Another day, another mass shooting in America. It's nothing new. Day after day the bullets fly. This time the finger of fate pointed at Dadeville, Alabama and a sixteenth birthday party. Tomorrow it could be... well anywhere it seems from "sea to shining sea". Maryland to Maine, Washington State to Wisconsin. It's truly, truly dreadful.
And what are The Republicans doing about the slaughter? They are making it worse. They have been making it easier to lawfully carry guns and they have been turning logic upside down - suggesting that the mass killings underline the efficacy of gun ownership. They often cite the second amendment to justify their resistance to any laws that might curtail gun ownership, leading to sensible checks and balances. They conveniently forget that the second amendment was hatched in very different times and was never intended to pave the way to mass killings.
A few minutes ago, the BBC reported this from Dadeville:-
Ben Hayes, a senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dadeville, told CNN: "We are going to pull through it well, we have a vigil soon, the community is coming together."
"We're going to sing, we're going to pray, and we're going to pray for these young people."
He added that "Nothing is going to change until we see hearts changed".
Presently, what happened in Dadeville remains unclear but I imagine that by tomorrow or the next day more light will be have been shed upon this particular mass shooting and who was responsible for it.
I think I know who was responsible for it. It was the lawmakers from different levels who made no effort to bring in sensible gun control laws and looked the other way when the funeral corteges passed by. And they will be responsible for the next mass shooting and the next until they see the light and start to make changes that will save lives.
I agree with you but see no light or hope at the end of this particular tunnel. Where the money is, the power is--in this country. Innocents will continue to get slaughtered while those who have loosened or completely abandoned reasonable gun safety laws will send "Thoughts and prayers." States do vary in the strictness of their laws although it doesn't prevent people from bringing weapons in from elsewhere. My state has the 10th strictest gun laws and is 12th in gun related deaths. (a B+) You can probably guess which states have the highest percentage of gun related deaths. (hint: they trend red and south)
ReplyDeleteThank you for this Margaret.
DeleteSadly, "thoughts and prayers" do not bring dead kids back to life so what use are they?
Very sad and sick situation with the gun ownership lobby.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet these bozos might go to church to praise the ruddy Lord!
Deletehttps://elections.bradyunited.org/take-action/nra-donations-116th-congress-senators
ReplyDeleteThe connection is disgusting.
DeleteHear, hear.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that Australia isn't plagued by guns in the same way.
DeleteI wonder if the change will come when those lawmakers experience deaths of children and grandchildren from a mass shooting? And have you seen the photos online of the gun owners with their dozens of guns proudly displayed? SO MANY guns per owner, even the children have guns! It's sickening.
ReplyDeleteOr will they grab their own guns and exact revenge thus perpetuating the problem?
ReplyDeleteThose who own many guns are the nutcases at the extreme. With effort from Washington, they could start to turn the tide, reducing mass killings.
DeleteThey will never change their second amendment YP. It's like asking the Labour Party to pledge an end to nuclear power and weapons. They won't do it.
ReplyDeleteYou can't heal the whole thing but every life saved is a victory in my book.
DeleteWe have a gun problem
ReplyDeleteHave you only just woken up Mr Penguin?
DeleteI despair of America. The trouble is it will never get resolved. Once Pandora's box has been opened, it will never get closed again. How do you stop people having guns, when you can readily buy them? And once they have them, how you can you expect them to hand every single one in, relying on their conscience. It aint gonna happen.
ReplyDeleteYou could make a determined effort to turn the tide and reduce gun killings.
DeleteI read the police chief quoted saying something like he hopes people don't judge the town or the people on the basis of this event. I'm not sure how we wouldn't judge a place where 16 year olds take weapons to birthday parties
ReplyDeleteThe incident will remain a scar upon the face of Dadeville for a hundred years or more.
DeleteSuch a sad state of affairs, but we have the same here with knife crime!
ReplyDeleteNo. It is not the same. Our issue is far smaller but still very worrying.
DeleteIt's disgusting because there are politicians, mostly on the right, who spin this into the "they're going to take your guns" fear and then do nothing about it; or they say this is a mental health issue and then do nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteI do know that in the states run by the GOP it is easier to get a gun license than it is to get a license to cut hair. And that speaks volumes.
The United States of Guns is real.
When I visited in past times - on ten occasions between 1972 and 2014, the USA seemed more hopeful and less divided, less plagued by the thought of gun killings.
DeleteIt is heartbreaking really. The answer is so obvious to so many people, and not one of us has the power to change what is. The people in power will continue to offer up thoughts and prayers. My Iris was telling me about going off to kindergarten next year, and she's so excited to ride the school bus. These things used to be such a milestone, something to be excited for. It was, unfortunately, the day of the Nashville school shooting, and what I felt inside was sick. Just sick.
ReplyDeleteI can understand where that sickness comes from. Little Iris deserves her innocence and her hope.
DeleteThis is probably the main thing embarrasses me about living in the USA. Trust me when I tell you that many, many, MANY of us are furious and terrified.
ReplyDeleteI know that Mary. Decent Americans are not the ones to blame.
DeleteWhen will they just ban the bloody things
ReplyDeleteIt seems that terrible events just increase the stubbornness.
DeleteI can never understand this. How many people have to die before the laws are changed? It took one incident here (and a similar one in NZ, I believe) and our government reacted and the gun laws were changed. Do people seriously consider their "right to bear arms" more important than innocent lives.
ReplyDeleteApparently they do!
DeleteI read it here, Neil, before I heard about it on the news. Bad news travels fast these days...
ReplyDeleteDadeville will come and go and then there'll be some place else. Over and over.
DeleteI know I wrote something here yesterday.....
ReplyDeleteYes it is there officer!
DeleteYou couldn't be more right. I've stopped watching the news. I now scroll through the headlines on a news feed and only read what I find interesting and tolerable for my spirit.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should make a point of rescuing ourselves for depressing news and anxiety.
DeleteAnd what's crazy, a sizable portion of Americans think every mass shooting is some kind of elitist-engineered propaganda event, designed to deprive law-abiding citizens of their constitutional right to gun ownership.
ReplyDeleteCrazy? Yes.
Truth is the first casualty of madness.
DeleteWell written, Neal. However I fear the "lawmakers" who can do something about this will never see the light. In the past day or two, two more people have died . . shot by different home owners who saw them as threats when they only had made a mistake and gone to a different house than the one they were seeking. There are too many guns in my country and seemingly no way to take them away. It is sad and seemingly hopeless.
ReplyDeleteEven if strict gun laws were suddenly introduced with an amnesty for handing guns in, the mass killings would continue but there would be LESS of them and maybe the mood would begin to change. I can dream.
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