“7 Dead in Shooting at Walmart,” “Club Q LGBTQ+ Shooting,” “4th of July Shooting in Highland Park.”. “Robb Elementary School in Ulvade Shooting.” “University of Virginia Shooting,” “Parkland MSD High School Shooting,” “Topps Supermaket in Buffalo Supermarket Shooting.”
It seems that every morning, we wake up to these headlines. Shootings, shootings, shootings….death, destruction, mayhem, and lives of those that survived, decimated…by shooting! And all we can say is “how sad,” We are praying for them,” or “what a pity.”or “my heart goes out to them.” Well, damnit, when are we going to to do something about it? When are we going to quit blaming mental illness, or misfits or grudges or bad childhoods or Mother’s Fetal alcohol syndrome or whatever else bullshit reason these things happen and start telling the truth and then actually start doing something about it?
There are a lot of problems in this country, (An obvious understatement), and I won’t even attempt to list them here. In my mind the three most important issues to take on are HATE, ANGER and GUNS!
Hate grows because of anger. The rhetoric spewed by our politicians, talking heads on TV, right wing groups, left wing groups, extremist, Twitter, Facebook, other social media and reported on by the media in general further fuels this anger that drives Hate. Daily, we listen to angry people expounding their hatred to their followers. After hearing this hate speech over and over and over again, some believe that they must act.
Recently, I read the short story below. It illustrates the effect on a recipient of anger.
There once was a young boy with a very bad temper. The boy’s father wanted to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence.
On the first day of this lesson, the little boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. He was really mad!
Over the course of the next few weeks, the little boy began to control his temper, so the number of nails that were hammered into the fence dramatically decreased.
It wasn’t long before the little boy discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Then, the day finally came when the little boy didn’t lose his temper even once, and he became so proud of himself, he couldn’t wait to tell his father.
Pleased, his father suggested that he now pull out one nail for each day that he could hold his temper.
Several weeks went by and the day finally came when the young boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.
“You have done very well, my son,” he smiled, “but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.”
“When you say or do things in anger, they leave permanent scars just like these. And no matter how many times you say you’re sorry, the wounds will still be there.
And that anger becomes hate.
Hate is defined by our friends at Miriam Webster as “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury.” “extreme dislike or disgust.” Hate is a crime in itself because of what it causes a person to do. Very self-centered people hate since they feel that only THEIR way of life or THEIR belief system or THEIR race, color religion or creed is the only one that should exist. Whether it is the hatred of Blacks, Jewish people, Muslims, LGBTQ , immigrants, poor ,impoverished people or even rich folks, this hatred is derived from jealousy, fear, or the inability to grasp that people are people that have different opinions and should be free to express them and have their own belief system.
But what about the 1st Amendment? It protects Free Speech! The First Amendment allows us to speak our mind and stand up for what we believe in. However, the limits on free speech are rooted in the principle that we're not allowed to harm others to get what we want. Some Scholars say that hate speech is protected…others don’t. But if crimes committed out of hate are unlawful and prosecuted as hate crimes, then it makes sense to me that the same should apply to hate speech!
ANGER becomes HATE and is acted out by the act of SHOOTING. And the common element of Shooting is GUNS! We as voters are responsible for the mass shootings in this country. We continue to elect people who don’t believe that sensible gun laws are necessary to help ensure the safety of our people. Until we refuse to elect anybody to Congress, State Legislatures, County, City and Local offices that doesn't believe that sensible gun laws should be put into place , we will continue to have daily shootings.
I am not suggesting taking away your friggin’ guns! Sportsmen, Hunters, Target shooters, handguns for personal protection should be allowed, but controlled. Age limits, licensing, background checks, education and insurance requirements should all be required in order to buy a gun. We require most of those things just to be able to drive a car! If you buy a car, you have to be able to show a driver’s license and insurance before you can drive it off the lot. In a lot of places it is harder to get a license to fish then it is to buy a gun!
There is no need for anybody to have an assault weapon that fires multiple rounds of ammunition unless they are in the military fighting a war. At one time, we had a ban on assault rifles and statistics show that we had far less mass shootings events then the daily occurrences we have now. But we elected people that let that ban expire!! Why? Because the gun lobby poured billions of dollars into the campaigns of those that would let it expire. Pure greed by the gun industry and thirst for power by those that want to be in office. These people do not serve our country. They only serve themselves.
The NRA – National Rifle Association - is the biggest Terrorist Group in our Country!
(Besides being corrupt!)
2nd Amendnent advocates will scream and holler that they have a right to own any gun they want. I have read the 2ndAmendment and I can’t find that right outside of a well regulated Militia. The Supreme Court ruled that citizens may keep a handgun at home for self-defense in District of Columbia v. Heller, and courts across the country have reaffirmed that gun safety laws are constitutional and not in conflict with Second Amendment rights. More than 1,400 Second Amendment challenges have been decided since District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark 2008 case in which the Supreme Court established an individual right to keep a handgun at home but also emphasized that the right is subject to various forms of regulation. Yet, our lawmakers refuse to take action and pass those regulations
Stop the madness and refuse to elect ANYBODY that will not support sensible, safe Gun Laws.
And The Journey Continues………
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