"Seven Days in May," the epic 1960s novel and a film starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Ava Gardner, was a fictional tale about right-wing Pentagon generals who tried to topple the U.S. government.
Seven Days in May, 2022, the epic tragedy starring us all, is the reality news that is now dominating screens everywhere. You and I are feeling like we are trapped into watching a slo-mo version of heart-wrenching, mind-numbing scenes that just keep on looping.
Sometimes it feels like we are outside looking in. We see half of our nation's leaders willfully lying to us - and their followers pretend they don't know they are being lied to.
We suddenly have enemies whose evil isn't about committing willful action against us, but willful inaction - a fear of taking common-sense acts to save us from ourselves. Because their honest action may cost them the power - and that is what they crave most of all.
Today, our Seven Days in May 2022 tale actually begins with a context-setting preface from 2015: Texas' new governor, Greg Abbott, wanted to assure his supporters he was all about making Texas No. 1. On Oct. 28, 2015, Abbott tweeted:
"I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. NRA."
Abbott led Texas to enact a series of laws that relaxed gun controls, including permitting Texans to carry firearms without permits or training. And lo, it came to pass: With 1.8 million gun purchases in 2020, Abbott's Texas became America's No. 1 state in gun sales.
Seven days in May 2022 takes place in the close-knit community of Uvalde, Texas, just an hour up the road from the Mexican border.
> May 17: The day after his 18th birthday, a man entered a gun store in his hometown. Obeying all the relaxed federal, state and local laws that helped make Abbott's Texas No.1, he legally bought an AR-15-style, military-looking semi-automatic rifle.
> May 18: He returned to legally buy himself 375 rounds of ammunition for his birthday gun. There were no laws prohibiting this sale.
> May 19: He returned to his gun store and legally bought another AR-15-style semi-automatic. Again, there were no restrictions or red computer flags questioning this repeat sale.
> May 24: Seven days after buying his first birthday gun, he used it to shoot his grandmother in the face. Then he loaded his birthday guns and ammo into her pickup truck and drove toward Robb Elementary School. He crashed his grandma's truck into a culvert near the school, grabbed one birthday gun and entered the school. Somehow, amid gunfire, police didn't stop him. He was allowed to remain barricaded in a room with students for an hour - before lawmen burst in and he was shot dead. He had killed 19 young children and two teachers - making Uvalde America's second worst school massacre.
In a later news conference, Abbott made two main points: 1) There had been no indication the 18-year-old had a psychiatric problem; and no mental alert that could have prevented him from buying his guns; but he repeatedly insisted that (2) the main problem was that Texas lacks sufficient mental facilities.
Republicans in Washington and where you live have tried doing nothing except lowering flags and pausing for moments of silence. Our children keep getting massacred. Finally we must return to our one other bold option: We must join the rest of the world's safer democracies by at last enacting rigorous gun control measures.
And that's where you come in. You must vote to oust officeholders who still insist on doing nothing but holding onto their seats while your children keep getting massacred.
Tribune Content Agency