Whenever a tragedy like the Arizona shooting that left six people — including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge — dead along with a Congresswoman seriously injured enters the national debate, we can be sure that extremists on all sides of the issue will emerge along with their instant solutions to long-standing national problems.
The usual fruitcakes — including Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, et. al, have weighed in along with those who want members of Congress packing heat on the House and Senate chambers and the expected “let’s dust off the Brady Bill” and ban anything with gun powder in it crowd.
That’s America for you. Wait for one of those traumatic national events to come along ever so often and then throw every band-aid solution they can come up with at the problem and then sit back in mock shock when none of the quick fixes work.
Amazingly, a nation founded on violence, nurtured by violence and driven daily by metaphors of violence never seems to understand that violent resolutions are the only way it can solve its problem.
We are a society driven by violence, one that thrives on confrontation in sports, political debate or even forensics. The goal is winning — at all costs — and any price. With such drivers as primary measures of success, it cannot become that much of a stretch when violence becomes a motivating factor to achieve a desired end.
If should not be that way — but it is — and it is a way of life cannot — and will not — be changed.
I agree the problem is systemic and that there is no one easy blame or cure, but there are steps in the right direction. Background checks and waiting periods for automatic weapon purchases in my mind does not equate to banning everything with gunpowder in it and there’s lot in between that and more of the same.
First of all, I wish someone would learn to spell properly in the heading.
Second, Doug adds to the atmosphere of violence by the name calling (fruitcakes). That is absolutely unnecessary. We all should just express our opinions without calling names and putting people down.
Dennis:
My apology about the typo in the headline. It’s not an adequate excuse but I’ve been writing for the last several weeks while taking a mixture of morphine and Valium for use as both a pain killer and muscle relaxer while undergoing rehab for a old back injury for has left me with multiple damaged disks and several badly frayed and and damaged nerves along with the possibility of not walking again. Writing, to me at least, good therapy, even with the typos. Most readers choose to send me an e-mail to point out the mistake. Others choose a more public method. Either way, I appreciate the heads up.
That’s pretty obvious Doug and you didn’t even have to get too detailed. I won’t either.
LIfe is an excercise in comparative insanity. There is a time to mourn and plenty to mourn about. When it starts to sound like exploitation, it probably is.
Might is right, even if it isn’t, and the scale doesn’t change the fact. We wouldn’t be in two wars for a decade if we had draft reform instead of draft repeal.
Gun control legislation won’t stop “nuts” from killing if they want to just as restraining orders don’t stop abusive men from harming women. When their violent minds are made up, it matters not.
Joanne: Strict gun control laws reduce gun violence, as evidenced by statistics in countries with such laws. It is more difficult to commit mass murder with a knife or similar weapon. Sadly, we don’t have that option in the U.S., even though the right to own firearms was created by our Founding Fathers for the defense of liberty by the individual states against a tyrannical government.
The same silly discussion over and over. We could have a law that requires muzzle loaders only. Those blunderbusters killed hundreds of thousands too. Run Forest Run.
Seriously, who promotes, finances, and distributes the latest, greatest, deadliest weapons? It’s not the civilians.
We couldn’t have a law that permits ownership of muzzleloaders, only, because the Second Amendment states “arms.” However, the promotion, financing, and distribution of weapons (and the reasons why) is definitely a discussion worth having.
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says ‘Love your enemies,’ he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. … The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.