Remember Bailey Holt

Remember Bailey Holt

America’s Daughter

Bailey Holt, age 15, got up, got dressed and went to her high school this week, just as many of our daughters do everyday. She called her mom from school later that day as she lay dying in a pool of her own blood on the floor. All her mom heard was her last breath.

Bailey Holt was the latest victim of gun violence in the eleventh school shooting this first month of 2018. Her murderer was another 15-year-old student, a white U.S. citizen, who brought a firearm to school.  He killed another student and wounded more before being arrested by the police.

With each of these mass shootings, we grow increasingly numb to the carnage inflicted by those with easy access to firearms. We need to remember Bailey and all the others whose promising lives have been senselessly cut short. It is only by sheer luck, that it was not your son or daughter who was caught in the crossfire at school.

How many more of our sons and daughters need to have their lives snuffed out in an instant, lying in their own blood on a schoolroom floor or at a concert or at a sporting event or at church on Sunday? How many more have to live with the physical wounds inflicted or the emotional scars from watching a classmate die?

What will it take America for us to stand up and demand that our legislators give back the massive donations received from the National Rifle Association and others in the rabid Second Amendment purist lobby and pass reasonable restrictions on access to and the use of these deadly weapons?

We require licenses of those entrusted with other deadly weapons. We ensure they understand the dangers inherent in getting behind the wheel of vehicles that weigh more than a ton and can reach speeds over 100 miles per hour or fly a plane or drive bus with passengers. We make sure they know the rules and how to operate these deadly machines safely.

Active shooter drills are not enough. Which is better? Making sure the food supply is safe to eat before it is served or treating food poisoning after it happens?

Arming teachers and administrators fares no better. Even assuming good training and quicker reflexes, we’re treating the problem after the gun enters the school in the hands of someone intent on causing death. We want teachers to be compassionate conveyors of knowledge and critical thinking, not armed and trained to kill assassins.

It is time to ban assault weapons, bump stocks and high capacity magazines. Every gun owned in America needs a required trigger lock. Every gun sale in America should be prevented until the new owner passes a criminal background check and a mental health screening while showing recent completion of a firearm safety class. No more gun show loopholes or private sales. Every firearm owner needs to maintain a license to own and use firearms issued only after demonstrating a through knowledge of safety procedures, the range of bullets fired, proficiency with the firearm they own and insurance covering damages or loss of life from their firearm. Every gun currently in circulation needs to be registered with local, state and federal law enforcement or turned in and destroyed. Ammunition sales need to be recorded and limited to reasonable amounts necessary for hunting or home defense. It should be illegal for anyone other than a licensed firearms dealer to possess more than 100 rounds of ammunition. Everyone licensed to carry a concealed weapon should be identified publicly. We need to fund and support medical research on the causes and treatment of violence.

Don’t fall back on the preposterous construction of the Second Amendment that proclaims everyone should be allowed to own, carry and use firearms wherever or whenever they want, without restriction. The Second specifically mentions “a well regulated militia,” meaning that the founders believed in regulating firearm use. I do not believe we can or should regulate firearms out of existence. I do believe we need to regulate firearms so that not a single parent has to listen to their child die over the phone after being shot, especially at school.

Remember Bailey Holt when you call your legislator to demand an end to gun violence and death in our schools.

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and serves as a guardian for the elderly and disabled with a Sheboygan county non-profit agency.