Last
words to be Later
There will be time
later to play politics. Time to wage a weak and empty war of words
that go nowhere, pre-destined to go nowhere, while a veil of
substantive thought a prayers go—somewhere. That is fine, it is
necessary to grieve. It is not always a science, a five tiered plan
of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Neither is
politics. It is worth considering, however, when Sunday's shooting in
Las Vegas is the 273rd such casualty in the 275 calendar
days of 2017 according to Newsweek. A Republican senator, when
pressed yesterday for a political narrative, sidestepped. He danced
around (like some projectiles were going toward him) and said “There
will be time later to play politics.” Is this where kicking the can
down the road happens? Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Oregon,
Phoenix. . .a US congressman nearly killed. Same story, thoughts and
prayers, maybe a moment of silence, vigils, maybe protests, some glib
political placate debate, disingenuous discourse, and the NRA wins
the day. The simple mom and pop club that began during reconstruction
with the purpose of promoting firearms training is allowed to
obstruct legislation that might have a shot at saving a life or two.
I can see Speaker
Ryan still, lauding the applause in the House as he stated their
unity after his colleague Steve Scalise was shot. I recall an airy,
gun-powdered sentient voiced, thinly hinted at, that perhaps that
tragedy was the straw that broke the camel, the pin that stuck in the
chamber. That was less than four full months ago. How soon we forget.
Was that a sufficient time to offer thoughts and prayers before doing
something that may actually prevent a killing, not just balm the
wounds after the fact, applause the responders, the bringing together
of people? I agree that it is a beautiful thing, admirable, worth
noting, commendable. But we see it, we did the humanity test and they
passed with flying colors. We saw it after 9/11, we saw it in Boston,
we saw it in Orlando, and we saw it Sunday. And no, that will not
stay in Vegas.
It is time, I'd
say, after 59 dead and 527 injured, to have a dialogue. Lobbies be
damned. Is there not a point at which the preservation of American
lives, of children, of families, of veterans, supersedes the
contextually distorted right to own a gun, a simple gun as were
available in the late 18th century? So far people have
mended fences—offenses. They've—well Republicans actually—allowed
themselves to become amenable to grief on an almost monthly basis.
They applaud how each assault tests our resolves as humans living in
a lawful society. Is the current man in the WH the second to ballyhoo
law and order? Why is it the ones who site law and order as a model
for their campaign the ones who seem to achieve the least of it, or
did I answer my question? I have yet to hear him call out gun
violence, address the problem for what it is, admit that it's been
out of hand for a long while. Last month in Chicago there were a
total of 330 people shot and killed, or wounded, by guns, oh and I
must add, and the people that wielded them. He did it with an
uncharacteristic amount of fanfare. Obama's law preventing guns from
being sold to mentally ill people was reversed by Trump. The ruling
by Obama required added people listed as receiving social security
checks for mental illness to a national background check database. It
came in response to the 2013 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting that left
20 first graders and six adults dead. Had the ruling gone
uncontested, had it not been repealed in favor of conciliatory
thoughts and prayers, the well-practiced and alibied way of avoiding
the issue, 75,000 names would now exist in the database. It's a tale
as long as the NRA's conception itself: The cogs in gun wheel houses
complain their 2nd Amendment right is being infringed
upon, gun control advocates praise rulings like Obama's for making it
more difficult for someone to purchase a gun who is apt to use them
with fatal intentions.
Las Vegas is
apparently a invitational well-spring for gun shows. Shows?
Exhibitions? Like Sinatra or any member collectively of the Rat Pack?
What a racket, a scam, a subliminal assault and exploitation of the
power of Vegas. Circus circus showcases beautiful women hanging in
compromising positions (at least that's how I remember it from 1983).
Buffets showcase food. Casinos showcase gambling and kino girls. I
went to an MGM Grand show that featured the Way-past-his-prime
conniptions of George Carlin. It boils down to a matter of personal
opinion but, at the end of the day, the long convention table, what
existentially constructive beauty does a gun show display. You can
dress them up however you want, give them fancy names, wrap them
tight in red,white and blue, but they a still instruments of death
basically designed to kill people. How did Stephan Paddock get 10
suitcases of guns up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay
Hotel, past security (I was stopped for one dulled ceremonial sword I
had won at a bodybuilding competition)? Are people proud of their gun
collections? Are they compelled to show them off, much as people who
go with their rag-tops to car shows? Fine, if they are old,
historically significant or rare guns they keep under lock and key so
junior makes it through puberty, by all means, organize a gun show.
You have been taken in, though, by the biggest fraud since—PT
Barnum.
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