“One failed attempt at a shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings and no change in our regulation of guns.”
That’s a quote from John Oliver, TV comedian, but it’s not funny. Those are words that should light the fires of shame under all of us, especially gun lobbyists and the gutless politicians who cater to them rather than to the loved ones of people massacred by bullets.
Once again, there is another mass killing, the one in a community college in Oregon. Nine good people murdered by a gun-crazy fiend. Others injured for life with scars – both physical and psychological. Once again, loved ones are calling for reasonable gun-safety measures: universal background checks, closing loopholes at gun shows, requiring stricter licensing polices.
And once again, it’s a disgusting thought that nothing will get done, nothing will change and these horrible mass murders will continue.
What’s outrageous is a kind of criminal negligence on the part of hand-wringing crocodile-tear reactionaries. It happens every time in the days following a mass killing. “Oh, my goodness, yes, it’s a terrible tragedy again,” they whimper. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no way to prevent these incidents. Oh me, oh my, it’s so complicated!”
That is how, for one example, TV commentator Joe Scarborough whined and wheedled, almost in hand-wringing hysteria, on his Oct. 5 “Morning Joe” show. So complicated!
It’s not complicated. It should be a no-brainer to enact legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill, unstable, deranged people. Other countries have done it, and some of our own states have done it, like Massachusetts. It is not complicated, and it is not impossible. Will sensible gun laws stop all gun crimes, including multiple shootings in schools? Of course not, and no gun-safety advocate has ever claimed so. Mental-illness issues, yes, are a big part of the epidemic of killing. However, if gun restrictions stop even one mass shooting from happening, they will have been worth it.
After a hideous mass shooting, Australia passed good gun laws, including a massive gun buy-back. We should do the same.
The following is a YouTube comment posted after President Obama’s impassioned speech last week about gun violence. It’s from a guy who dubs himself “RomeoKilo.”
“I’m an Australian and guess what? I own a gun. Actually, I own many guns. Legally. All I had to do was have a police background check (to ensure I wasn’t criminal or crazy), attend a firearms safety course (to ensure I wasn’t an idiot) and have a genuine reason to own them (a hunting permit or so I could join a sporting shooters club) . . . Sure, when the laws changed in the 90s, I was pissed to lose my semi-auto rifles, but guess what? I got over it. You know why I got over it? Because every single day my kids go to school or my wife goes to work or I go to the movies or I go to the mall, it never once crosses my mind that they or I won’t come home because one nut job got himself a rifle . . . I would think a check before handing out a firearm was a no-brainer. But hey, if the leader of your country can’t fix this, YouTube comments sure as hell won’t.”
Dear Mr. Romeo Kilo,
Our leader, our president, is trying to fix this. He has been trying to fix it for a very long time. Blame our legislators, not our president.
So, therefore, legislators, you gutless wonders, why don’t all of you listen – for once – to the loved ones of the slaughtered innocents. Listen to RomeoKilo and others happy with the gun restrictions in their countries, their own states. Then heed what they are saying and have the guts, for once, to pass uniform federal laws that will help protect us and our loved ones from this accelerating gun-crazed insanity.
