As if having to deal with the senseless slaughter of their children by someone who has easy access to high-powered military style weapons is not enough, the bereaved parents frequently have to then deal with people on the internet who will say that the whole thing did not happen and was staged by gun control groups. The gun lobby and their supporters clearly fear that so many mass shootings, especially of schoolchildren, will result in at least some action being taken and so they will unleash these conspiracy theorists who will accuse the parents of being ‘crisis actors’ and will proceed to put their names and addresses and other contact information on the internet to encourage others to target and harass these parents individually, making their lives an even greater hell than it has become. Those parents who speak out publicly against the lack of gun control, in an effort to try and prevent other parents from having to endure what they are experiencing, will be particularly targeted for this treatment.
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The recent mass shootings using military-style weapons like AR-15s have reopened the debate about whether we should show images of the victims. Generally, media show just photos of the children when they were alive, grieving families, memorials erected in their memory, and so on. While these are heart-wrenching, some argue that they do not convey the full horror of what happened, leaving most people with simply no idea of the massive amount of damage that these weapons can inflict even on adults, mutilating them beyond recognition so that they can be identified only by their clothing or DNA. The effect on small children is even more devastating.
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People who oppose any changes in the absurdly easy access to massively powerful guns in the US act as if this is some immensely complicated and intractable problem. That is utterly false, an image created to discourage attempts at reform. The fact that other countries have managed to pass laws that limit gun ownership while still allowing people to have them and have nowhere near the level of gun deaths that we have in the US shows that the problem can be meaningfully addressed.

Let me start by dismissing the main argument of the gun nuts, and that is that the Second Amendment to the US constitution is an insurmountable barrier to setting any limits. That is utter rubbish. Even religious gun nuts must know that the amendment is not something that was handed down by their God to Moses on Mount Sinai however much they might try to act like it was. It was created and interpreted by humans and anything that humans make, they can unmake. The constitution was designed to be amended and constitutional amendments have been passed and repealed and re-interpreted many times in the past and there is no reason why this amendment should be any different. Making changes requires political actions and political will and thus gun control should be viewed as a political problem that requires marshaling enough support for reform of the laws and the constitution if necessary. I grant that it will not be easy but it can be done, although the NRA and its supporters, as part of their propaganda campaign, try to give the impression that it would be impossible. Gun reform advocates should gain confidence from the fact that majorities of people support some reform of gun laws.
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I think it should be obvious by now that the Republican party and the NRA do not give a damn about the people who are being slaughtered in the US on a regular basis by people armed with military style weapons. When the only response is to offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ to the families and to suggest absurd ‘solutions’ that urge the arming of teachers and more armed guards and buildings with single doors, it is clear that the ‘tears’ that these people are shedding are entirely crocodile ones, and that their main goal is to make sure that nothing changes or that even more easy access to guns is provided.
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As usual Ted Cruz, by far the largest recipient of gun lobby contributions, came out with his usual rubbish about feeling the grief of parents and he was confronted by reporters who asked why it is only in America that these mass shooting occur with such frequency.

He terminated the interview.

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In trying to decide who is guilty of a murder, investigators look for three factors that converge on the culprit: motive (a reason why the murder was committed), opportunity (the killer had to be in the place and time to carry out the plan and not have an alibi), and means (the killer needs to have access to whatever method was used for the murder). In the case of these mass murders in the US, the motives range all over the place including but not limited to racism, jealousy, anger, frustration, seeking fame, and mental breakdown. Opportunities are also plentiful, especially if you do not care about getting caught and your targets are not specific individuals. You can just wander into a mall, cinema, school, or anywhere large numbers of unsuspecting people are gathered.

But when it comes to means, a single common factor immediately jumps out and that is that these mass murders are possible because the killers had access to a powerful, military-grade assault weapons that enable the killing of large numbers of people in a very short time, so that however quickly the so-called ‘good guys with guns’ respond, it will not be quick enough to prevent a large number of casualties. We saw this in the two recent shootings where armed security were actually around and yet could not prevent the carnage.

Evidence for means as the main factor responsible for these tragedies is plentifully available. In the most recent case in Texas, the gunman legally purchased two rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition just last week, just days after his 18th birthday.
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Another mass shooting in the US, this time at an elementary school in Texas, has resulted in 21 people, including 19 children, dying. The governor of Texas Greg Abbott has reportedly called the shooting ‘incomprehensible’. It is only so to those who refuse to see the glaringly obvious, that if you allow powerful weapons to be obtained much more easily than a driver’s license and vast numbers of people have them, then someone will, for various reasons, inevitably end up killing huge numbers of people. It has happened time and time again, so anyone who expresses surprise is being utterly disingenuous.

Abbott continued to mouth the tired platitudes that people like him do after such tragedies.
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