Bullet Points

Brace yourself for a shock.

There were two mass shootings in America this week.

Astounding, isn’t it? Mass shootings in the USA. I still can't believe it. We're such a peace-loving people. Or is that "piece-loving"?

First, we had a deranged man shoot 12 people to death in the Washington Navy Yard.

Then 13 people were shot in Chicago after a gunman with a military-grade assault rifle opened fire on a pickup basketball game.

One of the victims in the Chicago case included a three-year-old boy, proving that you’re never too young to take a bullet.

How is this possible? I mean, it’s not like we ever had anything like this ever happened before in this country.

We never had a psychopath shoot his way into a school and mow down innocent grade-schoolers and their teachers. We never had a nutbag walk into a dark theater and start shooting into the crowd.

And we never, ever have anyone shoot up an army base…or a shopping mall…or a church…or a Sikh temple..or a college campus.

No, the attacks in Washington and Chicago were a complete surprise and we had absolutely no way of predicting anything like this would ever take place in this sweet land of liberty.

But now that they have happened, now that we have all these dead and wounded people, I feel secure in the knowledge that our political leaders will take swift, appropriate action.

I have no doubt in my mind that the people in congress will put aside their political differences and work with the president to pass more stringent gun laws so we can at least minimize the chance of this kind of thing ever happening again.

I know they will act because they care about LIFE. Not “life,” mind you, but LIFE. They say it with the block letters because that proves how much they CARE.

They're always shrieking bloody blue murder about the fate of fetuses. Surely these God-fearing patriots will show the same concern about what goes on outside the womb so we won’t suffer through the candlelight vigils, and the images of victims’ friends and families sobbing in each others’ arms.

We won’t have to hear about the decent family people whose lives were brutally and needlessly snuffed out. No, we’re going to fix all that.

Oh, yes, I sure am proud to be an American.

Hollow Head

Honestly, I don’t know what to say anymore. All I can do is repeat what I've said for the last seven or so mass shootings: nothing will change and it'll happen again.

I'm getting numb to this insanity. Mass shootings are becoming a part of the evening news like baseball scores and weather reports.

I feel like I’m living in the middle of a vast shooting gallery. Any twisted son-of-a-bitch with a bug up his ass can blow away dozens of people and we don't do jumping jack shit about it.

For all their chest-thumping about LIFE, a lot of people in this country don’t seem to be troubled by all these DEATHS from gun violence.


Naturally, the gun lobby is trotting out the usual bumper sticker arguments about the Founding Fathers.

They’re spewing their rancid cliches about people killing people and only outlaws having guns.

They’ll blame computer games and movies, even though other countries with access to the same forms of entertainment don’t have the plague of mass shootings that we have.

They're saying it's really a mental health issue and jizzing their pants as their whores in congress gleefully slash healthcare funding.

They’re blaming everything but the guns. And they’re saying we need more guns, yes, even more guns, to protect ourselves.

That worked out so well in Michigan this week where two men literally shot each other to death in a road rage incident.

Both men had valid licenses to carry concealed weapons. And both men are now quite dead.

And the navy yard shooter may have started things off with a shotgun, but he then took a security guard's handgun to kill even more people. That doesn't really do much for the "good guy with a gun" argument.

But maybe the gun advocates are right. Maybe we should arm teachers and custodians and cab drivers and dentists and gynecologists and carpet cleaners.

Maybe we should find a way to arm fetuses so that when kids are born they can come flying out of their mothers va-jay-jays with both guns blazing.

Maybe then we’ll be safe.

Comments

Ron said…
"I'm getting numb to this insanity. Mass shootings are becoming a part of the evening news like baseball scores and weather reports."

How true that is, Rob! These shootings are becoming more and more prevalent every single day!

I have no idea what the answer is to this because I have a feeling people will FIND guns regardless, just like they find drugs on the street. My thing is that the anger and rage in this world today (and it's everywhere) is so scary because many people are walking around pissed all the time - I see it in Philly constantly. In fact, just yesterday when I was in Starbucks taking a coffee break, some angry many walked in and started yelling. And the person that I was sitting with looked at me and said, "Let's get out of here, what if he has a gun."

It's so sad because we're living in fear that someone is either going to pull out a gun and shoot, or set off a bomb.

Rob K said…
Hey, Ron, how's it going?

I don't think we're ever going to eradicate gun violence. That's just asking too much of this country.

However, I would like us as a nation try to make some effort in reducing the violence.

Let's get some of these horrific weapons off the streets, let's tighten up the background checks, and let's spend some money on mental health treatment instead of giving tax cuts to the rich.

Right now we're not doing anything and it's killing us--literally.
V said…
hey rob. it's really sad that every day people are dying/being shot by people with guns. it's all senseless to me and i can hardly talk about it because i just don't get it. i don't support violence of any kind, this includes war. life is not sacred any more. it means nothing for someone to pull out a gun or whatever and kill someone. i lost a lot of sleep by following the news and i can't do it anymore. i may read the headlines, but someone else may give me the details. can't stand it.
Rob K said…
Hey, Val:

No, life is not sacred any more. We're advancing with the technology, but reverting back to savagery.
Bijoux said…
Did my comment from Saturday not go through?
Rob K said…
No, Bijoux, apparently not. I don't recall seeing it. I'm sorry about this. Please feel free to comment again.
Bijoux said…
Ok, I will!

I've been following the Starbucks story about the CEO requesting people not carry in their stores. Gun advocates say that Starbucks will now be a 'target' for shooters.

I'd like to see some evidence that people carrying have stopped crimes, etc. I have never heard of such reports. Only store owners who had a gun behind the counter.
Rob K said…
The NRA is constantly claiming--and probably blaming the "librul media" for not reporting it.

I think it's a lot of hot air, just like everything else the NRA says.
What a wonderfully written post. I can hear the disillusion, sadness, hopelessness and loss - loss of a sense of pride in your country, which really hurts, apart from the needless waste of lives.

From outside the US, here's what most people seem to think: the gun lobby is nuts. It is clear to outsiders that things are not working out well for you there, and we are puzzled as to why your leaders do nothing.

I have been told that there is nothing in the constitution that explicity allows handguns for individuals simply because they want one, and that the much quoted clause intends for civilians to be allowed to 'bear arms' for the purposes of raising a militia when needed. I can't comment on that, but it seems likely to me. Times were so much different then, too, weren't they?

And I believe statistics show that in countries where gun ownership is not legal for all and sundry and guns are harder to buy, sure, we have atrocities committed by the disgruntled and the insane, but they tend to result in a lot fewer deaths. We've had shocking incidents like the madman running amok in a day nursery where many children and staff were stabbed and slashed by a knifeman. The differences are twofold: firstly when the police arrive they have a big advantage, they being the only ones with guns and 2) the victims tend to recover from knife wounds far more often than from gun wounds. Not so many die.

Let's see... would I rather take my chances with a knifeman or an assault rifle? Hmmm...

Rob K said…
Hey, Jay, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

The gun lobby is more than just nuts--they are money hungry. The NRA board of directors is made up of gun manufacturers--they'd give guns to babies if they could.

And you're right about the Constitution. The "right to bear arms" refers to a well-regulated militia.

And it was written at a time when it took 20 minutes to fire and reload a gun.

People will always find a way to kill each other--that's a given. But we don't have to make it obscenely easy for them to wipe groups of people at a time.

Stay safe!

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