Inspired by the banners in front of some Oak Park churches that read: “Imagine a world without gun violence,” I imagined a world without gun violence. I imagined kindergarten children not subjected to gun emergency drills with their implicit message that the world is hazardous, that children are not safe and that school can be dangerous. I imagined time better spent learning and singing songs.
I imagined children playing at a playground or in a park hearing a loud pop and thinking only, “Oh no, a child’s balloon has burst.”
I imagined a child’s greatest fear at the playground being that they would fall from the monkey bars and if they were careful it would not happen and the empowerment of being in charge.
I imagined the normal childhood anxieties like tearing your pants, which would make your mother annoyed but could be repaired.
I imagined grade school or high school graduating classes that contained every child that had not moved away or changed schools who had begun school in first grade.
I imagined a child going to play at the home of a friend without concern that there might be an unsecured gun in the home and the awkward conversation necessary to determine that.
I imagined not having to pass through metal detectors in schools and public buildings lest someone attempt to enter carrying a firearm.
I imagined the suicidal and homicidally ill not having readily available guns to use during a mental health crisis.
I imagined only police officers being armed, reducing their anxiety and de-escalating their law-enforcement encounters.
I imagined feeling no imperative to be armed in self-defense because of the threat posed by ubiquitous guns.
I imagined that if a student became really, really angry with another student, they wouldn’t resort to extreme action.
I imagined schools concentrating not on defense but on de-escalation and nonviolent resolution of differences.
I imagined the ATF having the same authority and influence as the FDA.
I imagined a world where the word “gun” was not an appropriate modifier to describe our culture.
Worldwide, the implications of a consensus for nonviolence would be world peace, something currently hard to imagine.
Imagine children born and raised with the philosophy that life is precious, tolerance is taken for granted, and violence is unthinkable.
We can then imagine where that might lead.
Sandra Shimon
Member, Gun Responsibility Advocates