The phenomenon of the #The hashtag has taken society by storm and created a worldwide movement among all who have felt the need to express outrage, unfairness, equal rights, and inclusion. #BLACKLIVESMATTER! #BLUELIVESMATTER! #LGBTQIA LIVESMATTERS! But what about #HUMAN LIVES MATTER! The shedding of so much innocent human blood around the world should outrage us all! Being able to possess weapons that are considered for times of war should outrage us all! And allowing those in society (like my grandmother would say) that don’t know their head from a hole in the ground to possess these weapons, should outrage us all! My grandmother made use of this statement when referring to a young immature person who appears to have very little common sense because of bad decisions they would make. Well, this is just what the elected officials in the state of Texas have approved.
Texas laws will allow an eighteen year old to purchase an assault weapon with no training or supervision but will not allow drive thru voting polls locations. Texas will allow an eighteen year old to open and carry a weapon but will not allow the possession of alcohol until the age of 21. But wait a minute, the exception is “A Minor May Possess and Consume Alcohol When in the Visible Presence of Their Legal Aged Parent, Legal Guardian, or Spouse.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! “WHEN IN THE VISIBLE PRESENCE OF THEIR LEGAL AGED PARENT, LEGAL GUARDIAN, OR SPOUSE!” But an eighteen year old person purchasing a high powered assault weapon is not required by Texas law to seek any firearm training or have any visible adult supervision. So I ask You! What…. Really…. Matters?! Power! Money! Political gains!
Unfortunately, in Texas it seems as though human lives are deemed as casualties of war and the only fight that is visible in Texas is how our elected officials have created fear among the masses by publicizing false information. The right to public safety for every individual in Texas no matter the #hashtag should be our elected officials first and foremost priority. But at the end of the day the responsibility of how Texas is governed solely relies on IT’S VOTERS. In my opinion It was the voters not the elected officials that allowed the eighteen year old gunman to purchase a AR-15 and murder 19 innocent humans in an Elementary School. In my opinion It was the voters that did not protect our society from the unknown evils that lay and wait in sickness and anger to cause unimaginable pain and suffering to grieving loved ones. In my opinion It was the voters that allowed fake news and politicized untruthful ideology such as the Replacement theory to create fear campaigns that are reaping divisive hate among our nation’s diverse communities.
When in the history of mankind has any race been able to be replaced? Never! In my opinion what needs to be replaced are those politicians (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents) that perpetuate narratives that generate mass fear and hate backlash from weak minded troubled individuals living among us. What should really matter is the amount of innocent human lives being unnecessarily lost due to lenient gun laws, dangerous persuasive rhetoric, more funding for mental health illnesses, voter suppression laws, and voters vetting each politician on overall merit and not out of fabricated fear.
#WHAT REALLY MATTERS?! ……..#HUMAN LIVES MATTER!
Written by: Tracie Brown