"Now what?" A toddler's question deserves an answer in wake of student protests

As students across the country walked out classes on Wednesday to mark the one-month anniversary of the Parkland massacre, I spent the morning at a peace prayer service where local Catholic school students walked out of their classes and into their church to pray, sing and talk about the need to combat violence and spread peace through our broken society.

At the end of the service, there was an awkward silence as the students waited for someone to dismiss them. At that point, a chatty toddler blurted out, "Now what?"

The question elicited a number of giggles from the gathering but also struck me as prophetic for what was happening across the country that day. The month since the Parkland massacre that killed 17 high school students and staff has seen a level of energy, passion and activism on the issue of gun violence unrivaled after any other mass shooting. It's also been met with a fierce backlash by the NRA and its supporters who are determined to see the outrage over our latest national tragedy fizzle without any meaningful change, as was the case after Columbine, Sandy Hook, and so many others. 

The question that hovers over the raging national debate on this issue is indeed, "Now what?" Will we see a repeat of what happened after 20 first-graders were massacred at Sandy Hook, where a few weeks of outrage failed to yield the change we wanted and needed as most Americans retreated into their bubbles of self-interest, while the fringe guns-for-everyone crowd remained mobilized and engaged in maintaining the status quo, or worse. I've thought about the children of Sandy Hook and their families many days since the tragedy, and continue to be haunted by those young lives needlessly lost, but I never did enough to convert those thoughts into ACTION. Now, after another preventable school massacre, we all have a chance to follow the example of the millions of high school students who have stood up since Parkland and shouted "Enough!" to a culture that values guns over life. 

We must do more than hope and pray for the right answer to that toddler's question. The answer will ultimately hinge on how willing those who are sickened by this endless stream of violence -- and the unwillingness of our political leaders to do anything to stop it -- to take up the fight, and remain engaged for the long haul. Each of us who believes we need sensible gun laws in this nation to prevent more innocent lives from being lost has the ability to make a difference in protecting our fellow citizens, if only we care enough to expend the time and energy.

Here's where I suggest we start:

Turn anger into action

It sounds simple, but this has been the missing ingredient after so many mass shootings that we mistakenly thought would be the "turning point." While there has been progress in California and other states in enacting sensible gun laws since Sandy Hook, the national climate has remained unchanged, and many states have actually loosened regulations. 

How does such senseless bloodshed, and the accompanying outrage by so many Americans in the immediate aftermath, lead to such inaction, or worse, NRA victories? The answer is really quite simple: The NRA keeps its fringe wing of All Guns, All the Time, mobilized, while the majority of Americans simply move on. 

That can't happen this time. The students in Florida have already scored a major victory by forcing the Florida Legislature to enact some common-sense laws, which would have been unthinkable a couple months ago in the "Gunshine State." While they don't go nearly far enough, they are an important start. We need to follow their example and write letters to our elected leaders, call them on the phone, and march for change. The gun lobby is waiting for us all to return to business as usual when the dust clears; we must not allow that dust to clear until the NRA loses its grip on our political system.

Start in your own community

It's easy to consume ourselves with the big-picture battles in Washington, D.C., and topics like renewing the national assault weapons ban. While we shouldn't lose sight of that as an ultimate goal, this battle will ultimately be won by starting at the grass roots level and first influencing change in our communities, counties and states. Join groups like your local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. I have (they welcome dads too), and I've already discovered a host of simple ways to get involved in making a difference on this issue, from writing letters in support of state legislation like AB 2103 (which would mandate live-fire training in order to receive a concealed carry permit in California) to joining state Treasurer John Chiang's effort to pressure California's public pension funds to divest from companies that manufacture and sell firearms-related products that are banned in our state. 

While we're fortunate that California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, I've already learned that much more can and needs to be done to button them up so that they serve as a template for other states looking to enact similar reforms. No matter what our laws here, we will never be as safe as we can be as long as assault rifles are legal elsewhere and can potentially make their way here. Other things you can do is lobby your local school boards and city councils to be proactive about improving the security of our towns and schools, passing local laws to prevent dangerous people from getting their hands on dangerous weapons, and asking them to take the fight to the gun lobby. If leaders in Washington won't act, then it's up to our local leaders in our own towns to take up this fight and not shirk from the controversy that comes with standing up to those who value guns over life. 

Keep working to change public opinion

I've found out first-hand how frustrating and demoralizing it can be to engage the other side on social media over the gun epidemic. The NRA has done a brilliant job of sowing lies, paranoia and misinformation with the American public (most notably, that any gun control proposal is an attempt to take away every gun from every law-abiding citizen, or that the Second Amendment means ANY gun for ANYONE). We need to educate ourselves on the facts and then work to educate those who haven't yet made up their mind. Posting thoughts on our Facebook pages is well and good, but the impact will be limited if the vast majority of our "friends" already agree with us. We need to get outside our bubbles and seek out debates on this topic on community and other forums. 

Do your homework on how sensible gun laws have worked to reduce violence in other cities, states and countries, and shoot down (pun intended) the lies that we so often see from the NRA (one of its favorite topics for misinformation is the homicide crisis in Chicago and what's caused it; here's a piece from the Chicago Tribune that sets the record straight). But don't stop there. Call out members of Congress who take blood money from the NRA on their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts (my wife has started doing that); be prepared for some pretty harsh blowback, especially in red states, but if there are some independent-minded voters out there that we can sway, it's worth the grief. 

Recognize that the NRA is not as powerful as they want us to believe

One of the myths that has taken told is that the NRA is some giant, unstoppable political force. The media often portray the NRA as if it's the Galactic Empire from Star Wars. It's not true at all, and the NRA is scared to death that the American people -- and the politicians who do its bidding -- are going to figure it out. 

The NRA's success on this issue has been more about our failure to stay engaged and mobilized once these mass shootings fade from the news cycle. The NRA has only 5 million members nationwide, and many of them don't adhere to the fanatical views of its leadership, who act as if the Second Amendment is absolute and grants anyone any gun they so desire, conveniently ignoring the clause about a "well-regulated" militia. We are a country of 327 million people, most of whom want sensible measures to keep our people safe like truly universal background checks, age and mental health restrictions on gun ownership, waiting periods, and limits on high-capacity magazines and military-style weapons that can kill scores of people in seconds. The gun lobby's fierce backlash to the activism we've seen since Parkland (including tweeting out a photo of an AR-15 on the day of the student walkouts) is an attempt to taunt and intimidate us into thinking they can't be beat. 

The NRA's radical views have become normalized the same way the KKK's radical views once became normalized, because of its ability to strike fear in the heart of those who dare oppose it, and the unwillingness of political leaders to confront its lies. Once the politicians figure out that we don't fear the NRA's wrath, they will start to lose their fear about standing up to its frightening agenda. And once the politicians figure out that they have more to fear from our wrath than the NRA's, the organization's power will crumble. 

Make your dollars count

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to simply give what you can monetarily to make your voice heard on this issue, or make companies that profit from the NRA's agenda pay a price in the form of your business. Join me in donating as little as $10 a month to a group like Everytown for Gun Safety. Deny your business to companies that do business with the NRA or gun manufacturers or retailers that act irresponsibly. Check the holdings of mutual funds in your 401(k) account and make sure they don't invest in companies like Sturm Ruger or American Outdoor brands that make semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15, which has become the weapon of choice in these massacres. Find out which mutual fund companies have large holdings in these companies, and pressure them to divest. You can research this by using the Baron's stock tool.  

If every person in the country who cares about this issue would spend just 5 or 10 minutes a week doing something simple to make a difference (donating money, writing a letter, or just speaking out in a public forum), we can turn the tide at long last and, most importantly, save lives.

Why it's time to redefine what it means to be "pro-life"

I wasn't quite old enough to vote in the 1988 presidential election, but if I had been, I would have voted for George H.W. Bush, and a big reason would have been his "pro-life" position on abortion. As a Catholic, I spent years as an altar boy in the 1980s listening to priests at St. Callistus Church in El Sobrante speak of abortion as an assault on the sanctity of human life, and I agreed wholeheartedly.
All these decades later, I continue to follow my church's teachings on the morality of abortion, but my view of what it means to be "pro-life" has changed radically. I have never voted for a traditional Republican pro-life candidate for president, and have no intention of ever doing so. I no longer see that label as limited to the abortion debate but rather as encompassing a broad range of social justice issues that relate to the respect and defense of human life -- most notably, the gun epidemic ravaging our nation, and the refusal of so-called pro-life politicians such as Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump to do anything about it.

Victims of Parkland, Florida, shooting

Even in the context of abortion, I've come to believe that the social policies embraced and promoted by pro-choice politicians in areas such as sex education, health care and anti-poverty programs have been much more effective in reducing the frequency of abortion in our society than the empty words of pro-life conservatives whose only goal is to coerce women to do what they believe to be moral. As a Christian, a husband and a father, I believe that abortion is about much more than the endless debate over Roe v. Wade, and that respecting and defending life in our scarred society and world is about much more than whether a woman retains the right to terminate her pregnancy.
It's time to stop allowing politicians to monopolize the label of pro-life over a single issue, especially when they consistently show a callous disregard for human life in the positions they take on universal health care, the plight of immigrants and refugees, the environmental threat to the livability of our planet, and the scourge of gun violence that has taken the lives of our children in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkside, Florida; and Sutherland Springs, Texas, to name but a few.

It is time for all Americans to state loudly and clearly that politicians who turn a blind eye to the fundamental human right articulated by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are not pro-life in any way, shape or form, regardless of their position on Roe v. Wade. The children of Newtown and Parkland, and so many other places, were not afforded this most basic right. No amount of thoughts and prayers can change that fact.
Bill Clinton was never labeled, by supporters or detractors, as a pro-life president. But in my mind, his pro-life record stands above any president of my lifetime. As a new breed Democrat, he boldly reshaped the debate around abortion to encompass both moral and legal considerations during his 1992 presidential campaign, expressing a view that it should be "safe, legal and rare." And indeed, after peaking during the first Bush presidency in 1990, the abortion rate in the United States fell steadily during the Clinton years, and has continued to fall since.
But that's not why I consider him pro-life. As president, Clinton undertook one of the most successful humanitarian endeavors of the 20th century, ending the Bosnian genocide through military and diplomatic measures and saving countless civilian lives, despite opposition to his efforts at home. And, he signed the 1994 assault weapons ban into law, a ban that was long overdue and that was ultimately allowed to expire by "pro-life" congressional leaders who decided to place the wishes of those who demand unfettered access to military weapons of mass destruction above the safety of our children. Not surprisingly, in the years since the ban expired, the AR-15 assault rifle has become the weapon of choice in mass shootings across the United States.
I've been pleased to see my own church, through the inspirational leadership of Pope Francis, greatly expand its focus, emphasis and advocacy for a broad array of life issues over the years, whether it be the fundamental right of all people to health care, food and safe living conditions; its solidarity with immigrants and refugees seeking lives of dignity for themselves and their families (a banner at my church reads "All immigrants Welcome Here"); or the threats of climate change to the ability of people around the world to live in safe, stable environments and benefit from God's gift of natural resources.
The pillars of social justice are broad and interconnected, and the days when a political or religious leader can narrowly define advocacy for life as being about abortion, and abortion only, need to end.
As a humble sinner, I would never presume to speak for God. But I have listened to the Gospels many times throughout my life, and I have my own feelings about what Jesus Christ would say about those who claim to stand for life, while doing nothing to stop the assault on our children, our society and our planet. What He would say about those who market themselves in elections as pro-life, while ignoring the cries of the parents of Newtown and Parkland, or the fact that no where else in the advanced world do such acts of mass terror occur with such horrific frequency, only to be met by such indifference by those who have the power to do something about it.
It's summed up pretty well by a verse I've heard in church more times than I can count over the years, and which speaks volumes in the wake of  Parkland, Florida.
 "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."-- Matthew 25:45