Today is Nov 1st, the day after Halloween. Today, kids all around the country are waking up with sugar hangovers, an annual rite of passage for kids preparing them for waking up with real hangovers when they get older. Today, Halloween decorations will already look sad and tired, and ready for their long slumber in attics and basements, until next year. Today, the Christmas season begins in earnest, stubbornly kept at bay up to this point by witches and skeletons (although for a lot of retailers, that ship has already sailed).

Today is also Dias de los Meurtos, the annual Mexican Day of the Dead. For those who believe and practice, it's a day of remembrance of those loved ones who have passed. Families set up an "ofrenda", a kind of altar with photos, candles, flowers, and some sweets of those who have gone to the great beyond. It's to ensure that they have not vanished from the family's memories, and is both somber and celebratory.

For me, that would mean my mother, most of my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and a cousin. For countless families in the U.S. who have been victims of gun violence, it means children, siblings, and spouses.

Death by Gun is the leading cause of death among children in the U.S., more than disease, car accidents, or other injuries. Last year, over 48K U.S. citizens died by bullet, with over half of them by suicide.

Of course, it's the mass shootings that capture the headlines. Most recently, 18 people were murdered in Maine last week, by an Army reservist with mental health issues. Despite those issues being reported, he still had access to a civilian version of an assault weapon. Once again, "thoughts and prayers" were generously handed out as a substitute for any type of actual action to prevent this from reoccurring over and over and over.

Once again, the gun lobby and its apologists declare gun control is not the answer, while they express fake "concern" over mental health.

Once again - nothing gets done to address mental health problems. Republicans don't want to help people with their physical health, as their opposition to "socialized medicine" has made clear. Mental health? Their answer is "don't be such a wuss".

So for today, let's try to remember those who have passed, those whose lives have been cut short, and those left behind trying to make sense of the world, while families seemingly from another planet look forward to that shiny new gun underneath the Christmas tree.