Massacres in the United States and elsewhere are occurring with such accelerating frequency that some people, sadly, have come to view them as the “new normal.”
We should never, ever come to dismiss such violence as any sort of “new normal,” which implies a defeatist acceptance.
As Hillary Clinton said after the San Bernardino slaughter, “I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now.”
It’s a pity Republican presidential candidates did not react with similar outrage. Almost every one of them called for prayers for the victims and their families, which is a good thing to do, of course. But they stopped at prayer, almost as a way to avoid mentioning the appalling problem of guns and gun violence in this nation.
The giant tabloid headline in the New York Daily News said it best: “God Isn’t Fixing This.” And underneath that headline were these words: “As the latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end the gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes.”
Whether the San Bernardino killings would have been prevented by stiffer gun laws (most probably not), it should still be a reminder for us to do something about gun violence, especially on the heels of several recent other mass killings, including the lethal attack at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.
On the Morning Joe show the day after the San Bernardino killings, presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, smiling with a mixture of sarcasm and condescension, indulged in all kinds of ludicrous verbal contortions to cut down any suggestions from host Joe Scarborough for new gun laws. We should enforce the gun laws now on the books, she said. Then she added this Alice in Wonderlandish rationale: No, we shouldn’t deny gun purchases to people whose names are on the “No Fly” list because some of those people are on that list by mistake. The government, she said, is so stupid it can’t be trusted to do anything, which begs the question: If government is so stupid, why does Fiorina so badly want to become a part of it. Apparently, she is stupid enough to fit right in.
Scarborough became visibly rattled and impatient during his verbal exchange with Fiorina. A former U.S. House member from the Florida panhandle, he told Fiorina that part of Gulf-Coast Florida is often dubbed the “Redneck Riviera.” People there cherish their guns and their hunting, as Scarborough himself does. But, Scarborough was quick to add the gun-owners he knows back home are overwhelmingly in favor of universal background checks for gun purchases. Fiorina, sporting her snide smile, was having none of it.
Scarborough explained as a legislator and gun-rights advocate, he had a 100 percent positive rating from the National Rifle Organization. What turned the tide for him, he said, is when 20 children were slaughtered by a deranged loser at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Scarborough is now in favor of common-sense restrictions concerning guns. He also knows such restrictions will not result in the government “taking our hunting guns away,” as so many gung-ho gun lobbyists claim, nor will reasonable restrictions keep any law-abiding citizen from purchasing guns for protection.
Last week, politicians by the score, including some Democrats, trotted out the lamebrain excuse new gun laws won’t stop all these killings, therefore if they can’t stop all killings (but just some), nothing whatsoever should be legislated to restrict the easy accessibility of guns. They love to parrot that fools’-gold nugget of nonsense: “Guns don’t kill people.” They also love to claim jerks intent on mayhem will steal their guns or use bombs. True enough, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were black-market crackdowns, iron-clad restrictions for gun shows, resulting in fewer ill-gotten guns to steal?
Next day, Fiorina let this pearl of wisdom fall from her lips: “Now is not the time to call for law-abiding citizens to put down their guns.” Who said it was? I didn’t. Did you? Who did?
As Scarborough has said many times in the past, Congress will not approve gun legislation, not any time soon, because too many of its members, with constant pressure from the Gun Lobby, have embraced the notion (and convinced gullible constituents to embrace it) that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct, that gun ownership is an absolute right and must never be limited, as if there are any absolute rights in the U.S. Constitution.
Scarborough, who is a very intelligent conservative, often berates his fellow Republicans about their bullheaded stubbornness against any and all gun restrictions. He’s even been accused of being a traitor to his party.
It’s a crying shame there aren’t more conservatives like Scarborough – men and women who have the guts to point out the connection between so many mass killings and easy access to guns, including the military-assault kinds of weapons that should be banned once and for all. Yes, it’s a national disgrace there aren’t more men and women who articulate the problem, then do something about it – men and women who do what they’re supposed to do – represent us rather than gun manufacturers. But, no, that’s not going to happen, not when the Gun Lobby rules the roost. This “new normal,” the slaughtering, will continue.
