Ho Hum, another mass shooting! At least one dead, and more than 20 injured during the Kansas City Chiefs celebration of their Super Bowl victory. Three suspects are in custody. It doesn’t seem like a terrorist attack or something that was planned out in advance. It seems more like a dispute between individuals, all of whom were carrying firearms, and when it escalated and the bullets started flying, a lot of innocent people got hurt. This once again demonstrates the absolute lunacy of letting every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Mary carry concealed weapons without permits.
No other industrialized country on the planet has such lax gun laws and it shows. No other industrialized country has anywhere near the number of mass shootings and gun deaths as we do in this country. The only country in the world that leads the United States in total gun deaths Brazil. Many South American countries have a higher gun death rate on a per capita basis. That is primarily due to the widespread presence of gangs, cartels, and the drug trade. However, none of America’s NATO allies or Pacific Rim allies like Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand come anywhere close to the United States in gun violence.
Then again, they don’t have the Second Amendment, the NRA and firearm manufacturers whose very existence and profits depend upon their ability to instill fear in the general public in order to sell even more guns. Defenders of this insanity will often cherry pick an instance or two when armed bystanders took down a suspect as proof that more guns and a heavily armed civilian population is the answer. If that were true, given the United States now has more guns on the street than people, we should have the safest country in the world. That is obviously not the case.
The majority of Americans are in favor of reasonable gun laws. However, the primarily Republican politicians in Congress who are bought and paid for in part by the gun lobby lack the courage to do anything really constructive to solve this problem. The “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” that was signed into law in 2022 has obviously done nothing to address this plague that can be called nothing less than a public health crisis. Mass shootings continue on a daily basis. Guns are now the leading cause of death of children. That legislation was more of a public relations gambit than a real effort to solve the problem.
People often talk about the threats to this country, but I would argue the ongoing lack of courage in Republican party is by far the biggest threat this country faces. They don’t have the courage to enact stricter and more reasonable gun control laws. They don’t have the courage to stand up to Trump, the wanna be dictator of the United States, who instituted a coup and lied continuously about voter fraud when there was none. They didn’t have the courage to pass a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill that would have helped address the border issues simply because their leader wants to use immigration as a campaign issue.
Until such time as the Republicans find some spine, we can expect many more innocent people to be killed in senseless gun tragedies and most critical problems facing the country will remain unsolved. I once offered that GOP really stood for Great Obstructionist Party, but I’ve changed my mind. I think it really stands for Gutless Obstructionist Party.
Since the Congress seems unwilling to actually tackle this problem in a meaningful way, I suggest we institute a new lottery drawing to join Powerball and Mega Millions. People can buy tickets to bet on which city a mass shooting will occur and how many people will be killed on any given day. It would be kind of like the US version of the Hunger Games. Does that sound sick? It certainly isn’t any more depraved than all these cowardly legislators sitting idly by and doing absolutely nothing to solve this gun pandemic that is ripping this country apart. Good luck next time you decide to go to a parade – or a theater – or the grocery store – or just out for a walk! Insanity!
