It happened again today. Another mass shooting at a school. Three children died, as did three teachers. Thoughts and prayers abound, but also there are more calls to Do Something.

Of course the conservatives and gun lovers will find all kinds of fixes – bolting doors, hiring security, more good guys with guns – to offer. Everything, but the obvious to stop shootings, which logically is keeping guns out of people’s hands. Particularly automatic and semi-automatic rifles, like the AR variety so popular with murderers. 

But shooting after shooting brings little change in state legislatures and Congress because half of the members are bought and paid for by the gun industry. Cuz, guns are big money. The NRA serves the gun makers by keeping the public appraised of their legislators’ gun position by rating them, so they can vote for or against them. So, gun control issues are a big convoluted, corrupt mess in Congress and nothing major happens, and nothing is done to stop children from dying in schools, or adults in stores, churches and theatres.

What to do? How to stop the gun violence in the United States?

I suggest the media stop whitewashing these shooting stories and start showing us the blood. 

Not bodies, just the blood splattering the gold-stared homework assignments pinned to the wall, blood pooling around books fallen to the floor, blood covered desks and chairs. Seeing those images would definitely make an impact on the public.

Right now, all we see on the news is cops hunkering outside, children being led to parking lots, parents frantic, but that’s all. We never see the consequences of the shooters deed, the scene of the crime. The media approach is all so sanitized that I feel people don’t get the full impact of a shooting by how it looks. If they did, I think the public would be much more moved to demand action from their local, state and federal legislators.

Sounds gross, I know. But aren’t pictures worth a thousand words?

Listen, this is a page from the “Pro-Life” playbook. After Roe vs Wade was decided and the anti-abortion forces rose, what did they post on their placards and posters? Dead, bloody fetuses. Gross yes, but it worked, didn’t it? Those pictures moved people to react and, although it 50 years, it worked. Roe was reversed.

So, why wouldn’t showing pictures of bloody classrooms move people to act for gun control? It’s just about the only tact that no one has tried. 

And, by the way, showing the crime scene in the media is not my idea. It was suggested by a reporter on the news.