SOUND OFF! 12/27/21 Guns, Guns, Guns

How many heart-wrenching mass shootings have there been in the United States over the past few decades? How many times has the public risen up and screamed for a sensible gun policy? How many times have we marched, filling the streets for blocks? How many petitions have we signed demanding that our government representatives heed the will of the people instead of cravenly kowtowing to the gun lobby? How many times have we come close to getting Congress’s ear, only to have our voices drowned out by the jingle-jingle of the filthy lucre from the powerful, vicious NRA?

Enough is enough! We The People are sick of gun violence. We are sick of our cowardly Representatives and Senators catering to gun manufacturers and their astroturf gun lobbies. We are sick of turning on the news only to learn of another bloodbath. We are sick of living in fear that our children may not come home from school, or that we may not be safe in our work places, our churches, our venues of entertainment. We are sick of going through the cycle of mass shooting, public outcry, sensible gun bills, opposition by the well-heeled firearms lobby, Congress refusing to act, and then waiting for the next slaughter.

After the mass shooting at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, thousands of students across the country staged walkouts and the March For Our Lives. Survivors of the Douglas High slaughter formed the Never Again MSD PAC. How did conservatives react? With baloney about paid “crisis actors” and the same old tired pro-gun propaganda. This incident should have turned the tide on the gun control debate. Indeed, numerous incidents should have been that watershed. Yet here we are mourning yet more senseless massacres, while yellow-bellied politicians belch their insincere codswallop about “thoughts and prayers.” They can take their empty thoughts and prayers and shove them where the sun shineth not.

This past year we had two horrific mass shootings in March, one in Atlanta that took 8 lives and shortly after that one in Boulder one that took 10. The FedEx shooting in Indianapolis in April claimed 9 more. A shooting in San Jose during May left 10 more dead. And those are just a few of the mass shootings that took place in the “great” US of A.

Gun nuts pound on the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution, forgetting two important things. First, they pay attention to only the second clause, conveniently forgetting the first one about a “well-regulated militia.” Originally, the Founding Fathers didn’t want a standing army; they wanted a citizen’s militia that could be ready at any moment to take up arms against this nation’s foes. Second, in the late 18th century most guns were muskets, with a firing rate of once per minute, maybe twice if one was exceptionally quick (and lucky). Science fiction was not a thing back then, so they could never have anticipated repeat-action rifles, let alone assault rifles and machine guns.

The firearms manufacturers’ stooges love to spew such bromides as “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Sure, guns don’t act on their own – but when they are easily available, they make it a lot easier for bugnuts to take more lives. Can you imagine the Virginia Tech shooter going after students and teachers with a butcher knife? Can you imagine the Las Vegas shooter firing arrows into the crowd? Can you imagine the Pulse Nightclub killer going after patrons with an axe?

Excuses about violent video games, TV and movies don’t fly, either – nor about mental illness. Every country on this planet harbors people who have mental issues, and just about everybody has access to violent entertainment. Many of them have access to guns, albeit strictly limited. When was the last time you heard about some wacko causing a bloodbath in London, or Toronto, or Tokyo, or some country that has a sensible gun policy? Mass shootings do happen outside of the United States, but they are rare; and at least other governments do something constructive when they happen. After the 1996 massacre, Australia banned private ownership of assault rifles. They haven’t had a mass shooting since. Nudge-nudge-wink-wink!

There is nothing wrong with owning a gun for personal protection or sport. (If you object to hunting, that is another story, which will be told another time.) However, there is no reason why a regular citizen should own a military-grade weapon. As for the idea that a citizen’s militia could take on a modern army, don’t make me laugh! Can’t you just see a bunch of poorly-organized yahoos armed with AR-15s and shotguns going up against well-trained, well-organized soldiers who have not just assault rifles but also bazookas, grenade launchers, tanks, cannons, flame throwers, drones, etc. at their disposal – to say nothing of practice and maybe actual experience in urban warfare? A lot of them have probably watched Red Dawn a few times too many.

We The People are sick and tired of this! We are NOT going to be silenced, we are NOT going to be drowned out by the gun industry’s dark money, we are NOT going to be ignored anymore! We are going to fight, and keep fighting, until Congress listens to us and stands up to the gun industry’s goons. It is only a matter of time before the mighty oak of the NRA finally meets the windstorm that will topple it over.