Editorial:

Today, Friday the 21st, we would normally be publishing our annual Christmas mes-sage wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and rejoicing in the celebration of the birth of Jesus. But this year there is a dark cloud over this holiday season as much of the joy was sucked out by the senseless killing of the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. So with a heavy heart, we are compelled to reflect on that tragic day one week ago.

I would like to say we were shocked at yet another senseless shooting, but in today’s world these mass shootings have happened all too often, at an Oregon theatre, at a congressional community meeting in Arizona, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and the Virginia Tech massacre in ’07 that left 32 dead. San Diego has not been immune to mass shootings. 22 people were killed in San Ysidro. At Grossmont High School, three students and two teachers were shot. Santana High School experienced one of the first notorious shootings, and most recently in Carlsbad at Kelly Elementary School a gunman opened fire, wounding two-second graders, after which three Chula Vista construction workers captured the gunmen.

But as the news filtered in, the realization of the enormity of the killings and the ages of those killed, the grief quickly engulfed us. At times, as we watched the news, a tear would form, the sadness was profound, the loss of innocent lives. Children who were too young to know of such evil, all of them looking forward to Christmas only to have their lives end so suddenly, so horrifically.

The mood of the country was captured in the press conference held by President Obama. We watched him wipe away his tears and fight to control his emotions as he addressed the nation. His actions expressed how we felt.

In President Obama’s speech at the Interfaith Vigil he vowed to use the power of his office to prevent more mass shootings. “In the coming weeks, I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens – from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators – in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this,” Obama said. “Because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine.”

During the week, several proposals have been put forth to ban the sales of assault weapons. President Obama has formed a special task force, lead by Vice President Joe Biden. The President has vowed that this will not be some commission that in six months produces a report to be read and then put aside, but a commission that will put forth tangible solutions. The President has vowed to use the power of his office “to help advance efforts aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.”

To do anything less, to not come up with some tangible law that helps to prevent these mass killings would be criminal. The President is betting that the American people will support a ban on assault weapons. He is betting that in the face of these tragic events that even gun advocates will see the need for greater gun control.

The time is now to do something about the selling of automatic weapons that are designed for war. Time is now to do something about the gun show loop hole where anyone can buy a gun from a private dealer without a background check. There needs to be a conversation about mental-health issues. Our politicians need to get over their fear of going against the National Rifle Association and stand up and do something, anything, to prevent any future mass killings. To do nothing will only stain the politicians hands with the blood of the next victims killed by an assault weapon.

There are 20 good reasons for a gun law reform, as a society we have to demand that something be done.
On Christmas day I will hug my children a little tighter and a little longer and tell them I love them. This Christmas will be a happy one, yet at the same time we will think about the 20 children who will not be celebrating and the families who have wrapped presents under the Christmas tree that will never be opened!

As parents, the greatest fear we harbor every day is that something horrible could happen as we send our children out into the world.