This is Ellie Kinnaird.

Unbelievable!  Buried in the middle of the paper, in a catch-all section called “Other News,” was the headline: “Grandfather kills 6 children, mother of children, and self.” Folks, this is a major slaughter, and nobody cares? The National Rifle Association has so conned us into thinking that guns are the American Way, patriotic and God-fearing, that we don’t even pay attention when a family implodes because of the easy accessibility of guns?

While good citizens weren’t paying attention enough to vote in a local election last year, the Mayor of Morrisville was defeated because she supported reasonable gun regulations in her town. The NRA rallied their troops to vote her out of office. I wonder how many of those good patriotic gun lovers had ever bothered to vote before? Congressional candidates are scared to death (pardon the pun) of the power of the NRA to get out their supporters to vote against anyone who dares even hint at reasonable regulation, like registration, or background checks, or limited magazine size, or even banning Kevlar-vest-penetrating bullets to protect our law enforcement.

Every time I voted against a gun bill, or wrote about it in my newsletter, I heard from plenty of gun owners, screaming their mantra of their Second Amendment rights not being infringed. I wonder how many of them had read the Supreme Court decision that said, “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” Somehow they missed that.

We have had an alarming and unacceptable number of unarmed black men killed by law enforcement. There is no justification for that, and justice must be done. But I wonder if law enforcement isn’t reacting to the huge numbers of guns they know are in the hands of ordinary people.

After every mass shooting there are vigils (haven’t heard about one for the family of the grandfather killer – guess it isn’t newsworthy) and calls for regulation. Outraged mothers form organizations, rally marches, and plan forums.

We all ask, how can we fight back?  Well, we can’t as long as the NRA bullies and buys and scares our elected representatives into opposing any curbing of their precious guns. So just wait till your TV shows a bloody killing and your paper comes with the story of the next mass shooting and wonder one more time what we can do.

I think you know the answer.