Well, America, we finally did it. We’ve reached that apex of utter ridiculousness and absurdity that’s an all time low even for a country that spawned The Jersey Shore, The Kardashians & Mormonism. So reach over to the adult next to you and pat them on the back for being apart of one of the most sadistic and ruthless cultures in all of the industrialized nations.
Because no one does guns like us.
Whether you’re a delusional liberal touting that all guns should be confiscated and banned or some obnoxious conservative yelling that responsible Americans are entitled to a stockpile of arms that would rival a 3rd world dictatorship, we here in the U.S.A. all have vehemently held beliefs and all play our part when it comes to our gun culture and it’s subsequent debates. And the only progress that’s come from all of our bickering is more dead citizens who could’ve been potential doctors that cure cancer or at the very least, subservient taxpayers.
But Friday’s massacre was different than your typical run of the mill shooting. It didn’t happen at a mall, movie theatre or high school, it happened at an elementary school and had a higher death count than the Aurora, Clackamas or Columbine disasters. We Americans have grown accustomed to these types of incidents and sadly have even become desensitized in their wake where our only response to such travesties are “Well, that fucking sucks.” And then we go about our day.
The catastrophe in Newton, Connecticut however was not only different in the fact that it chipped away at even the hardest of us cynics but it also sent a loud and clear message that no one, regardless of their age or location, is safe. And to prove that point, a young man with three weapons his mother bought legally went from classroom to classroom and erased the hopeful and innocent lives of kids not even old enough to legally have a say if guns should be outlawed, regulated or allowed in this country. They were just fodder for our go-nowhere arguments about the legality of firearms.
Friday’s heartbreaking episode in our Gun Show also demonstrated that our guns here at home are an epidemic. It’s far beyond any easy fix method. Just like an over infestation of cockroaches in one’s house, such is the case with guns. In fact it’s so out of control that a lot of us feel that the only protection from guns is more guns.
Nancy Lanza, the mother of Adam Lanza who was the shooter at Sandy Hock Elementary on Friday, probably thought that in order to keep her family safe she needed three guns. You can’t get on the internet or T.V. without seeing how well that mentality played out.
We need to start looking at guns with a personification. And I think a fair one would be to give them the title of sociopath. That’s not to refer to them in a negative connotation but a realistic one. Your typical sociopath lacks conscience, the threat of consequences or how his actions could affect other people. The sociopath just does, free of the moral implications of if his deeds are right or wrong.
Such is the case with guns. They’re unthinking and unapologetic in the things they do. They don’t care about right and wrong, they just are. The gun that one might have in their home that they clean and target shoot with as well as feel safe with could be the same instrument that is turned on them in the event of a home invasion where the intruder gets the upper hand.
Bottom line, your gun doesn’t care about you. It will just as soon kill you as it would kill someone that means you harm. It’s a means to a very specific end.
Now I’m fully aware that the gun is merely a tool and it’s purpose depends on who’s employing it. But so often than not, the gun is a quick fix enabler for someone with emotionally unstable problems and this is where the true danger lies. Plus, there’s no possible way to detect if a responsible gun owner will lose their cool one day, or, as in the case of the Connecticut shooting, if the gun owners kid has access to the guns and decides to go postal one bright December morning. The underlying truth of it all is, just like God, guns are everywhere and they’d just as soon punish us as protect us.
I know some of you have the asinine argument that if we got rid of guns people would still find other ways to harm one another and there’s some validity to that. But I guarantee it wouldn’t be as severe or easy as destruction is with a gun.
Yes people can build bombs but that takes time, know how and usually an ideological agenda as in the case with Timothy McVeigh. And yes, you can kill someone with a knife, baseball bat, rope, tire iron, pillow or even a shoe if you’ve got the time and tenacity.
But all of those things can’t do it as easily and in mass numbers like you can with a gun. If you walked into a school or public place with a knife or bat you could do one, maybe two people, but then you’d be subdued by a few people bigger than you. The casualties would be scarce and the wrongdoer apprehended. Just this past Friday someone stabbed 21 school children in China, but none died. Granted it was still horrific but it didn’t have a death toll. Those kids will live, adapt and hopefully have great and meaningful lives. It’s also an example of the stark difference between a gun and any other weapon.
The gun means business and it’s business is killing as quick and lethally as possible assuming your shooter isn’t Stevie Wonder.
I’ve also heard the outlandish statements that teachers should be armed in order to sway the trend of school shootings. This is stupidity at it’s most glorious moment. Teachers already have a laundry list of responsibilities to attend to with very little monetary compensation for all that they do. But no, let’s add marksman to their requirements.
Then again maybe that’s not a bad idea after all (or maybe I’m just getting stupider by the second) because most schools already have metal detectors and lock down systems that are akin to maximum security prisons. So yeah, let’s just arm the people in charge so there’s really no difference between prisons and schools. It’s a great message to send to our children which is: Sorry, kids, but because of our so called “freedoms” you’re going to be imprisoned for your own safety because we can’t get our shit together.
Another ludicrous rant I heard was to start hoarding all the assault weapons as if they were Twinkies before the government stepped in and made them illegal. This is American paranoia at it’s finest and as with all things that are done in an irrational state of suspiciousness and distrustfulness, it’s a bad fucking idea and here’s the reason why; No matter how many guns you’re amassing at home, it’s not gonna keep your loved one’s safe because someone else is also amassing guns at their home and you can’t predict their future behavior. Seriously, folks, if you've got such a stiff boner for assault rifles, join the fucking military, they've got plenty of 'em.
There’s also the other profoundly retarded argument that it’s not only a citizen’s right but their duty to keep and bear arms as to secure our rights and freedoms from a government and to not allow said government to become tyrannical. But the tyranny is already here. We create it by being afraid of those with guns, so we get guns. More guns in circulation means more guns in the hands of people who aren’t always of sound mind and logic. This means more shootings.
On average guns account for 12,000 deaths in the U.S. annually (this number is strictly limited to assaults, not suicides or accidentals). That’s roughly 132,000 Americans killed since 2001. Or look at it another way; we have the equivalent of four 9/11 tragedies per year. We’re doing a better job at exterminating ourselves and our way of life than our most hateful & zealous enemies could imagine. All in the name of upholding “Our Way of Life” . When terrorists killed 3,000 Americans we declared war on any and all that would harm us. But when it comes to our own domestic war with guns we just get irate during our discourse and end up threatening to shoot one another.
But such is the mentality of our gun culture and like it or not, we’re all products of it in the sense that we’re apologists for the gun, advocates against the gun, or all too often like the 20 dead kids on Friday December 14th, victims of the gun. But one thing is for certain, we’ll talk about this, argue over it, post stupid and ignorant shit on our Facebook feeds and then forget about it until it happens again in another few weeks only to do the arguing all over again with no intention of resolving or amending our homegrown epidemic.
And that cyclical consistency demonstrates that something is fundamentally flawed with us and our guns in the United States.
