This 4th of July, a mass shooter steals another piece of our freedom

Happy Birthday, America, land of the mass shootings and home to so many people who despite our reputation, don’t understand what it means to be truly free.

Brian Cassella @briancassella

A Lake County police officer walks through chairs and bikes left behind on the Central Avenue parade route sidewalk near the scene of the Highland Park mass shooting. ‘It was chaotic,’ reports of 6 dead, 2 dozen others shot during Fourth of July parade chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/…

July 4th 2022

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Freedom is not the right to own whatever type of gun, in whatever quantity

Freedom is not the right to espouse your hate without someone else pushing back against your nonsense.

Freedom is not the right to impose your religious beliefs on any of your fellow Americans.

If you believe otherwise, you are not a "patriot," you are not a "true American."

What freedom is, is the right to live free of fear, to live true to your principles, to enjoy the fruits of your labor along with your family and friends. It is the freedom to control your body and your lives.

It is the right to be free to attend a 4th of July parade free of the fear that you will be shot dead.

Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts

“The streets were just filled with people running, kids crying.” No one at the Fourth of July parade today in Highland Park will ever recover from the trauma inflicted on them by the gun lobby and their lawmaker allies. nytimes.com/live/2022/07/0… ‘This appears to be completely random,’ a police official said.Crowds of people fled, and officials in the Chicago suburb canceled festivities. It was unclear if anyone had been injured.nytimes.com

July 4th 2022

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The people of Highland Park and Uvalde and Buffalo and others terrorized by mass shooters are less free today. And because they are our fellow citizens, our fellow Americans, we are all less free.

That yet more of our freedom was stolen from us today, of all days, should sadden us. It should make us mad as hell.

Jo 🌻 @JoJoFromJerz

@RonFilipkowski Nothing sums up the state of things in America quite as accurately as a mass shooting at an “Independence Day” parade.

July 4th 2022

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Figuring out what it means to be free has as times been hard for Americans, the struggles divisive and sometimes bloody. But like the minutemen who fought the British, the abolitionists, suffragettes, labor unionists, civil rights marchers, queer activists and those who decry our tendency to kill each other and our children, in mass quantities, are each foot soldiers in the continuing struggle to nurture and expand our liberty.

Those who oppose them, like those who insist their freedom depends on their unfettered, unchecked access to weapons better suited for the battlefield, are on the wrong side of history. Worse than that, they put all Americans’ freedom, all of our lives, at risk.

We each have a role to play in the American story, big or small, whether it’s at our jobs, schools, neighborhoods, churches or anywhere else we interact with our fellow citizens. Do what you can can always to protect our shared liberty and when called on, work toward expanding the meaning of what it means to be truly free.

Because as we learned again on Monday, your life may depend on it.

You can reach the writer at Marc.R.Masferrer@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @mrmasferrer. You can also like The Bradenton Journal on Facebook.