Just pull the trigger. Problem solved.

The latest group of portraits for our project arrived Monday. They were dropped off by the artists. The artists told me many stories of their interactions with the families and friends of the victims. There were tales of their lives, and adventures, their jobs, their hobbies, and the holes left in the hearts of their loved ones. There were also the unbearably sad tales of the circumstances of the shootings that caused their deaths.

Monday was also the day that police shot and killed the young autistic man Walter Wallace, Jr.

As I was hanging the portraits I was privileged to spend time with each of the artworks, to spend time with each of these souls and think about all that was lost and for all the wrong reasons.

Pulling a trigger is the easiest way to solve a problem, apparently. Mistaken identify? Pull the trigger, confirm later. Cut off in traffic? Pull the trigger, drive away. Robbery? Pull the trigger and then find out there was little work taking. Disagreement? Pull the trigger, you win. Mentally ill person seems to be out of control? Pull the trigger, it’s the easiest choice of all the many, many other choices you could have made.

There are too many heavy hearts, too many broken hearts caused by a problematic relationship with guns in our society.

Thank you to our artists and our family and friend participants who help make our exhibitions a bittersweet memorial to their lost loved ones and an urgent call to action for all who see them.

Laura Madeleine