Posted on 06/03/2022 10:12:38 AM PDT by rktman
Editor’s Note: Sadie Fitzpatrick uses this space to explore the character and quirks that make Ocala uniquely wonderful and occasionally irksome.
Last night, my toddler insisted on being rocked to sleep. As she settled against my chest, I swayed back and forth, humming a wordless melody. Her hair was damp from the bath, and she still smelled slightly of sunscreen from our day at the pool. In the stillness of the room, I relished the weight of her tiny body on mine.
As I marveled at this beautiful human being, I was reminded that there is a more urgent, pressing weight that we as Ocalans, as Americans, must face: gun violence.
We all watched in horror last week as news of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas filled our screens. Nineteen children and two adults were murdered by a lone gunman wielding an AR-15 rifle, becoming the second-worst school massacre since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 26 first-graders and one teacher.
Uvalde is a small town in southwest Texas with a population of almost 16,000 people. Gun massacres don’t just happen in big cities like Buffalo, Orlando and Charleston. It made me realize that there could be a day when it’s our sweet, sleepy Ocala that makes the news for something tragic like this, if we do not begin to make significant changes to our nation’s gun laws.
Gun violence has become commonplace in our country, an accepted hazard of living in these United States. According to Brady: United Against Gun Violence, an organization dedicated to gun law reform, 321 people of all ages are shot each day in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocalagazette.com ...
Fake, arty, BS.
In her opinion - Gun ownership should be viewed as a privilege rather than a right.
Nope, it is a right because everyone has the God given right to defend themselves.
This idiot needs to learn how to give a kid a bath if she stilled smelled like sunscreen.
Whoa, this woman’s trite appeal to emotion just makes me want to throw out the Constitution.
How about “no more doing something, even if it is WRONG?” Sadie needs to get a grip.
The answer is still NO!
I am not giving up my rights.
Especially when criminals are not being locked up.
I agree. The action to deport all commies and socialists to like nations abroad should commence immediately.

You can just about hear the wind whistling through from one ear to the other.
This leftist thoughts-and-prayers talking point is being overused. We need to harden the schools and preserve self defense by law abiding gun owners.
321 people of all ages are shot each day in the United States....
98 percent by criminals and 2 percent by legal Citizens defending themselves.
If she wants to throw out the 2nd amendment, then I say let’s first throw out the first and have her arrested for violating it if she utters one more word
I’ve known six folks who have offed thenselves with guns and a friends son due to a negligent discharge. Still pro gun.
Thought and prayers aren’t my reactions.
Thoughts and prayers only go so far but when they turn into actions its good.
In my journey the God of My Understanding has a Top Ten List and Firearms Possession is not one of the items.
It can be an angry world out there wounded hurt people some in actual pain like this guy in Tulsa said he was the other day.
How much pain and hurt comes before the triggers are pulled?
What do killers put into their bodies before the violence?
Does marijuana play a role?
Are the widely prescribed anti-depressants being used by killers? Those meds come with a list of side effects.
Do killers use other drugs, adult beverages or pornography?
It’s time to do good to other people in this world.
Am I using the stuff mentioned above today?
Am I wanting to do good to others not even look at them the wrong way today?
The stuff I mentioned above disconnects me from people sends them wrong messages when I look at them the wrong way or act the wrong way.
There is a “Golden Rule” I play a role in how this world works when I deal with other human beings.
Governments and Laws are futile in stopping evil. I must take action to walk away from it in the circle I find myself in.
That’s where it starts.
I tried to rush into the school to save my little daughter, and the fat cop who stank of Krispy Kremes backhanded me, then pepper-sprayed me and cuffed me, returning to his leisurely coffee and donut while shots and the screams of children continued to ring out for another hour...
See, I can do it, too.
I think the problem is that there hasn’t been enough thoughts and prayers.
We try to keep the peace and save feelings by holding our thoughts, when sometimes it’s more loving to speak up and direct people towards God. Shaming has its place.
Turning our back to God, shunning faith, prayers and hard work.
They are robbing us of self worth by teaching us dependence on government and not God.
It has caused us to become fearful, godless drones.
Government should make certain that none of us ever experience the slightest risk of danger. By whatever means necessary. They should make sure that all of us are completely safe, preserved from illness or death, and equally properous. If it means locking us down to ‘protect’ us from a virus with a 98% survival rate, then so be it. If it means taking our guns away to ‘protect’ us from the occasional mass shooter, then so be it. Constitution and Bill of Rights be damned. It’s for your own good, comrade. Big Brother has your back. The Founders were racists and white supremacists. Why should we care what they said about the rightful domain of government, or unalienable rights for that matter? Ancient history.
/sarc
Useful action that might actuallu reduce these slaughters is the gov subsidize purchases of good quality hand guns and shotguns so everyone can be armed and able to resist the murderers. I notice this female did not abort that little girl, but I would bet she, the mother female, is an irrational supporter of abortion murder on demand. Leftism is a mental disorder.
But it’s for “the children”.
Funny how concerned these pity purveyors express such concern for children yet they are AWOL on so many things adversely affecting “the children”. Where does she stand on elective abortion? How about the cartels trafficking unaccompanied children across the border? Does she support children being given transitioning medical treatment while minors? What about Netflix, Disney and other media companies traducing in borderline if not outright child pornography? What about getting violent youths off the streets of the inner cities where cops are being defunded and/or defanged? Children are precious to liberals only when they can be used to push their political agenda.
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