Mass Shootings, A Terrorism Problem

Mass Shootings, A Terrorism Problem

By James Moore

A Borderline Distraction Won’t Help 

I live a few short miles away from where the Borderline mass shooting took place. Some people say it hurts more when it happens so close to home. I guess that depends who you are. For me, every mass shooting hits home.  Sandy Hook was gut wrenching.  Columbine devastating. But then so have all the others which consists of a list so long the names are becoming a blur. This is what happens when our leaders brainwash the ignorant into thinking we are under a terrorist attack from horrible things like caravans that must be stopped by building a wall. No border wall would have stopped the carnage in Thousand Oaks or any of our other mass shootings because the killers were all made in America.

Facts Are Pointless  

In the two decades since Columbine, the mass shootings have not stopped. We have all seen the statistics.  If you are of reasonable mind, they do  more than concern you; they make you demand we see changes made to decrease their likelihood in the future. If you aren’t, you think the Second Amendment  the most sacred words ever written and believe the only way to stop gun violence is by arming more good guys. 

Another Gun For A Good Guy

Our most recent mass shooter was a good guy. A decorated ex-marine who came home unable to cope with what he saw in battle. It’s safe to say if an NRA controlled congress can find the funds to build a border wall, they can find the funds to protect the likes of the innocent who were gunned down at the Borderline. Ah, but the GOP is not about compassion nearly as much as they are about fear and solving any problem with a show of force. No wonder mass shootings keep increasing. Our top down leadership is one that says if 300,000,000 guns are not enough to curb gun deaths, then we need to arm more people.

 What They Forget

 Yes, the Second Amendment allows for citizens to own fire arms.  Gun worshipers seem to think this means we should be allowed to own as many guns as we want and any type that is made. They will tell you the Second Amendment just says guns so any and all guns are okay.  To them, mass shootings have nothing to do with guns.  That’s like saying golf has nothing to do with clubs.

 The Founding Fathers

What these gun nuts forget is that same amendment calls for the maintaining of a well-regulated militia, something none of these clowns are part of, or should ever be part of.  Our well-regulated militia is now our military and local police, two things we did not have at the time of the Constitution. However, we can’t begin to stop mass shootings when gun worshipers think it is more important to build a wall than it is to have the funds for a sufficient police force. We can’t stop them without the funds to adequately deal with the mentally ill. We also can’t stop mass shootings if owning a gun takes less responsibility that it does to own a pet.

Their Arguments Only Deflect

A gun supporter once told me the reason it is called the Second Amendment is because our founding fathers thought it was our most important right. Oh, boy. This person went on to explain how he  should not be punished because he is a responsible gun owner. Odds are, you are more likely to become a mass shooter than a responsible gun owner if you believe as this idiot believes.

Have A Cigarette

Just the other day, another one from the, “Guns don’t kill,” camp pointed out how cigarettes kill more people each year than guns.  I know I would sleep better if I knew our kids had to deal with the threat of a mass smoking instead of a mass shooting at school.  I’d rather see a young man in a dark hoodie try to enter a place of business and toss lit cigarettes or warm cans of beer at patrons instead of smoke grenades, and bullets fired from an AR-15.

Reasonable and Responsible Gun Owners

 Not everyone who owns a gun is a nut.  There are many reasonable and responsible gun owners who care just as much as I do about ending mass shootings.  The reasonable person wants sensible waiting periods before purchasing a gun.  They agree that outlawing automatic weapons and any device that increases a gun’s fire power should be outlawed.  They see no need for hollow tip bullets in the hands of the public. Furthermore, most agree that it makes sense to regularly pass a fire arms test to own a weapon.  They also believe all guns should be locked up and kept out of reach of children. None of these things should even be up for debate.

Personal Freedom and Responsible Leadership

All of these are reasonable restrictions and limits that protect all of our rights. Placing more regulations on guns is not an attack on personal freedom, it is responsible leadership. However, when the president of the United States believes he can “shoot someone on 5th Avenue” in cold blood and in broad daylight and get away with it, we are bound to see more mass shootings.  And after each new mass shooting our citizens run out and  buy  more guns.

A Cop Out Excuse

Finally, to say this is just the way America will be and we cannot change our situation, is a cop-out. The message it sends to the families of victims of mass shootings is that the dead weren’t important enough for us to check the national consciousness. We are a nation that now accepts that we are always at war with bad guys abroad. Will we soon accept mass shootings as natural an occurrence as the sun rising and setting, or child size caskets being lowered into the earth as common as snow in winter?

The GOP Congress Owes The NRA

We can change this outrage, if we are willing to make some obvious choices. These should not be hard choices. But the rhetoric from the NRA and it’s well-funded congressional support wing creates so much noise that Congress is paralyzed.

Knowing When to Say No

But, a new coalition is forming on the left, a younger group of candidates who refuses NRA or PAC money.  More and more people are victims of gun violence.  More and more people know someone who has died from gun violence. Parents are afraid their child will die in a school shooting, or be killed at a concert.  People directly effected by gun violence and the fear of gun violence, will bring the change this country needs. As of today there have been 304 mass shootings in the last 311 days. There is a severe backlash mounting against the NRA and the “everyone needs a dozen guns” crowd.  It hasn’t happened yet, but the day is coming, so don’t give up.