October 15, 2015 Eric Mace published the following missive on his Facebook timeline Do Something. In it, he asks folks on both sides of the gun safety reform issue to actually do something. His daughter, Ryanne, was one of the victims in the Northern Illinois University mass shooting February 14, 2008. I'll let Eric speak for himself, though:
Eric Mace:
Several days ago a close friend of mine posted a statement about doing something to reduce the number of mass shootings there have been over the last several years and the fact that they are becoming more frequent. He referred to what I've gone through since Ryanne's murder in '08 and echoed a sentiment that I've had since the day she was gunned down. That sentiment is simple and easily encapsulated by the following statement: do something!
To put some more detail behind it, it's not a simple request even though it can be boiled down just those two words. Remarkably, it confuses the hell out of lots of people because of their own internal biases and fears. For some, it's a call to action on the subject of gun control while others see it as an expression of desire to take away someone's rights. Overall, it's an example of people fixating on whether the glass is half full or half empty when they should be making a cheeseburger. Even more confused now? Well, I'll try to clear it up in the next few paragraphs so, please, bear with me.
When I ask for something to be done I'm not specifically talking about guns. While the problem revolves primarily around them there are plenty of things that can be done to have a positive impact on the number of people dying because of them. In my case, I'm often intentionally NOT talking about doing anything about the guns themselves simply because so many people lose their minds and nothing happens other than yelling and screaming.
What I am asking for is innovative thinking that will cut through the rhetoric and the arguments and just accomplish some kind of change in what is a ever-increasing problem. I've tried to do this on my own but I've hit the point to where I must acknowledge that I do not know everything I need to know to fix this problem. Mostly, it's because of my own ignorance and inexperience but also because I'm not the kind of thinker that is needed in this case.
My view of innovative thinking in the weeks after Ryanne's murder was to look at all of the things that were coming at me and try to pick a unique combination of them that might make a difference. This was motivated by the old saying about doing the same thing repeatedly hoping the outcome will change - you must do something different to expect different results.
So I set about looking at things that I could do outside of the gun debate. I took the NRA at their word that the solution was not in banning guns but in addressing mental health issues. They said it was evil that killed my daughter and 4 other innocent young adults in a classroom and that the gun was simply the tool that evil chose to use. So, it seemed to make sense that we would start a scholarship in Ryanne's memory to produce more mental health counselors, the career calling Ryanne herself was answering by getting her education. Folks from the pro-gun side of the spectrum stated all over the place that, short of arming everyone, greater access to mental health treatment was the way to go and they fully supported efforts in that area. Well, I gotta call bullshit on that one 'cuz once it was time to pony up some money to do exactly that all we saw from them was nothing. Zilch. Zippo. Nada.
So, I got involved in trying to strengthen the background check system. Once again, not about guns themselves but about people. That's what the NRA said was the problem on millions of t-shirts, bumper stickers, and TV ads - "guns don't kill people, people kill people". So, cool, let's check the people and see if they meet the criteria to be trusted with a gun. If we stop only one mass shooting in the process it's a victory. It might not make a huge dent in the total numbers of people killed by people using guns but it would make a world of difference for those few who don't have to live through what I've had to experience. Sadly, the NRA changed its stance on background checks from what it was in the late '90s when they strongly supported them to their current position of blocking a control on people instead of weapons. So, once again, I'm left at an impasse without any results to show for the trip down to the dead end.
So, all of this typing and talking boils down to a single reality, I'm out of ideas but I'm not out of energy to work on something. I am, however, limited on the amount of time and energy I have before I die and I want to make something count. So, a few years ago I started asking for someone to propose something to me that would make a tangible difference and would rally both sides of the gun divide to a common goal. Believe it or not, I got even more pushback than when I was talking about guns from people who still thought I was talking about guns. The majority of them were folks who didn't trust me, I guess, because they continued to act as if I was maneuvering into position to take their guns when I was proposing nothing and simply asking for ideas. Others discounted me since I was not actively pursuing their agenda and did little to help. But, perhaps the most insulting of all of these people were the ones who said that simply advocating that something be done is easy. Like hell it is.
I've seen this throughout my life and it all comes to one pinpoint for me about human behavior - everyone's an expert when looking at someone else's plan but most are total morons when it comes to coming up with one of their own. I've served in various capacities as part of decision-making teams and it's almost always been the same condition: it's incredibly difficult to come up with a possible solution and stupid easy to say it won't work or complain about it. Both look like they involve the same amount of effort on the surface but that's a flat-out lie.
So, if you've made this far in this post, I thank you for reading through it. I wrote this mostly because I've had good people on both sides of the gun debate ask me what they can do to help as if I'm an expert in what the solution might be. My message to all of them is to come up with something that you can do to help. You're all intelligent, rational people or you wouldn't be on my friends list. So, here's the direction I'll give you all (if you care to take it) - come up with something new that makes a small change and present it to me or this entire group. It doesn't have to be much, anything might help. Just be constructive and courageous enough to take some criticism. Remember, you always get more points for trying and failing than anyone gets by simply crapping on an idea. Even if it doesn't work or can't work we can at least identify it and move on to a new thing. All I care about is getting something, almost anything, positive accomplished.
I will close this out with one of my favorite quotes: "Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
Eric's two cents (and mine in support of what he has to say, too).
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