Someone I care about recently said she didn’t think legislation or policy change could address the gun violence issue. I could not disagree more.
While my child’s life matters more to me than any other life in the world, I do not see his life as objectively more valuable than that of any other human. I could get a gun, huddle with my family, and live out the rest of my life in a state of tribal self-protection, but how would that serve humanity as a whole?
I believe in radical policy change because I feel compelled to act on a sense of the value of all children’s lives — not just my own life or that of my child. This, I realize, is a pretty anti-individualist stance, but where has hyper-individualism gotten us? How has the fierce protection of the right to bear arms served our country?