We Are Mourning in America But Actually We Should Be Mad as Hell
We are mourning in America. Again.
We are mourning the deaths of 17 students and adults after Wednesday’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
We are mourning for the parents who lost children, siblings who lost brothers and sisters, friends who lost friends.
We are mourning the loss of another piece of our picked-over souls, as we find ourselves thinking unimaginable things like:
“Thank God my kid isn’t in school anymore.”
“Thank God it didn’t happen here.”
“Thank God he didn’t kill even more people.”
“Thank God it wasn’t me.”
Once you get that awful litany out of the way, it is time to get mad in America. Again.
Mad about the politicians who mouth all of that empty malarkey about their thoughts and their prayers and “Oh, it’s a mental-health problem” while doing nothing about the semiautomatic weapons and the ammunition that make mass shootings possible.
And very, very mad that this is who we are.
This is America, everyone. A place where you can get killed just by going to school. Or attending a concert. Or dancing in a night club. Or getting off a plane at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood airport.
This is America, where so many politicians are so deep into the pocket of the National Rifle Association there has been no national shift in gun laws since 20 children were killed in Sandy Hook in 2012. And where so many people are so crazy about their weapons, some of them have convinced themselves that Sandy Hook never happened.
President Trump said today that he would make school safety a top priority when he meets with the nation’s governors later this month. He said to the people of Parkland, Fla., “We are here for you — whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain.”
He never mentioned guns.
I wonder what that aid, comfort and safety is going to look like. I am pretty sure I know what it won’t look like.
It will not look like a national ban on the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle or on large-capacity magazines, a combination that has no purpose other than to kill a lot of people very quickly. A gun that no average citizen needs but almost anyone is able to get.
I know this because the AR-15 was the weapon of choice in the mass shootings in Sandy Hook, the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino (2015), the Pulse nightclub in Orlando (2016), and the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas (2017).
It was also the legally obtained instrument of carnage used on Wednesday by Nikolas Cruz to kill 17 people in Parkland, Fla.
So unless the president’s plan includes doing something about semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines, he will not be giving the suffering people of Parkland, Fla., what they need.
And unless his plans include undoing the 2018 federal budget’s 26 percent cut to community health services, many people suffering from mental-health issues (which Trump and gun-supporting politicians insist are the real cause of mass shootings) will not be getting what they need.
And unless your plans include moving to another country — almost any other country, really — you are not going to get any relief from the pain of living in a nation that values guns over people.
In America, we have the highest rate of murder or manslaughter by firearm in the developed world. We make up 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns. In 2013, our gun-related deaths included 21,175 suicides, 11,208 homicides and 505 deaths caused by accidental discharge.
So we can crow about our Olympic medals and how we are the country responsible for Google and Apple and Starbucks, but our unwillingness to deal with the sickening problem of gun violence is a shame that throws a grim shadow over all of our triumphs.
Whenever we have another mass shooting, someone says we should not be politicizing a tragedy. But as long as people continue to vote for politicians who continue to allow guns and ammunition to be readily available, this is a political issue.
And as long as we refuse to take our fingers off the trigger, America will never be truly great.
We should never be good with that.
Adamfoxie🦊 Celebrating 10 years of keeping an eye on the world for You
adamfoxie.blogspot.com brings you the important LGBT news others ignore. Does not repost from gay sites [except out.sports.com only when importat athlete comes out].Will post popular items with a different angle or to contribute to our readers🦊
Comments