Making a Saturday Statement : A march for more gun control and violence prevention

A fifth-grader fatally shot himself in the head Wednesday at the front door of his Los Angeles elementary school with a semiautomatic pistol his father had kept under the mattress at home. Parents rushed to the school to check on their children, police officers and detectives filed the necessary reports and teachers struggled to continue with lesson plans. All were at a loss for words.

Another day, another senseless tragedy.

We wring our hands, we avoid a growing list of potentially dangerous places, we install metal detectors, alarm systems, more lights, more fences. We take a deep breath each morning as our children leave for school, praying they will be safe. We sprint to our parked automobiles. We cower in our homes. We shake our heads at the growing audacity of armed criminals, at the apparent valuelessness they place on life, at the ease with which everyone, including a 10-year-old, can lay hands on a gun. We cannot easily comprehend the frightful potential of the millions of guns stashed in our closets, in bedside drawers, behind store counters and in school bags. We feel impotent and terrified. Even worse, some of us are numb to the senselessness. Anger--and determination to stop the madness--is a healthier response.

To stand up for an end to street crime and to the easy availability of firearms that facilitates that violence becomes a powerful political statement. On Saturday Los Angeles-area residents have an opportunity to step forward and demonstrate how they feel about escalating gun violence.

Drive By Agony, supported by Women Against Gun Violence and the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, is sponsoring a march and rally “to show that violence is unacceptable in our community.� The short march will begin at 10 that morning at Olvera Street Plaza and end at the Civic Center.

The aim of this annual march, now in its third year,is not only to remember victims of violence but also to stem the increase in their ranks by supporting more comprehensive and effective gun control and violence prevention. We can think of no worthier way to spend a Saturday morning.