by muon
Yesterday another fatal shooting occurred not far from where I live. I don't know if the victim was a good guy or bad guy by the NRA's Wayne LaPierre's standards. I just know he was a 24 year-old man and left behind a family. The shooting took place in an alley surrounded by rowhouses that had children in them. At least 10 shell casings were found at the scene. We're talking Wild West here, with only house windows between the gunplay and innocent kids.
I'm certain George Zimmerman thought he was a good guy with a gun. He wasn't. He was a murderer. So was Michael Jock, who evoked the Stand Your Ground law after shooting an unarmed man in an argument about pizza.
The policemen I know (and I know quite a few) would all rather NOT have "good guys with guns" on the street. The only thing that separates a good gunslinger from a bad gunslinger is a quick judgment call before pulling the trigger. In that half second, they appoint themselves judge, jury and executioner.
With that thinking, in our society, they're ALL bad guys.
by muon
After the last week, I'm sick of the word "meaningful." Everyone's saying we need to have a meaningful conversation about gun violence. That we need meaningful change. Meaningful action. The NRA says they'll make meaningful contributions.
So far, all most people in authority have done is to bandy the word "meaningful" around, as if that makes everything all better.
I was going to write this blog after my anger over the latest mass shooting died down a bit, but I realized today that I don't want to lose this anger. I don't want anyone in America to lose their outrage and frustration. I want us to outshout all the "meaningful" rhetoric and make sure that, this time, something gets done.
No one in this country needs to own a military grade rifle. No one needs ammunition clips that hold more than five bullets. Hunters wouldn't use these weapons any more than fisherman would use torpedoes. Anyone saying they need to own these types of weapons or that much ammo is mentally ill on some level.
All guns should be registered and their owners licensed for each class of weapon owned, just as we all have to do with our motor vehicles. The license should require a competency test, same as a driver's license does. Weapon insurance needs to be mandatory, as car insurance is. If a gun owner wants to sell a weapon, he and the new owner need to get their butts in to see a notary, to transfer the title legally. It ought to go without saying that background checks need to be done before licensing and registration. That means no gun shows and no internet sales of either weapons or ammo.
Sales of more than one gun a month and of suspiciously large amounts of ammo need to be tracked, just as we do drugs like Sudafed. People who enable others to commit gun violence by providing firearms need to be held accountable, no matter whether we're talking about someone who buys guns to sell to felons, or parents of potentially violent mentally ill children, like Mrs. Lanza, who stupidly brought military grade weapons into her house.
We need to do more than prevent mass shootings. As horrific as they are, many more people become victims of gun violence every day. In the past two months in my hometown, we've had shootings or reports of gunfire nearly once a week. Another report just last night.
I'm sick of hearing all the excuses why we can't do anything to reduce incidences of gun violence. I'm sick of the whole American attitude that we can't do anything to stop the gun lobby. If you're going to spout insensitive nonsense about gun rights and Stand Your Ground and how none of this would happen if everyone carried guns, then you're part of the problem, and I for one will shout you down.
This week, Senator Feinstein was the only one I heard stand up and say, in effect, "This is what I'm going to do," when she promised to reintroduce her assault weapons ban. That's what's needed. Not platitudes about meaningful this or meaningful that. Not people who sit around waiting for everyone else to do something. We need people willing to get things started.
Call or email your elected officials and tell them to quit talking and start acting. Find your representatives here.
