Opinion: No words to describe sadness over a preventable tragedy

Thomas Barnes and Margaret Fox
·1 min read

Are there any words of comfort a person can express when a mother and father have lost a child to gun violence? Or when teachers sacrifice their lives for their students to prevent a child’s death?

None. No words.

There are states of mind and expression of feelings – shock, anger, rage, profound grief, weeping, broken hearts and betrayal by elected officials who refused to pass gun safety measures. If laws had been passed to prevent gun violence, it might have stopped the recent shootings in Buffalo, New York, the shooting at a Presbyterian Church in Orange County, California, and now the mass gun violence tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.

Rows of chairs with photographs of the 21 Uvalde victims with items left in their memory.
Rows of chairs with photographs of the 21 Uvalde victims with items left in their memory.

The Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati is an interfaith coalition of judicatories, denominations, that work as one to improve public policy and in the process civic discourse. With humility, we state that our goal is to provide a moral voice on social justice issues. We, as members of an interfaith coalition, have no words that can begin to describe the sadness that permeates Americans now over a preventable tragedy. Preventing gun violence in our communities is a moral issue for us as individuals, as voters and as legislators. We hope there will be a consensus, in the near future, among us on the following recommendations that are familiar to most people locally and nationally:

  • Ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

  • Require background checks for all gun sales.

  • Support local violence prevention and intervention programs.

Residents of Uvalde, Texas hold signs calling Uvalde Police Department “cowards” as frustration grows in the community in response to how a shooting was handled after 19 children and two adults were murder at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022.
Residents of Uvalde, Texas hold signs calling Uvalde Police Department “cowards” as frustration grows in the community in response to how a shooting was handled after 19 children and two adults were murder at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022.

We need to ask ourselves two heart of the matter questions: How much longer are we willing to sacrifice our children and teachers? When will we stand together and say in one voice like so many people, religions, and races before us have said – "Never Again?"

Rev. Thomas Barnes is president of The Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati. Margaret A. Fox is executive director of MARCC.

Rev. Thomas Barnes is president of The Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati.
Rev. Thomas Barnes is president of The Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: No words to describe sadness over a preventable tragedy