Ah yes, another day, another shooting. On a holiday nonetheless, but not just any holiday: America’s Holiday! The Fourth of July has come and gone, but the smell of gunsmoke remains. What is more American, then multiple mass shootings on Independence Day?
It’s to a point now where I could just instinctively write a general article about a mass shooting and fill in the blanks when it eventually happens. The entire country is numb to the fact that this continues to happen, even though the higher ups tell us not to be complacent. What are we supposed to do? The president can only do so much, congress can write bills, but once it gets to the Senate… dead. We are going around in circles. I said it in a previous post, not even kids being shot up seems to change anything in this country. So, if we can’t stop it, our elected officials can’t stop it, and police can’t then what do we do? Where do we go?
I don’t want to make this post very long, because I don’t think it needs to be. We rehash the same material every time this happens and its repetitive. I do, however, need to state some things that really irritates me about when things like this happen.
- The “Both Sides” crowd, needs to stop. I hate when people say “both sides” of the aisle are the same. One group actively tries to put through gun laws that could at least curb the violence, and the other group is getting paid by the NRA and gun lobbyists. There is no denying which is which. If you come up to me and something about “both sides”, that conversation is finished and I will know you don’t pay attention to politics and you just want others to hear your stupidity.
- Right-Wingers: “ThE DeMoN-cRAtS aRe CoMiNg To TaKe YoUr GuNs… hUrRrR dUrRr”! Me: Where? When? I swear I would tell anybody and everybody where to find them. Right wingers have been spewing this lie for the better part of 30 years. No one has come to take any guns. They won’t even do anything when schools are shot up, why do they care about you? What makes you so special to think their coming to get your guns? News Flash, you’re not special and no one is coming.
- Right Winger: “This wouldn’t have happened if a good guy with a gun was there…” Me: Another dumb argument. Police and swat were literally outside of the elementary school with all of their tactical gear, while the shooter was inside tearing those kids to shreds. There was a security guard at the grocery store in Buffalo, NY who was shot and killed by the terrorist. There was a security guard at the school in Parkland, FL where more children were dying while he decided to hide and not do anything. Stop regurgitating that non-sense. There is no such thing as some savior being there when these things happen.
- Right-Wingers: “Criminals are getting these guns and doing this..” Me: Wrong. The majority of these guns were bought LEGALLY. Why does a civilian living in the city need an AR-15 style rifle? You obviously don’t use those to hunt. Are you doing target practice with it? If so, who do you plan on shooting with it? There is no need.
- Right-Wingers:”This is how Chicago is. People are always dying there…” Me: This is so tiring. This was a suburb of Chicago. One of the wealthiest at that. This was not a gang shooting, this was again, a white male, going to a crowded place and firing off as many rounds as possible to hurt as many people as he could. There is a theme with these shootings and it has nothing to do with gangs.
As you can see right-wingers and their conspiracies want to hold on to these false sense of safety. Every republican in office knows this and will play to their base. The shooting in Highland Park, Illinois was not an outlier, this is the new normal. There were three other shootings that also happened on the fourth, including 2 police being injured in Philadelphia, but Highland Park was the most deadly.
The story remains the same. Until there is concrete change to laws in this country, we will continue to see repeats.
