So Many Cold, Dead Hands

Are we all sick enough yet of headlines like “One of the Ten Worst Mass Shootings in Modern History?” Are we all tired enough yet of our so called “Leaders” who send worthless “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families? Are we sick enough yet of having to read articles and blog entries -especially from people who would rather be writing about funny things- about mass shootings in schools, churches, theaters, and night cubs. Are we finally tired of explaining to these bought and paid for politicians that guns are only designed for one thing, and the idea that they make any environment safer is like saying that having people sneeze in your mouth is the best to avoid catching a cold?

I’m so sick of so many things connected with this heartbreaking topic, friends and neighbors, and I can’t imagine how anyone isn’t ready to make an actual effort to end these things. How could they not be? So many people, so many, many people, being murdered by some person with a weapon they had no business having. Surely no one in their right mind would allow this to go on, right? Surely only a short sighted and callous idiot would still be spouting that “cold, dead hands” rhetoric, right?

I’m tired of hearing people who are supposed to be representing and protecting us ramble on about how there’s nothing we can do to prevent it, ignoring completely the fact that they have the power to at least take some steps. I am sick of people like State Senator Debbie Mayfield, who had the gall to tell a student that “we can’t stop the crazies.” They instead suggest things like putting armed guards in the schools, or armed drones, even. Or installing hardcore metal detectors, like in airports, which we all know never miss anything.

No word I can find on how they would pay for those detectors, but maybe they need to think and pray on it. Maybe they can donate some of the tens of millions of dollars the NRA gave them? More likely though they’ll cut funding for school lunches for poor kids, or quality assurance on textbooks, or some other unnecessary thing.

And speaking of the NRA, I’m tired of how these red faced gun worshipping cowards get more influence on the way our country is run than the people do. When most of the country is in favor of a thing, shouldn’t its leaders be taking steps to get it? That’s how we got such great healthcare and education systems, right?

Wait. Nevermind. Obviously what we want doesn’t mean anything compared to the Billions of Dollars these politicians get to avoid doing their jobs. Which I guess is why our nation’s teenagers are doing it now. Teenagers, for god’s sake! These young people are supposed to be worried about pointless standardized testing and accidental pregnancies, not about which bulletproof backpack they should buy. They shouldn’t have to be out there demanding to know why nothing is being done. They shouldn’t have to hear from someone whose job it is to make this country better that the AR-15 is a “legitimate hunting rifle.”

By the way, if you need something like an AR-15 to go hunting, you have no business hunting in the first place. If you’re going to insist on killing an animal for self gratification, or because it’s some tradition or whatever, you at least owe it to not just the animal, but to yourself, to get good enough at it to do the job in one merciful shot. Otherwise, buy your meat from the grocery store like the rest of us.

Anyway, back to the teenagers, who as near as I can tell, are pretty much being ignored. Well, except for this one school district I heard about in Houston, which didn’t ignore its students, but instead threatened to suspend any of them who protested in support of their fellow American Children who don’t think it’s fair that they should die so that a bunch of morons can have absurdly dangerous weapons.

Ah, the capriciousness of youth.

But you know what I’m most sick and tired of, friends and neighbors? I’m sick and tired of how these people somehow manage to stay in office. Obviously we can’t vote them out, but maybe we can bear our financial arms, like the NRA does. Maybe we can stop spending our dollars at the nation’s largest gun seller (Wal-Mart), until they start spending more money lobbying for gun control. Maybe every time we hear the phrase “thoughts and prayers” we’ll send some money to gun control lobbyists, Americans for Responsible Solutions, or maybe Everytown for Gun Safety, or perhaps a more localized organization. I’m just spitballing here really, but it’s pretty obvious we can’t rely on our current government to fix this. Surely, if we follow the example being set for us by our children, we can stop this group of crazies, right?

-John