', tootin', six gun shootin' state of Colorado.

Not big enough for Here4TheKids. Colorado has had more than its share of mass murder thanks to guns. The Denver Metro Area, Boulder, Colorado Springs, have all experienced the tragedy/grief cycle in some of the most notorious events in the syndrome that has only accelerated since 1999 when the massacre at Columbine High School set off a plague that continues to intensify.

Someone has to be Here4TheKids. Guns are the number one killer of children in the United States. Protecting the Second Amendment of the Constitution should not take precedence over protecting the children of the United States.

Now comes the hard part. No matter how many white women, black men, brown families show up on Colorado's Capitol lawn, the cards are stacked against them. That's why there is so much talk about "common sense" gun laws. These are the workaround notions that are sometimes put in place to make it a notch or two more difficult for children to be killed. It should be much more difficult to buy a gun than to shoot a kid. Logic suggests that if you couldn't buy a gun at all, you couldn't shoot a kid.

Don't wait for someone to ask you. Use your privilege to tell anyone who will listen that we have too many guns already.

No more.