Sandy Hook school in Newtown Connecticut is the thirty-first school to have seen a brutal massacre since Columbine in 1999 - that's thirteen years in case your arithmetic fails you. The murder of so many primary school children have galvanised people around the world to show their sympathy and emotions but more importantly, demand that Something Is Done about this.
The (mostly) middle class twitterati get moving when an Event occurs which could, in their view, be fixed by Government if only they could free themselves from the shackles of Big Business or the Opposition Lobby or anyone else Blocking Progress. Over the past few days the media and online networks have been full of Good Advice to Obama, to Congress, to the NRA (well, possibly not advice to them...) on What Should be Done. Mostly this advice comes from people like me - with strong opinions on what is right, mostly liberal minded (as the Republican right would call us) but working in all sorts of businesses around the world with little or no ability or inclination to actually move ourselves from our desks and armchairs and Do Something.
Reversing the American gun culture does have to start with the law and gun control, but the gun culture is so embedded within the American psyche that only a massive violent agreement across party lines could come anywhere near repairing the decades' old damage.
At this point my mind turns to women and campaigns.
Women have been galvanisers for change many times in our history. In the 70s, the Peace People in Ireland was set up by three women whose patience had run out on the ability of politicians to solve the troubles in Northern Ireland. They were galvanised by the death of three children shot in a cross-fire, they wanted their children to go to non-segregated schools. In the 80s, the Greenham Peace Camp was set up to campaign against nuclear weapons being sited at the RAF camp. One hundred years ago women in Britain won the right to vote because women went into violent campaigns to demand the right to do so. Today, there are numerous Women's campaigns for freedom from rape, domestic violence, equality, peace and the environment. These campaigns might not always fix problems but they act as a catalyst for more people to work to find solutions. They shame people into action.
But where are the American women on the gun culture? Much as I detested the Tea Party because of everything it stood for, here was a movement which ostensibly started with women believing they could make a political difference, founded by 'angry' women who wanted to galvanise change. Where now, are the women who can make the connection between the social acceptance of the gun culture, gun control, the media obsession with violence and the social pressures of always being better than we are? Where now, are the women who can get together and say Enough is Enough, the gun business has to stop calling the shots. In 2010, almost 5.5 million new firearms were manufactured in the US, almost all for the US market. This is a Lot of Money and it is no wonder billions of dollars is spent ensuring they can continue to do this business. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, between 2006 and 2010, 47,856 were murdered in the US with firearms, more than twice as many as were killed by all other means combined.
I am dismayed to hear the NRA claim that women are gaining on men in the US for buying guns and learning how to shoot. Sadly, I see no reason not to believe this.
I do not live in a comfortable 'safe' town in America where the clean streets and picket fences hide so much anger, frustration and pent-up violence. Desperate Housewives might be a soap but the sentiment is not too far off the mark. I do not live in tough urban cities where crime is rife and walking at night is scary. I am not continually frightened of people bursting into my house to rob, hurt, kill or rape me. So I may not have the right to voice an opinion. But where are the women who are living in a world where the right to bear arms at the same time protects, maims and kills? Why are they not taking to the streets and demanding a better and safer world for their communities, families and children? Why are they not shaming the legislators into action? I am distressed by the thought that they're buying more guns, that's what.
'Two nations separated by a common language' is never truer than it is now. I have so many close American friends I love - half my family is American but at times like this I feel I don't understand America at all.
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