Once Again. Read, Wash, Repeat

Yesterday on social media, I posted a harsh note about the latest tragic school shooting.  As you might imagine, I received my share of critical replies from those who, in the words of one, thought I was "moronic".  Among these folk, one response stood out, blaming the shooting and such similar ones on, of all people, the ACLU (yes, you read that right), making special note of a photograph the t-shirt the killer was wearing -- which may or may not have been a photograph of the actual killer.

Life has pushed us far past such things.  Such people trying to rewrite reality has lost its charm, most especially when it comes at the expense of the continued mass shootings of schoolchildren.  Yet they spring up out of the muck every time, trying to come up with new excuses, which is getting different with each mass school shooting and dead child.

The ACLU?  Seriously, folks, that's what you're argument is down to at this time?  As a starting point, to even think that The Very Reason for this shooting falls on the ACLU having made a case to repeal a law prohibiting those with mental issue so severe that they need a guardian (an argument I don't remotely agree with) is to a) ignore reality, since such a situation doesn't apply here, and b) believe that other organizations lobbying for the law to be rescinded didn't actually exist.  It is to believe that, among many others, the gun corporation-owned NRA which not only didn't both argue and lobby for repeal, but hasn't spent more money funding candidates than almost any organization in America.  Eight years ago, the NRA gave $8 million to politicians.  In the 2016 election, they gave $54 million.

(Ahhh, the dear NRA.  The gun corporation-owned NRA fringe terrorist organization.  How shall we count the ways we love thee on Valentine's Day.  This below is real.  On Valentine's Day, the NRA retweeted the following post.  It was so ghastly given the day's news that even the NRA, which seems tone-deaf to death by guns, recognized that they had to delete it.  But fortunately someone online had seen it and saved the thing and re-posted it for everyone to see.)

But no, let's blame the ACLU for this.  Because...well, just because our fevered brains say that we can.  Reality be damned.

​Further, though, it was neither the ACLU nor even the NRA that actually repealed the law.  It was the Republicans in Congress who voted for repeal.  It was that vote, and that vote alone, which actually, literally changed the law.  Nothing else.  Period.

But the thing is, beside even all that, it takes myopia of Brobdingnagian proportions to not recognize that the issue at hand isn't this school shooting that has made the news yesterday so horrific -- and it's pretty horrific all on its own, with 17 people dead. The point is that this "tragic shooting" (tm) is part of a pattern of 19 school shootings this year already, and we're only in February.  That's the problem.  That's the issue.  That's the disaster.  And all these 19 school shootings this year already are not related to this one, single law.  

And no, just to be really clear:  this is not about "t-shirts."  It's about guns.  It makes no difference what "t-shirt" a mass shooter wore (assuming he even did wear it), even if that "t-shirt" explains in full, distinct, expansive, legal and court-approved detail the exact reason why he committed the mass shooting.  The point isn't that he was wearing a "t-shirt," it's that he was holding an AR-15 rifle.  And shooting it.

The thing is, if there was just one mass school shooting, you might be able to ascribe a single reason why such a gut-wrenching tragedy occurred.  Though even there, life usually ascribes many reasons to complicated actions.  But the clear point is that there isn't just one mass school shooting.  Last year alone, there were 30,000 people killed with guns.  Last year alone, there were 345 mass shootings!  That's a sick average of one mass shooting every single day.  This year already, there have been 19 school shootings, and it's only February.  There are many reasons these shootings occur, many conditions, many explanations for all these shootings.  There is no single "reason."  Yet for all that, they nonetheless do all have One Thing Alone in Common.  Every single one of them used guns.

People can try to rewrite reality all they want.  They can try to jury-rig and twist their stories in as convoluted, tortured logic as possible.  They can say it's mental illness or that they laws aren't being enforced or that others should have more guns to protect themselves, but -- it all boils down to one reality:  there was always a gun involved.

Guns don't kill people.  People with guns kill people.

And yes, of course, there have been those trotting out their hackneyed, "There goes the left again.  This is not the time for this discussion.  Give the families time to grieve."  (The oh-so adorable "Fox pundit" Tomi Lahren, who hasn't met a thought she didn't understand, was prominent in trying this one, bless her very little heart.)  Well...no, the truth is it's not the time for this discussion.  The time for this discussion was BEFORE it happened.  But still, trust me, discussing guns will not keep the families from grieving.  The families will be able to grieve in privately without the slightest difficulty.  The point is to make sure that the NEXT families don't have to grieve.

I do think the person who this latest school shooting hurts the most, though, is Trump, since it wasn't committed by a Muslim, so the president couldn't blame it on Arab terrorists.  It was not only committed by an American citizen , but also using a gun.  And so the best Trump could do was offer his "prayers" and "condolences."  One would think a president could actually do more, at least if he wanted to.

By the way, there was one other response I got that was so special.  The person asked me if I thought my comments were helpful, that wasn't it better to to try to help bring people together?  Well...my hope most-certainly is that it helps and helps a great deal, continuing to be part of the voices drawing attention that nothing is being done. (Not just about guns, but helping those with mental illness.)  But far more than that, my goal is not in the slightest to "help people come together." My goal is to see that SCHOOL SHOOTINGS AND MASS SHOOTINGS *STOP ALREADY"!! That should be everyone's goal. Not hopes, prayers and hugs.
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