Mass Hysteria
Last weekend we saw not one, but two mass shootings. In Dayton, Ohio, 9 people died. In El Paso, Texas, 22 people were killed. Both had many more injured. Everyone is upset, outraged, saddened. No one thinks this is good. But, as we all know, it's President Trump's fault. At least, the Democrats are sure. So sure are they that when the New York Times portrayed Trump's speech in an unbiased headline, the Left forced them to change it. And then, of course, there are certain facts to ignore.
While the El Paso shooter's manifesto clearly reflected racist and white supremacist thinking, the Ohio shooter is a self-identified leftist. He favors socialism and would happily vote for Elizabeth Warren (but not Kamala Harris because "Harris is a cop"). He favors gun control (while praising guns), is a die-hard Democrat, praises Antifa, loves Bernie Sanders, and hates ICE. Oh, and Satan ... he's a big fan of Satan. (See Snopes for what we call "evidence from a hostile witness.") I doubt, however, that the connection of "liberal Democrat" and "mass shooter" will be very prominent in the media. The Ohio shooter said, "I'm taking feelings over facts any time." They concur.
(I'm curious. If the rhetoric of the Left about Trump as the source of all hate in America gets him assassinated, will they blame themselves for the violence brought about by their rhetoric? Given their silence in the face of attacks against people wearing MAGA hats, I'd have to guess they won't.)
The Solution
It was so simple, I wish we'd thought of it. In the wake of the overbearing gun violence over the last weekend, the nation longs for a solution. Fortunately we have Alejandro Bedoya, a soccer player for the Philadelphia Union. After beating D.C. United 5-1, Bedoya grabbed a microphone and yelled, "Hey Congress, do something now! End gun violence, let’s go!" Thanks, man. That ought to do it.
(To be fair, Bedoya was asking for stricter gun laws. His statement didn't get that across, but later he called for "stricter background checks, red flag laws, making a registry for gun purchases, closing gun show loopholes, and taxing ammunition." The obvious problem, as we all know, is that there aren't enough laws to stop murder and if we can just outlaw it, we can end it. Hmmm, I wonder if Bedoya speeds? Seems like good speeding laws ought to prevent that, shouldn't they? I guess not. There are laws against murder and still people commit murder. I guess a few good gun laws ought to fix that.) (Note: In case my sarcasm is too vague, I'm saying that the problem is sin, not guns.)
Seems Reasonable
The U.S. is talking about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in a deal with the Taliban. In the meantime, a Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 and injured 145 in Kabul. Yeah, makes sense. Let's do it. I'm sure those Taliban folks are honest and reliable.
Another Mass Killing
This has been a tough week. An angry man killed 4 people in southern California. He showed a gun in a robbery spree, but used "some sort of machete knives" to kill his victims. I'm pretty sure that the media and the Left will blame Trump for the anger, Rep Tim Ryan will be leading a knife control caravan next, and Thomas Marshall will urge a Walmart walkout to stop knife sales.
Stupid Move
In the wake of the horrific mass shooting last weekend in a Walmart in El Paso, an idiot in Missouri walked into a Walmart armed and wearing body armor. Stupid move. Fortunately he was arrested by an armed off-duty firefighter and held until the police showed up without incident. Now, let's see. An armed civilian prevented a potential mass-shooting, so clearly we need to eliminate guns, right? Or would that be a stupid move, too?
Not Eco-Friendly
Michael Moore (of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 fame) is putting out a new movie. Moore, a well-known leftist and pro-environmentalist, is surprising his own side with a film that examines the whole environmentalist movement toward alternative energy only to discover that it is not a move away from fossil fuels and is, instead, fueled by big corporations and large profit motivations. Turns out these alternative energy propositions don't provide answers to the problem, only more revenue to the rich. I'm not sure his own political allies will be any happier with him as the the conservatives were in the past. Definitely not eco-friendly ... coming with someone deeply concerned about the environment. Another example of "evidence from a hostile witness."
Genuine Slippery Slope
A cathedral in Norwich, UK, has installed a slide inside the cathedral. That is a literal "slippery slope" (and you can decide if there's a figurative one there, too).
Voter Registry
In view of their certainty that all hate in America is Trump's fault, the Dems have proposed a National Trump Voter Registry, "forcing anyone who voted for Trump to register so people around them will be able to be cautious and vigilant while living among such reckless hate."j
Must be true; I read it on the Internet.
6 comments:
Though nobody is surprised, the sources I heard from the two shootings said nothing about the leftist affiliation of the Ohio shooter. They even went one step further and presented that quote about feelings over fact as if it was part of what the Texas shooter said. All of the news I've heard paints both shooters as hardcore Trump supporters.
It's seems that all politicians are ignoring the facts of these shootings and continuing to spout their political rhetoric. I keep hearing over and over, "better restrictions for the mentally ill". Except neither individual showed signs of mental illness prior to their rampage. But all the politicians think they were mentally ill, and they must have gotten access to guns due to loose gun laws. And trying to say that catching these types of people beforehand from what they say in the internet would simply be impossible. A government would shutdown from the costs alone of investigating every single threat on the internet.
I don't know what the solution is, but not a single one, or all of them combined, gives me any hope in their ability to prevent these tragedies. It is a cultural failure at a fundamental level that cannot be legislated away.
I even heard that one politician basically said what we've been saying about the cause "a move away from God and a devaluing of human life" and the response I heard was "no religions are right and people do bad things in the name of religion all the time", with no other option presented.
Mass murders are going to continue to be a reality in our country, even if you some how successfully remove all guns from the nation, because there source of this hostility is beyond the scope of legislation. It will require an act of God. While I own guns, and like them, I'm not as hardcore as others, and when they come for them, I will begrudgingly hand them over, knowing they have accomplished nothing.
I agree that nothing currently being proposed would have prevented any of the recent shootings. I do believe that many of them, especially the FL school, could have been prevented by enforcement of existing laws/rules, When you add the fact that in many cases the shooter has already broken multiple laws before they open fire, it makes you wonder how making it more illegal will help.
What I wonder about is what the response will be when none of these additional restrictions works.
I should be clear. I'm not anti-gun laws. I'm not opposed to restrictions on deadly things. We have to stay within our Constitution, but I'm not opposed to controlling automobiles, guns, knives, whatever can kill. I'm merely saying that we'll still kill. None of that is a complete answer because the problem isn't "kill" but sin. And embracing and expanding killing in the form of abortion and euthanasia cannot help but encourage more killing.
I completely agree that there should be (and are) restrictions on firearms and explosives. I agree that the ultimate problem is people, not inanimate objects. I agree that the devaluation of life, is part of the larger problem.
Where I see the issue is that none of the proposed additional restrictions will stop the kind of things we’ve seen recently, nor will they stop the carnage in places like Chicago and Baltimore.
One article I read said that 80% of mass shooters (in a particular time frame I'm imagining) got their weapons illegally. In this case more laws will make more law-abiding citizens forego buying a gun. And since 90% of school mass shootings occur in "gun-free zones," it would seem logical that this won't be good for the law-abiding general public.
Common sense laws can decrease fringe cases. Those people who are immersed in senseless hate and murderous intent won't be deterred.
Given the amount of speeding, tax fraud, robbery, and murder, it’s safe to say that more laws will only deter some percentage of people.
It seems like these shooters either get their guns legally, which wouldn’t be affected by new laws, or have already committed at least one other crime on their way to their target.
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