THE LAST RIVER MILE

Violence is never the answer. No one should be a victim of gun violence, much less the President of the United States. As much as I oppose most of the policies and practices of Donald Trump, I am thankful that he and others were spared on Saturday night.

At our president’s initiative, it has been suggested that a solution for this kind of thing would be his proposed ballroom addition to the White House. This would provide a secured 90k-square-foot space for large gatherings up to about a thousand people. Projected costs vary, but estimates seem to hover around $400,000,000. As I understand it, the plan is for this to be financed largely by private donors and corporations, though accessing public funds has not been ruled out.

Most construction costs always end up higher than anticipated, so let’s just assume a half a billion dollars and do the math. What could $500m do in efforts to promote and ensure responsible, legal firearm ownership and use? How much impact could that kind of money have on at least making a dent in keeping illegal or illegally acquired weaponry out of the wrong hands? What could a half a billion dollars do to improve mental health care, which is way to expensive and too hard to access for many, if not most United States citizens? How could weak mental health systems be improved at least a little bit with that level of funding? What might a united, bi-partisan effort do to that end?

But, sure – a gilded ballroom…

For the thousands of victims of gun violence in our country and the thousands of people struggling with mental health issues who are on the streets, because there is nowhere else for them to go – where’s their protective ballroom? (Psalm 82:3-4, among dozens of other biblical references.)

I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.