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| Is this what the American future looks like? (New Yorker) |
OK - it isn’t that simple. Obviously. It’s just that it is
becoming so prevalent in our world today, that it almost seems that way.
The question is, ‘What can we do about it?’ ‘What is the
cause and how can we stop it from happening again?’
First let me dispense with the political ‘explanations’. If
your are tempted to blame the current President for his perceived racist, anti-immigrant,
anti Muslim, antisemitic rantings, it would be just as foolish as blaming 9/11 on the existence of
Israel. Does anyone really think Israel is to blame for that - even though it
might be logically argued that if Israel never existed, 9/11 would never have
happened? Besides, the shooter in El Paso said he was anti immigrant long before Trump became President.
I’m not saying that the President’s rhetoric helped matters. I am saying mass murder is not as much about what public individuals say as it is about the fact that mass murderers have mental disorders. That - and the easy availability
of guns is where the real problem lies.
That said, I think it would behoove the President to not
only condemn these shootings in the strongest possible terms - as he already has, but to make it absolutely clear in irrefutable ways that he is not anti – any of those things he is accused of. Just his saying he isn’t - is not enough. Not after over 2 years of that kind of rhetoric.
Just to take one example off the top of my head - that of immigrants. The President should go out of his way in welcoming
all immigrants that come here legally and demonstrate that by singling out some of the numerous actual immigrants (especially Hispanics)
that have contributed mightily to this country.
And - I cannot emphasize this enough - he should STOP THAT KIND OF HATEFUL RHETORIC ONCE AND
FOR ALL! It has no place in the halls of power. I should add that this goes both ways. The President’s political opponents need to stop their over-the-top anti Trump rhetoric as well.
But as I said, you cannot blame him for something a deranged
mass murderer has done. Doing that is just politics at its worst. The people
who commit mass murder cannot be explained away so easily. It takes a special kind
of mental derangement that can move someone to get up one day and shoot indiscriminately at innocent people.
The question remains, what can be done about this? How do we
stop the bloodshed? Even in the unlikely event that the President did what I suggested, it would very likely not stop the next mass murder.
We must get to the bottom of the kind of mental disorder
mass murderers are affected by. We need to be able to more readily identify
them before they do any damage. We need to get to them before they get to us. If there was ever a worthy government expenditure - at this point in time - this is it.
Meanwhile universal
background checks before anyone can buy a firearm should be the law. No online sales. It should be a federal crime punishable with serious hard time in a maximum security prison if someone is caught buying a gun for someone else. All
assault type semi-automatic weapons should be banned.
If it were up to me, I would repeal the 2nd
amendment. And make it a crime for anyone except law enforcement to own a gun
of any kind. Punishable by a long prison term if caught with a gun – even if
there was no crime committed with it.
Pro-gun activists like the
NRA love to cite 2 memes. One says
that if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. The other is that guns
don’t kill people. People do. They also make the argument that the first
thing fascist governments do is take away the guns from their citizens.
I hear all of that.. But there are a lot more people being killed by by people with guns than there ever would be if they were illegal. Yes, people do kill people. Guns are just the instrument of choice for doing that. But those that use guns do the most damage.
As for the fear of the United States becoming a fascist country, I do not believe outlawing guns will make America fascist.
I realize that repealing the 2nd amendment will not happen. But something radical MUST be done if we are
going to end this terrifying phenomenon. Walking into a Walmart should not be an exercise in fear.
Whatever it takes. Just to recap. We must learn to recognize
people with the underlying mental disorder that makes them mass murderers; limit
gun ownership as much as possible; require universal background checks; ban internet sales of any firearms, ban all assault type weapons, and make 3rd party purchases of guns a federal crime with mandatory hard prison time.
Until all this is done, do we have a choice other than making
every public venue a fortress surrounded by multiple armed guards and
security checks for anyone entering? If that means the next time you go to Walmart
you will have to pass a metal detector (and
maybe even be searched) isn’t that better than getting killed?
Updated - 8/5/19
Updated - 8/5/19
