This country is really, really sick. I am not sure I am not talking about a country which can continually produce nutjobs that believe they need to solve their grievances by taking out guns and blowing away innocent people. Yes, every country has the lunatics, such as Norway, for example, but this country seems to have more than our fair share.
But again, what I am talking about is the fact that these types of events are so damn commonplace. They seem to happen several times a year now. And I will absolutely goddamn guarantee that this event will be all but forgotten within six months, just like the shooting at Virginia Tech was. Just like the horrific shooing of Gabby Giffords at a campaign event outside a shopping mall in Tucson. Those have all but been forgotten, except when someone brings up Giffords every now and then.
Any attempt by anyone to actually DO anything about gun violence in this country will be met with overwhelming opposition, and the attempt will crumble. Any attempt will be labeled as “Political Opportunism” and “Government Overreach.” The country, as a whole (which is different than a majority of the population, because that doesn’t factor in money, the NRA, and political timidity), would rather have these sickening events a couple of times a year where countless innocent people die or come through the event with horrible physical and psychic scars, than actually curtail anyone’s easy access to as many guns as they want. THAT is what is important in this country. Innocent lives are not important in the face of letting crazy people have guns.
Don’t give me that crap about statistics. I can show you just as many statistics about how having guns in someone’s home increases the change, by a large amount, of someone getting shot accidently.
Don’t give me that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” No, guns do kill people. That’s the predominate reason that many guns are manufactured and sold. Sure, there are rifles and shotguns made specifically for hunting of animals (which I think is cruel and absurd, but do recognize it as a legitimate form of “recreation”). But most guns are made to kill people.
I feel so badly, just like I do after every shooting. Nothing will happen. People will wring their hands and say, “how horrible.” And other people will immediately go into their defensive/pre-emptive offensive mode, ready to stomp on any attempt to do anything about curtailing gun violence. And absolutely nothing will happen.
This is the norm. People die in car crashes, no one wants to take away people’s cars. (I have actually heard that one as an argument.) Therefore, by extension, why worry about a few nuts with guns which we can’t do anything about anyway? Don’t concern yourself that we haven’t actually TRIED to do anything. We just know that we can’t solve the problem.
So, let’s just forget about this, shall we? Good. Too bad about all those kids that were killed and injured because they wanted to see the new Batman movie. That’s just how it goes.
I hate this country.
UPDATE: This is in response to the first comment I received on my post, only about 10 minutes after I hit post. I thought about addressing this "argument" in my original post, but I was so upset and in a hurry that I didn't go there. Not that it would have mattered to those people who think that the best/only solution to gun violence in this country is to arm EVERYONE. Yep, sure can't see any problems with that.... No, I am sure that drunken disputes at 2 a.m. in a bar that currently only results in broken teeth and bloody knuckles would NEVER result in a gun fight. Just like the case of Trayvon Martin in Florida didn't end up with a 17 year old kid dead because some hot shot with a gun and a chip on his shoulder (who wasn't even drunk at the time) decided he was going to instigate something. No, guns certainly don't empower people with feelings of control, machismo and invulnerability. No, and I am sure that when something did come up, no more innocent bystanders would be hurt or killed in the crossfire. 20 people shooting in a dark movie theater with smoke bombs and tear gas going off? No, no chance of anyone else getting hurt.
Goddamn, I cannot understand this country. People have lost sight of all perspective and ideology is REQUIRED to drive all responses anymore. No logic. No understanding of anyone's problems other than their own, either real or imaginary. Only mindless tribalism. "They" are against this, so "we" MUST be for it! And vis versa.
I still maintain that the 2nd Amendment was written to address the issue of the government being able to raise a fighting force (i.e., "militia") very quickly, as there wasn't a standing army back then. To me, that's simple logic. But a huge percentage of the people in this country believe that it means that anyone, even those with a history of domestic violence and mental illness, should be allowed to have as many guns as they want, without any government "interference" at all. It's perfectly fine to have to go through mandatory training and getting a drivers license to drive a car, but guns? Hey, it's all good. No regulations necessary.
And I am just as sure that I will get more crazy comments like that first one. I may end up using my authority as owner of the blog to delete those comments, of course.... You want to advocate arming the entire country? Go get your own damn blog.
UPDATE: I revised the number of dead in the title from 14 to 12. Initial reports on events like these are always confused/confusing and will always be subject to correction after things settle down a bit.
UPDATE: Ah, great. The shooter booby-trapped his apartment. That's just great.... This guy really meant to go out in a blaze of glory, or whatever that amounted to in his sick, twisted mind. I don't care how badly anyone may think that "society" or the government has treated them. There is absolutely no justification for this.
No comments:
Post a Comment