MORE MURDERS FOR THE NRA RAP SHEET

7/20/2012

    More Murders For the NRA Rap Sheet
   The latest shooting in Colorado, 14 dead, dozens wounded, elicits the usual media wailing with many uses of the word, “tragedy.” Hamlet is a tragedy. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy. But one more deranged killer running amok with deadly weapons is a crime to add to the grisly rap sheet of the NRA, and every politico who grovels before it.
   A few dozen mass murders ago, public pressure often turned against lack of gun control, the real source of the problem, weapons available to any lunatic, insanely pushed by the NRA and its pathological fight against common sense. The NRA fought back--“guns don’t kill people, people kill people”—counting on the fact that after enough shooting sprees, hundreds killed, it would become the new normal and people would learn to suck it up. Nothing to be done. That’s life.
   One day some crazed person driven mad by the loss of a loved one in another “tragic” shooting, will buy up an arsenal, don a suicide vest, sneak into NRA headquarters, shoot everyone on sight and blow the rest up. That’s life.

Martha

7/20/2012 10:38:17 am

Stuart, I appreciate your distinction between tragedy and crime: thought-provoking. E. J. Dionne, Washington Post commentator on NPR made a good case for taking up the issue of gun-control, rather than simply conceding that the gun-lobby "controls" Washington.

Alan

7/20/2012 11:58:45 am

Amen brother, amen.

Jeremy

7/20/2012 09:22:50 pm

Eighty-five years ago, on January 9, 1927, 78 children were killed in a movie theater in Montreal's east end, at a Sunday matinee double feature of a western called The Devil's Gulch and a comedy called Bring 'Em Young. A fire, started by faulty wiring, started a stampede. The people of Quebec, and the Catholic Church, didn't blame the faulty wiring. They blamed the movies. And no one under sixteen was allowed in a movie theater in the province for 40 years.

Early this morning, 71 people were shot -- 12 died, one of them six-years-old -- in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. They were killed, apparently, by a rifle and a handgun and the faulty wiring inside the head of a man named James Holmes. And our response -- America's response -- is going to be nothing.

Quebecers needed to do something. There had to be some reason their children were gone. Luckily they had the Church, and the Church told them the problem was motion pictures.

Americans might want to do something now, but their president, Barack Obama, and their only other choice for president, Mitt Romney, have both issued statements -- after a gun massacre -- that the answer is prayer.

All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers...

Obama

Our prayers and condolences go first to the families of those killed...

Romney

And what about guns, and keeping them out of lunatics' hands? Obama and Romney are silent as ashes.

No American politician will even say the words "gun control." Because getting shot isn't a law enforcement issue, or even a public safety issue. It's up to God, and the heavily armed mad men he sends, and whether you just happen to be in the wrong theater seat at the wrong time.

At least the Catholic Church in Quebec in the 20s did something. They didn't leave it all in God's hands. They weren't ridiculous.

In a movie theater in America, in 2012, a gunman isn't a problem for the state. It's between you and God. The law is only there to keep you safe from Fred Willard.

Jeremy

7/20/2012 09:24:54 pm

For some unknown reason the attribution didn't paste:
After a Massacre, Obama and Romney Suggest... Nothing
Chris Kelly, Posted: 7/20/12 2:59 PM

7/20/2012 11:42:52 pm

You are so right on Stu. After the initial grieving, Americans return to business as usual because we have come to believe that these crimes are unavoidable and the NRA is all powerful. If public health depts. across the country dedicated money for media campaigns against guns, (supported by the CDC of course), the way they did against cigarettes, it could help shift that thinking. Then people might push for more regulatory legislation. It could happen.

Susan link

7/21/2012 07:30:10 am

"THAT'S IT!!! A crime not a tragedy! If we could embrace the truth of which Stuart writes, it all becomes clear. How is it that the bloviating birdbrains of the NRA wield so much power? How is it that we are made to fear Muslim terrorists and gay marrieds instead of American sociopaths with guns? We countenance the NRA tripe "guns don't kill people, people kill people". As a crime, it is people-with-access-to-guns that kill people". Way back when, we were told to fear "communist plots". When will we wake up to the present-day truth of corporate plots? Many thanks, Stuart.

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7/16/2013 08:16:21 pm

Government should bring restriction on providing license to keep guns as a result of few shooting incidents happened in recent times. There is no control in providing license these days, that’s the main reason behind mass murders. This article was a thought provoking one. Thanks for sharing it. Hope the government will think about it as soon as possible.

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10/18/2013 03:06:13 am

Interesting read.

Comments are closed.

Author (Yuma, AZ, 1944)

Being 90 years in this world, with great kids, great grandkids, great wives (two, one at a time) and great memories, I wonder why some people seem to have stopped loving the U.S.A.? I will wonder in print right here. If you wonder too, or can provide some answers, please comment.
Stuart Hodes

       With my friend, Nero.
             April, 2012.
    Photo by Ray Madrigal

MORE MURDERS FOR THE NRA RAP SHEET

Author (Yuma, AZ, 1944)

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