Like Brian Olson, I, too, have become numb to mass shootings, and I don’t know what to do. I think of the 1962 Bob Dylan song, “Blowing in the Wind.” It is time to update that song and add another verse: “How many times must a RF-15 rifle be fired before it is forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.” Well maybe it is time to listen to the wind. 

Do you remember the 1960s and how we changed the world? I do. During the ‘60s, the youth of this nation rose up and got America out of the Vietnam War. Is it going to be the youth of today that has to shame the older generations and the legislators to make these changes, or can we do this ourselves?

“How many times does a child have to be shot before we really get mad? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.” 

When will we respect and prioritize the Common Good of The People? When will we allow ourselves to break free from the control of the outdated Second Amendment? Do you really think Jefferson, Washington, and Madison wrote the Second Amendment to protect and promote killers? They wrote this amendment to protect us from the king.

It is time to protest like we did in the ‘60s before too many of us are taken by gun violence. It is time to make good trouble. It is time to make change. It is time to change America. Men wrote the U.S. Constitution on paper. It was not written in stone by God. It is time to shake this nation to the core. It is time for change.

Let me end with Brian's words from his editorial on May 11, 2023: "One thing for sure is we as a society have some work to do. Actually doing something about all this certainly would be news. Because it would be new."

Laura AE Colaninno

Flowery Branch