As a people, we Americans customarily celebrate this day with parades, picnics, and lots of happy gatherings of families and friends. And having decorated our homes with American flags and banners, and perhaps having attended a local parade, as an appropriate tribute to the fallen heroes of our wars, we turn our attention to the barbecue, sports, and some all around frolicking. This is as it should be normally.

But there is nothing normal about this Memorial Day. For today we have moved beyond the remembrance of the brave and faithful fallen who answered their country’s call. Today an infernal fate has driven us to confront unimaginable loss and pain, and we cannot look away. For today we must also remember the slaughter of the innocents at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen children whose ages ranged from 9 to 11, and two of their teachers. A slaughter only a few days old . A tragic story full of familiar grim episodes, whose repetition continues to condemn us as a civilized people and haunts our pathetic consciences as we scramble to repeat ad nauseam that “things need to change.”

The necessary changes have been known for decades, but the carnage continues. All-or-nothing thinking has hobbled the ability of responsible people to take any sensible steps to reign in the excess of gun violence in every kind of vulnerable location. The Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is not under assault! Those who use that pretext to obstruct any and all responsible restrictions (such as universal background checks and age eligibility) on the acquisition of firearms must bear on their consciences the blood of innocent children. The majority of responsible gun owners also support such common-sense legislation, but the opposition, a very small minority that bullies politicians into parroting their “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” narrative, has for years successfully blocked any change. And scores of innocent people, especially our children, have paid the price.

Hollow calls for change have always faded quickly after each tragic incident. Of course, real change has long been needed, and above all, change in the uniquely American worship of the gun, venerated as a sacred object held in reverence above all human critique or interference. No citizen thinks twice about restrictions associated with automobile ownership and operation on the public roads. There’s no complaint about not serving alcohol to minors. And we voluntarily give up some of our personal freedom in numerous situations where special circumstances require it. But we permit no such limitation on our behavior when it comes to the gun. Whenever any action to limit how guns may be acquired or used is proposed, our reaction is visceral. “This shall not pass!”

What about our kids, then? Oh, we do care deeply about the children, claim the gun lobbies, and we advocate arming the teachers in the classrooms. Put more armed security guards in schools. And do more about mental health problems. There’s the real cause of the violence. But we don’t want universal background checks (even if that might have stopped an eighteen-year-old from legally buying an AR-15 and hundreds of rounds of ammunition as soon as he turned eighteen). That was precisely what happened in the sale of the AR-15 and ammunition to the shooter in Uvalde, Texas. Law enforcement authorities tell us that a mere check for a police record is insufficient. All offenses committed by juveniles are expunged once they turn eighteen, so they have no police record. But a complete background check could have uncovered other evidence that showed disturbing behavior. Such red flags might have delayed access to the weapons until a proper intervention could have been made. Would that have happened for sure? No one can say, but it would have provided an opportunity for intervention. Instead, the door to insane violence was thrown wide open.

Speaking at the NRA Convention following the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas Senator Ted Cruz portrayed any attempt to legislate restrictions as interfering with a “human right.” Isn’t that something? Having a gun is a human right! A thing given by God. Are we to suppose that’s what the founders of our republic had in mind when they said that “All men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” But they did not go on to say that “among these are life, liberty, and the unrestrained access to weapons of mass destruction without regard to safety, common sense, or any obligations owed to our fellow man.” That self-styled interpretation is left to our generation.

Some raise the cry of “we will lose our freedom.” Or that “leftists, liberals and other undesirables are trying to restrict our freedom, our liberty. We need our guns to defend ourselves against a potentially tyrannical government.” So they marshall all of the resources of social media, sympathetic mass media, and politicians whose election campaigns they have generously funded to harangue their supporters and the general public with the spurious narrative that any restriction on guns will be the “slippery slope” that leads to repeal of the Second Amendment. And so they assure that public fear about the Second Amendment produces inaction once again. And the tail continues to wag the dog!

Among all of the advanced nations of the world, we have the highest rate of gun violence and death, by far: eight times more than our neighbor Canada, 27 times more than Denmark, and 250 times more than Japan. Even in the conflict-ridden Middle East, the United States ranks higher in gun violence than all of the countries there except Iraq. Compared to 22 other high-income nations, the United States’ gun-related murder rate is 25 times higher (from a 2016 study published online by the American Journal of Medicine). Yet we have roughly similar rates of mental illness as in all of those countries. Mental illness is not the pivotal factor in this country’s rate of gun violence. It’s the irresponsibly easy access to guns. There are about 400 million privately owned firearms in the United States, while our population is about 333 million. The U. S. has 5% of the world’s population, but we represent 46% of global private gun ownership.

Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, and now Uvalde. If nothing changes this time around, I predict we will continue down a demonic path to destruction of what was best in American society. The Atlantic magazine recently ran an article by Elizabeth Bruenig titled, A Culture That Kills Its Children Has No Future. Sadly, I agree. We used to believe in a common destiny and the kindness and compassion of a free, law-abiding people who understood their rights and also their obligations–a responsible and honorable people who cherished these values that they sent their fathers and sons off to war to defend. Every Memorial Day, we remember and honor their sacrifice, as we remember and honor them today. And with profound sadness, we must also share this day of remembrance with the fallen children of Uvalde and all of the other schools, churches and synagogues, hospitals, and grocery stores that have seen the slaughter of the innocent.