You Should Give a $#!% About Gun Violence

But you already know that.

If you aren't on the brink of exploding with the fiery rage of a thousand solar flares, check your pulse. If your heart is beating, you should be outraged. If you're not outraged, I'd love to take you to lunch. On the menu: a Michelin Star rated knuckle sandwich.

Mass shootings? World leader. Suicides? 22,000 a year. Women murdered by intimate partners? 52 in an average month. Children? Firearms are the second-leading cause of death for American children (and the leading cause for Black children and teens). Now, I know America loves to parade itself as the greatest country in the world, but I'd prefer to rank quite a bit lower than #1 in this case. Data compliments of Everytown for Gun Safety, many of which come straight from the CDC.

Let's get into the meat and potatoes. You're probably wondering how we got here. Well, buckle up buttercup because you're about to ride the rollercoaster that is my brain when I get Solar Flare Mad™ about the gun situation in the U.S.

The gun lobby has managed to convince a bunch of (mostly) white males that at every turn they might need to spring into action against anything from a home invasion to rallying against a tyrannical government. And these guys actually think they're Rambo. Kind of funny, kind of sad, extremely dangerous. Add to that the fact that GOP lawmakers fight to the death (of their constituents) against any and all common sense gun legislation thanks to blood-soaked checks from the NRA and what do you get? 40,000 gun deaths per year.

How did they do it? They took the 2nd Amendment (which is at best a poorly worded sentence), bastardized it, and made a bunch of bozos believe they should have unfettered access to all the same artillery as the US Military. Lucky for us they've "settled" for military-style firearms with little regulation. What could go wrong?

There's no mystery here, just an ass-backward approach to how we handle firearms based on the aforementioned poorly worded sentence written to address concerns that were valid at the time and are frankly no longer relevant. We don't wear powdered wigs anymore. We don't write with quills. People aren't being shot with muskets.

Yet the 2nd Amendment is the shield behind which gun nuts and the GOP hide while an average of 100 Americans lose their lives via gun violence every day. Every time we ask for legislation that might save lives, they shrug, point at the Constitution, and tell us this is the cost of freedom.

I'd like to get a rage scream in real quick. THE ONLY THINGS THAT ARE UNIQUE ABOUT AMERICA ARE THAT WE HAVE INCREDIBLY LAX GUN LAWS AND WE HAVE MORE GUNS THAN WE DO PEOPLE. It's not mental health, it's not video games, it's not a lack of prayer, it's not any other ridiculous thing you can think of. It's easy access to firearms.

Now I'm sweaty mad so let's switch gears. Trigger warning for anyone reading this who has been impacted by gun violence.

I need you to feel the sinking feeling of getting a phone call at 10:21 pm on a Sunday night from one of your sisters when you're mostly a texting family.

I need you to feel the panic of your phone not working, not being able to answer the repeated calls that are coming in.

I need your heart to pound in your throat.

I need you to understand the sinking feeling when your sister can barely speak through her sobbing, only to finally make out the words "Alicia was shot in Las Vegas!"

I need you to imagine checking Twitter and the first thing you see is a video of a man running for his life saying he just watched someone die. Your sister is in the middle of this.

I need you to try to comprehend what it's like to not know if you're lying when you tell your mom and your sister that based on where Alicia was shot, if she was going to die she'd already be dead.

I need you to picture walking into a hospital filled to capacity with people who have been shot and their families wondering if they'll get to come home or not.

I need you to feel the relief, the shock of seeing your sister alive, but motionless after surgery to check for organ damage caused by the bullet that shattered her tailbone.

The families of well over 500 people no doubt had similar experiences. And 58 got the worst news of their lives.

This is personal for me. If you need more detail, read this. In America, what my family has been through is far from unique, but it absolutely is uniquely American.

That was heavy. And it could've been heavier. 40,000 people per year are lost due to gun violence. I need you to care about so much more than the shootings that make the headlines. Go to Everytown's website and read the survivor stories. People who have lost loved ones to gun violence in our cities, domestic violence, suicides; all forms of gun violence matter. When people are brave enough to share the most agonizing moments of their lives, we owe it them to listen.

I gave you a bunch of statistics earlier, and I told you where I got them. Now, I need your help.

Everytown for Gun Safety is doing vital work nationwide to reduce gun violence of all kinds. They're conducting important research on causes of gun violence, developing solutions based on evidence they find, and trying to counteract the pressure placed on lawmakers by the gun lobby so that we might actually see a change in how America legislates firearms.

You've no doubt seen the tireless work put in by the amazing grassroots powerhouse that is Moms Demand Action and there's no way I could talk about Everytown without mentioning these amazing mothers and others. You'd be hard pressed to find a more organized, passionate group of people fighting for any worthy cause. And the support and respect they give to survivors of gun violence is truly incredible.

As promised, I've researched the two funds you can donate to for Everytown, and only one of them is a 501(c)(3) so that's the fund I'm asking you to join me in donating to. Per Charity Navigator the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund scores 97.5/100 for financials. 87.6% of its expenses go to the programs and services it delivers. It costs 20 cents to raise 100 dollars in charitable contributions, which is awesome.

I'm no Pythagoras but my math says if you donate one dollar, it'll help them raise $500. That's a pretty incredible return on investment.

So please, take a second to feel that pit in your stomach, to empathize with the thousands of lives lost and forever changed by gun violence, and join me in supporting the lifesaving work being done by Everytown by donating to the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (that's a link. Click it.).