After a couple of introductory lines the old song begins with “Henry” complaining: “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza a hole.” And Liza replies: “Then fix it dear Henry … fix it.”

The song continues with Henry asking with what, Liza responding with straw; too long … cut it; with what … an axe; too dull … sharpen it; with what … a stone; too dry … then wet it; with what … water; with what shall I fetch it … with a bucket: but “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.” (a popular version can be heard on Youtube featuring Harry Bellafonte and Odetta).

As a nation, we appear stuck in the same kind of rut when it comes to mass shootings. The NRA and gun lobby are much like Henry in the above example and simply poke holes in any solutions posed by others. The 2nd line of the Constitution preamble states: to “insure domestic tranquility”, yet according to a recent study by the American Psychological Association, approximately 80% of Americans experience stress that they or their relatives will be victimized by a “mass shooting.”

President Trump has recently focused on “mental illness” as the root of problem, but that requires a separate discussion.

It seems that there are more opinions as to what we can’t do than what to do to fix the problem. Recently, I raised my concern about mass shootings to another and his comment was something like: “Well, one thing we should NOT do is take away anyone’s guns”. That’s what NOT to do.

I would support revisiting holding manufacturer’s of these high-tech killing machines accountable when they are used this way. It is NOT the same as blaming cars when someone dies as cars are primarily for transportation. But semi-automatic rifles (especially with high-capacity magazines) in the hands of civilians are designed to create massive carnage. So (as Mr. Currie often asks), what do you think?

In Dayton, it took 30 seconds to kill 9 people. Each time we are left praying for the victims. We should be thinking/praying about solutions. Instead we just go on and on …

“There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza. There’s a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza, a hole”!

John Lewis

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