America: Where It Can Be Easier To Get A Gun Than A Bottle Of Sudafed
Then again, guns have more rights than people
(photo credit: The Iranian)
They had managed to weather the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime: an insidious and relentless virus, that for twelve months has decimated the planet and taken the lives of our a half a million Americans with terrifying velocity and breathtaking brutality.
They had endured lockdowns and shutdowns and job losses, they had made it through isolation and fear and grieving, they had navigated school closings and social restrictions, they had tirelessly evaded a pervasive sickness that so many others had succumbed to.
They had lived through an unprecedented planetary pandemic, but they could not survive this: they could not outlive America’s gun epidemic. That proved more fatal than the virus.
As they navigated grocery story aisles and went to work and waited on vaccines and imagined a life that was heading toward something that resembled normal, they were assassinated by a heavily-armed stranger, who in an instant did what the coronavirus could not manage in a year: destroyed them.
People often talk about COVID-19 in terms of living with two pandemics: the coronavirus and stupidity. There’s validity in that argument, especially when you consider the reasoning of those who refuse to wear masks and/or get the COVID-19 vaccine. We have the means to defeat this pandemic within our grasp…and some are refusing to take even the most basic steps recommended by scientists, doctors, and medical experts.
There’s no need to delve into the reasons for this refusal. It boils down to stupidity and selfishness.
There’s another public health crisis that predates COVID-19 and is bedeviled with large helpings of stupidity and selfishness. I’m talking, of course, about the gun crisis in America.
Let’s face it; if we were confronted with a disease that claimed more than 30,000 people a year, Americans would be demanding that the government find a cure- yesterday. And no one would begrudge them their right to demand that cure. That’s basically what happened with COVID-19…and look what happened.
We face exactly that in the gun crisis. Gun violence claims more than 30,000 innocent lives each and every year. Yet the most we get from people in positions of power- Congress, for instance- is “thoughts and prayers.” Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes- those who believe even discussing common-sense gun control is unAmerican- raise Hell any time the 2nd Amendment comes up for discussion.
No, the 2nd Amendment is sacrosanct to Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes- inerrant, immutable, and Divine perfection in every way. Any attempt to change, revise, or scrap it altogether and start over is met with screams of righteous indignation. And ANY discussion of common-sense gun control- things like background checks, registration, or keeping guns out of the hands of the dangerous mentally ill- are slammed as unacceptable. One simply doesn’t place limits on the 2nd Amendment rights of good, God-fearing, patriotic, missionary-position-loving Americans.
So while America has turned over every rock in the creation of not one, but THREE COVID-19 vaccines, it continues to do nothing about the epidemic of gun violence claiming innocent lives. It seems as if once, twice, three times a week, The Traveling Road Show of Senseless Mass Murder alights in yet more American cities and towns. There’s never any prior warning, meaning that it’s as likely to pop up in Colorado Springs as it is in Coral Springs.
This morning it stopped in San Jose, California, killing at least eight innocents. Tomorrow, or the next day, or next week, it’ll reappear else. When tragedy strikes, the politicians will look appropriately somber, issue their rehearsed and meaningless “thoughts and prayers” for the victims and their families…and then go on about their business as as if nothing untoward had occurred.
Another day, another episode of mass murder, another instance when Congress will cynically do exactly nothing to help stem the bloodshed.
In other news, the Texas Legislature has passed legislation that would make it legal for virtually any Texan to carry a firearm with no training, no background check, and no license. Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will sign it when it comes across his desk, thus making the Lone Star State effectively a free-fire zone.
(What could possibly go wrong, eh??)
In Texas, you need ID to by Sudafed, get a fishing, hunting, business, or driver’s license…but before long you may not even need ID to buy a gun. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that before long the only ID you’ll need in order to vote in Texas is a gun.
Even here in Oregon, open carry is as legal as it is ridiculous. A couple of years ago, Erin and I were driving on state Hwy. 18 through the outskirts of McMinnville on the way to the Oregon Coast. It was a quiet, uneventful part of the trip…until we saw a scrawny young man walking along the shoulder, an AR-15 slung over his shoulder.
The question, of course, is what anyone would feel the need to protect themselves from while walking along a highway in rural Oregon? The answer, of course, is that there’s no threat that would warrant carrying a weapon with but one purpose- destroying human life.
I suspect the young man carrying the AR-15 was doing so not only because he could, but because he knew it would frighten some folks, piss off others, and thus draw attention to himself. How sad that an adult male would feel it necessary to carry a weapon of war in order to feel relevant, heroic, and virile.
(Chicks dig the smell of cold steel and gun oil, amiright??)
What he clearly didn’t realize was that unnecessarily carrying a weapon intended only to destroy other human beings only made him look cowardly, impotent, and pathetic.
Despite what Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes may believe, guns don’t solve problems. An armed society is NOT a polite society; it’s a terrified society…because all it takes is one accidental discharge to ruin someone’s day. No, guns cause far more problems than they could ever solve. Sadly, too many men feel incomplete without them, making defeating our collective addiction to guns virtually impossible.
And so innocent Americans will continue to die while those they love will continue to grieve…all while those in positions of power prattle on about “thoughts and prayers.” After all these years, the one thing that should be clear is that “thoughts and prayers” is code for “We. Don’t. Care.”
Because it’s clear that those who could choose to make a difference simply don’t give a damn.