#DisarmHate

Friends and family,

Indulge me, if you will, as I get on my soap box.  I feel compelled to do this as I try to process the horrible events of this past weekend in Orlando.  I promise I will try to keep it brief.


I have been unable to shake the feeling of deep sadness as the media covers the events in Florida.  The usual "healing" process that we all go through after one of these all too common tragedies isn't doing it for me this time.  This time, my sadness for the families who have lost innocent loved ones to senseless violence isn't fading away.  It has turned into anger. Anger at the fanatic who did this. Anger at intolerance. Anger at a congress that did NOTHING after 6 year olds were gunned down in their classrooms. Anger at the idiotic politicians who are using the shooting to sow the seeds of fear, religious intolerance and isolationism.  But mostly, I'm angry that I live in a country that affords easy access to guns that can take away so many lives in so little time. We can't control an individual's mental well being, we can't control if someone becomes radicalized, we can't control someone else's anger.  But we can control how easy it is for those unstable people to get their hands on a weapon that can end another's life.  We can.  But we choose not to.

Gun violence is not something that happens to other people.  A few years ago, a mentally ill man entered my office building brandishing guns and claiming to have a bomb strapped to his body.  Lucky for me, I was in NY the day he chose to make his stand, but my team spent 3 hours locked in a closet terrified that he would start a rampage in the building.  He took three hostages before he was killed by a police sniper in our lobby.  Turns out his guns were fake.  I hate to think of the story I would be telling if that wasn't the case.  Given the ease with which anyone can buy assault rifles in the US, it's a miracle.

At this rate, gun violence will affect all of us one way or another soon.  91 Americans are killed everyday due to gun violence. 91.  So I don't know about you, but I've had enough. If we can't send our kids to school, attend church, walk into our offices or a movie theatre or a night club without worrying about getting shot by someone who legally purchased a gun, something has got to change.

So if you are no longer satisfied with feeling shitty about this state of affairs, no longer okay with feeling helpless and hopeless as another mass shooting takes the lives of dozens of people, I implore you to do something about it. Please check out Everytown.org and pick one thing from their list of things you can do to have an impact.  Take 5 minutes to email your representative asking for common sense gun reforms (they have form letters, it couldn't be easier), give $5 to the cause, sign up to your local Moms Demand Action chapter and spread the word.

Do something and then tell your friends to do something. If we all demand action maybe something will change.