It seemed like there was one assassination after another in a short span of years back when I was in my late teens, high school years. Kennedy, both President John F. and Robert, and the unforgettable Martin Luther King, Jr. I couldn’t comprehend it then, can’t wrap my head around it any better today. It interests me a bit that I should pop in to my own blog and do a post, and find that it has a connection with the previous two, but there is much more to this than just gun control.

Martin Luther King was only 39 years young when he was assassinated in Memphis, there in support of a sanitation strike. He was shot through the jaw, and his spinal cord severed.

King was concerned about the unequal treatment of minorities, including his own people, the African-Americans. He lead a march in Washington with a group he organized called “Poor People’s Campaign” made up of poor from various races. King had been to Memphis in March of 1968, the month before his assassination in a march that ended in violence and the death of a teenager.

In April, he returned to Memphis, and delivered what has become his famous and wonderful “Promised Land” speech, and then had his life cut short the next day, April 4, 1968.

Escaped convict, James Earl Ray, was convicted of his murder. There remains a lot of speculation about whether or not Ray did actually commit the murder, whether or not there is a greater conspiracy, King’s wife and children even eluded to a plot that may have even included US government. I remember well watching the news and seeing the riots that broke out in cities throughout the US by those heartbroken by his death. I don’t think Martin Luther King would have wanted such a response, he was a man of peace, but those were difficult times in the history of our country, in the history of Black Americans.

But confusion is not where I want to go with this post. I want to again pay tribute to a great man…his words alone stand out in the midst of all the chaos that came before, and after that day 40 years ago…words like those in his Birmingham Jail letter and his wonderful speech made 40 years ago yesterday.

Here is a video of and interview showing Martin Luther King’s explanation of his thoughts on non-violence:

Yesterday I posted some thoughts on gun control, and thought it interesting to be reminded that today is the anniversary of the shooting of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was one of my favorite Presidents, and I know I’m not alone in that assessment.

As most know who follow recent history, he was shot by John Hinckley, Jr, after he spoke at a labor meeting in Washington, DC. At the time of the shooting, Reagan wasn’t even aware he was shot, and was driven by secret service to the hospital, where he walked himself into the hospital, later to find out that he had been shot in a lung, which collapsed…the bullet had missed his heart. He was a positive healthy man, 70 years of age at the time, and in good spirits through the ordeal. The next day he carried on his presidential duties from his hospital bed.

Others were shot as well, and recovered from their wounds; but it was the White House Press Secretary James Brady who received the most critical injury, and almost died after being shot through his eye. He sustained brain damage, but went on to be a great advocate for gun control. In 1993 the “Brady Bill” passed through congress, which required a 5 day waiting period and background check for gun buyers. It was President Clinton that signed this bill into law.