Vox had a sobering series of graphics on the 2,180 mass shootings since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre of 20 elementary school children and six adults, an act so horrendous that it seemed that it should spark serious actions to curb such atrocities. And yet, nothing happened. One of them was a telling graph plotting for a number of countries the number of guns per 100 people versus the number of gun-related deaths per 100,000 people. The US is an extreme outlier for both.
According to this report, Republican congresspeople seem to have forgotten that they are an independent and co-equal branch of the government with the president.
REPUBLICANS will say privately that they know they are on the wrong side of contemporary political thinking — and reality — when it comes to gun policy. Many of them will say off the record or on background that they could get away with supporting banning assault weapons, banning high-capacity magazines and tightening background checks. But they need Trump to embrace these ideas as well — and consistently. The president tends to pop his head up, support something and then retreat.
So they all know what needs to be done but are cowering in fear of what Trump and the NRA will do to them. And because of their cowardice, we are subjected to repeated murderous assaults by people armed to the teeth with high-powered weapons that they can purchase very easily. And let’s be honest, background checks are necessary but are not going to help reduce the scale of the carnage by much.
Meanwhile, we have people who seem to go out of their way to spark panic in people by using their right to carry these weapons in public, like this man who walked through a Missouri Walmart yesterday carrying a loaded rifle and dressed in body armor. He was clearly imitating the man who killed 22 people in the El Paso Walmart.
Seth Meyers had a thoughtful take on the recent tragic events and highlighted the cowardice of the Republicans.
I’ll never get over the irony of how many conservatives kept mocking Obama as “Dear Leader” and how thoroughly the Hamberdler has since become a cult of personality on the right.
As I believe I mentioned before, I think Damascus looks like a good place for this year’s vacation.
We’re always “Number 1” in something….
These people need to be subjected to relentless mockery and ridicule. Sure, I get why people would be reluctant to take the piss out of a heavy-armed nutjob to their face, but I do believe it would be effective. Compliment them on their costumes, ask if they’re going to a fancy dress party, then enquire if they’re not a bit too old to be playing dress-up. Point and laugh. They want to inspire fear, and nothing defuses that like laughter.
[Offtopic:
Mano, you might already know this but I just discovered something interesting… Chris Mullins, author of A Very British Coup, has recently finished a sequel -- The Friends of Harry Perkins. I have not read it yet.]
Holms,
Thanks for the tip. I loved A Very British Coup. I only saw the mini-series and did not know it was based on a book. I should check out the book too.
These people need to be subjected to relentless mockery and ridicule.
No they need to be arrested, and jailed for years.
But then, I am not from the USA. I have no tolerance what-so-ever for people carrying guns in a public place, well, hunting season excepted, and even then no idiot would walk into a mall with a gun unless it was in a case and he was heading for a gun shop.
Heck, a friend of mine said that he and some friends were doing some slightly? illegal digging for a cycling range in the country and the shovels looked suspicious. The next thing they knew was that a SWAT team arrived.
I feel safer here.