Last week I started writing this post after the attack on the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. A young man with a legally purchased weapon killed 3, including a small child, and wounded 9. But yesterday it got worse. In El Paso, Texas a young man drove 600 miles, put on protective gear, and took a semi-automatic weapon and fired into a crowd at a mall complex with the intent to kill Mexicans, in his own words. Twenty dead and 26 injured. Then over night a man in Dayton, Ohio killed 9 and injured at least 16 in a nightclub area.
In a little over a week 3 individuals, at least two of which driven by far right ideology, have killed 32 people who were simply go about their lives. These kinds of killings should not be normal, but sadly they are becoming just that. The responses are almost fully programmed.
We hear thoughts and prayers from politicians whose thoughts are limited to attacking anyone who wants to even look at perhaps limiting access to military style weapons and prayers that something else will push the story off the front page.
When someone suggests we have to talk about guns that can be restricted we hear "It is not the time to talk about gun control". I am wondering when the time will come. After another 100 deaths, a 1000? 10,000? Can they just give us a number they are willing to wait for?
As soon as the shooter in all these cases were white men, the calls of mental health issues needing to be addressed. We know that when a shooter is Muslim, like in the Fort Hood shooting, there is no real call about mental health. White supremacist ideology and radical Islamist ideology follow the same path leading to a different place. Both are about purging the world of the other. Even if the shooters in the rash of the shootings in this country did have a form of mental illness (which I am not sure it is true) it is the carpet bombing of hate that spurs them on. But here is the chance of all these guys in Congress who call for better mental health support. I call on Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Mike Turner, and Rob Portman to write a bill calling for another $2.5 billion in mental health funding, maybe take it from DOD. I find it offensive that Republicans have been all over the media saying this was a crazy lone wolf, bottom line the President and his supporters are raising a pack. One does not have to join a labeled group to be part of a terrorist movement. The internet allows for a virtual collective. Funny, they say he was mentally ill but he acted with both forethought, preparation, drove for at least 10 hours, posted minutes before opening fire and planned for his eventual capture. He was making a statement not acting like someone with voices in his head.
The shooting in El Paso also destroys the idea that open carry and concealed carry will protect people. The Wal-Mart was an open carry store in an open carry state where the shooter could walk around with his weapon totally legally and not break any law until he started firing. In fact if someone where to try to stop him they would be violating his rights. So we can only assume the there were armed citizens in the crowd. They couldn't stop him, it took a group of cops. While it didn't take them long to get there, it continues to show that armed, untrained citizens do not react well in a mass shooting situation. There are no heroes. I can't imagine what would happen if they did. Dozens of people firing in a public location not knowing who the real criminal shooter is? The cops in El Paso were there in few minutes, imagine if someone seeing this guy get out of his car with his long gun called the police and they could have come and deal with it before the first shot.
Solutions to these tragedies are not easy, but there are things we can do to make it harder for people to get their hands on guns who can kill dozens in a few minutes. We can pass a background checks on a federal level with two laws sitting in the Senate that Leader McConnell will not bring to the floor. We can investigate White Nationalist groups and put back the funding that the President withdrew from Federal law enforcement. We can hold those who stir the pot of hate to a standard that makes them see they need to stop. And we can ban certain weapons.
Military styled weapons that shoot many rounds a minute and large magazines can easily be banned. We did it before and it makes it harder for people intending to do harm to get their hands on a weapon that can kill so many. Someone actually said in England where guns are restricted that knife attacks are up. Yes, people who have homicide on their minds can kill in many ways. I know that for sure. But it is impossible to kill 20 people in a few minutes with knives on your own. It is nonsense to suggest it. Many people suggest that banning such weapons is a violation of the 2nd amendment. But I have it on good authority that it isn't. Someone wrote:
That was Antonin Scalia, the most pro-gun and conservative Supreme Court Justice in the Heller decision that made the 2nd amendment an individual right. So even the man who wanted to limit local government from regulating guns as had been the case for the life of the Constitution didn't want unlimited access and carry of weapons.
While guns are part of the equation it is not the entire one. But it is something we can do, we can do it to not end the individual rights of people, we can do it in way makes is harder for people whose only aim is to kill people to get the easiest way to do it and will not change the ability of people to hunt, fire for sport or defend their life and property.
I want say one other thing. I have watched all day as elected and former Republican officials find every possible excuse from not enough prayer in schools, to video games, to the opioid crisis. Let me be clear, I don't know what drove the shooter last night in Dayton. What I do know is that the shooter in El Paso was driven by anti-immigration hate. While he said he had these feelings before the President was elected he spoke in his writing with the President's words. Words have power. Words drive people and when the President joked a few weeks ago about shooting immigrants that is a starting pistol for some. These republicans worried about too much Fortnite or lack of God should spend some time talking to the President about calming down not only his own words but those of his followers online and his supporters dehumanizing so many in quips and chants at his rallies. Presidents, like all world leaders, are supposed to represent the soul of the country, especially in times of crisis. Our current President seems to not have the ability to call out the hate because some of those pushing it are his people. He seems to fear alienating them and in fact feeds them. Tonight many people will go to bed grieving for lost of life but also loss of safety. We are in the season of children will return to the classrooms around the country with bulletproof backpacks and planned shooting drills. This is not the country we have to be, this is not the life we have to live. We can do better. I just wish there was the leadership to do it.
In a little over a week 3 individuals, at least two of which driven by far right ideology, have killed 32 people who were simply go about their lives. These kinds of killings should not be normal, but sadly they are becoming just that. The responses are almost fully programmed.
We hear thoughts and prayers from politicians whose thoughts are limited to attacking anyone who wants to even look at perhaps limiting access to military style weapons and prayers that something else will push the story off the front page.
When someone suggests we have to talk about guns that can be restricted we hear "It is not the time to talk about gun control". I am wondering when the time will come. After another 100 deaths, a 1000? 10,000? Can they just give us a number they are willing to wait for?
As soon as the shooter in all these cases were white men, the calls of mental health issues needing to be addressed. We know that when a shooter is Muslim, like in the Fort Hood shooting, there is no real call about mental health. White supremacist ideology and radical Islamist ideology follow the same path leading to a different place. Both are about purging the world of the other. Even if the shooters in the rash of the shootings in this country did have a form of mental illness (which I am not sure it is true) it is the carpet bombing of hate that spurs them on. But here is the chance of all these guys in Congress who call for better mental health support. I call on Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Mike Turner, and Rob Portman to write a bill calling for another $2.5 billion in mental health funding, maybe take it from DOD. I find it offensive that Republicans have been all over the media saying this was a crazy lone wolf, bottom line the President and his supporters are raising a pack. One does not have to join a labeled group to be part of a terrorist movement. The internet allows for a virtual collective. Funny, they say he was mentally ill but he acted with both forethought, preparation, drove for at least 10 hours, posted minutes before opening fire and planned for his eventual capture. He was making a statement not acting like someone with voices in his head.
The shooting in El Paso also destroys the idea that open carry and concealed carry will protect people. The Wal-Mart was an open carry store in an open carry state where the shooter could walk around with his weapon totally legally and not break any law until he started firing. In fact if someone where to try to stop him they would be violating his rights. So we can only assume the there were armed citizens in the crowd. They couldn't stop him, it took a group of cops. While it didn't take them long to get there, it continues to show that armed, untrained citizens do not react well in a mass shooting situation. There are no heroes. I can't imagine what would happen if they did. Dozens of people firing in a public location not knowing who the real criminal shooter is? The cops in El Paso were there in few minutes, imagine if someone seeing this guy get out of his car with his long gun called the police and they could have come and deal with it before the first shot.
Solutions to these tragedies are not easy, but there are things we can do to make it harder for people to get their hands on guns who can kill dozens in a few minutes. We can pass a background checks on a federal level with two laws sitting in the Senate that Leader McConnell will not bring to the floor. We can investigate White Nationalist groups and put back the funding that the President withdrew from Federal law enforcement. We can hold those who stir the pot of hate to a standard that makes them see they need to stop. And we can ban certain weapons.
Military styled weapons that shoot many rounds a minute and large magazines can easily be banned. We did it before and it makes it harder for people intending to do harm to get their hands on a weapon that can kill so many. Someone actually said in England where guns are restricted that knife attacks are up. Yes, people who have homicide on their minds can kill in many ways. I know that for sure. But it is impossible to kill 20 people in a few minutes with knives on your own. It is nonsense to suggest it. Many people suggest that banning such weapons is a violation of the 2nd amendment. But I have it on good authority that it isn't. Someone wrote:
Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.
That was Antonin Scalia, the most pro-gun and conservative Supreme Court Justice in the Heller decision that made the 2nd amendment an individual right. So even the man who wanted to limit local government from regulating guns as had been the case for the life of the Constitution didn't want unlimited access and carry of weapons.
While guns are part of the equation it is not the entire one. But it is something we can do, we can do it to not end the individual rights of people, we can do it in way makes is harder for people whose only aim is to kill people to get the easiest way to do it and will not change the ability of people to hunt, fire for sport or defend their life and property.
I want say one other thing. I have watched all day as elected and former Republican officials find every possible excuse from not enough prayer in schools, to video games, to the opioid crisis. Let me be clear, I don't know what drove the shooter last night in Dayton. What I do know is that the shooter in El Paso was driven by anti-immigration hate. While he said he had these feelings before the President was elected he spoke in his writing with the President's words. Words have power. Words drive people and when the President joked a few weeks ago about shooting immigrants that is a starting pistol for some. These republicans worried about too much Fortnite or lack of God should spend some time talking to the President about calming down not only his own words but those of his followers online and his supporters dehumanizing so many in quips and chants at his rallies. Presidents, like all world leaders, are supposed to represent the soul of the country, especially in times of crisis. Our current President seems to not have the ability to call out the hate because some of those pushing it are his people. He seems to fear alienating them and in fact feeds them. Tonight many people will go to bed grieving for lost of life but also loss of safety. We are in the season of children will return to the classrooms around the country with bulletproof backpacks and planned shooting drills. This is not the country we have to be, this is not the life we have to live. We can do better. I just wish there was the leadership to do it.
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