PHOTO CREDIT: VIKTOR MITIC|JOHN DRAJEWICWell. I squeezed that web tech post in there, but this forum is essentially going to press with two gun & shooting related posts in a row. That was not the plan. Not that I was going to go light, but this post is prompted by the most recent school shooting and it’s about how it sucks how many guns there are in America as a first part of the problem we have with gun violence. And while today I’m prompted to write this post by Apalachee, by the time you read this who knows how many more like tragedies there have been, you know? (Doesn’t that suck? Yeah, it sucks.)
But before I wrote this, I thought maybe I’d do a post about how the perception of the economy being bad is really a story about a great-running economy where some robber barons used pandemic supply-chain problems to make price-gouging permanent, but then the Harris-Walz campaign came along and took that on for me.
Speaking of murderous tragedies; Next, I was feeling very bad about the Palestinian genocide by Israel, and thought I’d wade into those waters. Not because I am, like, a Peace in the Middle East subject matter expert by any means, and while it feels like a dangerous topic for an American, White, non-Jew, non-Palestinian to weigh in on, it still feels like something everyone of every stripe should have the correct moral compass on. And while I feel that however complex the political and practical situations are, the moral question is not that complicated, at all. It’s bad, what’s happening to Palestinians in Gaza, very very bad. The mass killing of a specific group while the government of those doing the mass killing contains folks that are on record that all members of this group they are killing should not be within certain geographical boundaries anymore, is a) genocide b) and genocide is bad. And while, the events of Oct 7, 2023 in Israel were a) horrifying b) demand a military response to a murderous militia c) do not justify this manner of response by Israel, at all c) it is not antisemitic to think so. That said, all those people cohabitating w/in those said geographical boundaries should be alive and safe. All of them. That means kicking shitheads of every stripe out of power. So, there’s the cliff Notes for my feelings on that situation.
So while we’re talking about the mass murder of innocents, let’s talk about Guns In America.
There are Too Many Guns. That is the First Problem. There is more than one problem contributing to the situation.
And let’s dispense with the old canard that if one doesn’t know what AR stands for one can’t have an opinion on guns in America. I know what the AR stands for but that’s not even the point. That asinine question and its like are raised to shift the narrative from “kids gruesomely murdered in schools“ to “you don’t know what you’re talking about”. Well, don’t fall for it. We know that we are talking about increasing safety for us all.
I grew up in WY and NM. I know how to use guns. Heck, I even like shooting them! I have never owned a gun, but I don’t look askance at someone just because they do! ‘Cause it matters how one goes about it, quite a bit! And so, we can keep 2A and have the common sense regulated access to guns most of us want, and folks can have a gun hobby!
At least most folks can! As just one class of case for counter-example - and an especially harrowing one - kids everyone knows need help shouldn’t get guns as presents which keeps fucking happening for some fucking reason. We can stop that. We must, because preserving the full scope they desire of someone’s firearms is never going to be more important than saying “Jimmy I love you, have a good day at school,” and you get to hear about that day at school later from a live, living, whole, not-shot-by-an-AR nor any other acronymed or not form of firearm.
“But, but Andan tyranny!” No. Shut up. It’s never anything other than a wet dream of gun humpers that an armed citizenry can take on a totalitarian gov’t. You know, the kind of gov’t we don’t and have never had, and that DEMOCRACY guards us against, not guns, so a trunk full of ARs and FMJ .225 or whatever your ammo religion is is not useful in this feverish fantasy of theirs. Where‘s your Apache loaded with Hellfires and backed by the full weight of the Army logistics system, humper? What’s your AR going to do about that? Think you and your friends can hit a base and take all that stuff from the brave patriots that serve? Wake up. Towel off.
@mrnealbrennan The Second Amendment is wild. #standup #comedy #standupcomedy #netflix #politics #funny #lol #fourthofjuly #america ♬ original sound - Neal Brennan
And let’s get back to the point: We aren’t safe, anywhere, in our own peaceful company, BECAUSE OF THE FUCKING GUNS. It’s too easy to get military-grade (“oh no no Andan they aren’t military grade because [white-noise static plays over gun humper recitation of technical distinctions w/o a significant difference between the M4 carbine and the same-chambered caliber AR which is chambered that way because of its similarity to the military variant ]”), grotesquely misnomered “small arms” that can kill dozens in seconds. That, is the FIRST and FOREMOST problem.
But let’s be real, even w/o these military types in civilian drag we’d still have shootings because we also have this tough guy macho bullshit fake-patriotism that says being armed and hair-triggered is the best way to solve a wide range of problems. This is a symptom of the poor versions of masculinity we’ve become addicted to as a nation. So just like one doesn’t need and shouldn’t have an Apache w/ Hellfires and training and logistics support, we all should have the benefit of common sense gun regulations that most of us want . And yeah, if people who know you tell the Feds you mouth off about “the darkies” or “our tyrannical government”- and if you are arming up against the gov’t you’re a traitor, not a patriot! - I don’t think you should have a gun!
But! Crucially! That is not even something that is seriously proposed! Too bad though. More seriously, I think the Swiss model of a society that treats gun ownership with the sober responsibility it deserves is a good model. And they have a lot of guns . Honestly, such a societal shift might be much, much harder than just getting rid of the physical devices wallpapering America right now.
But we need to be a lot less macho. We don’t need bristling anger to be strong. We don’t need the fear of the guns we hold in our clenched fists to be safe. An armed society is not necessarily a more polite society, our American one is demonstrably a more paranoid one. Chief evidence there is all the dumb fucking reasons cops shoot people that are very not serving and protecting the public and very are a cop decided a 13 year old was a threat to cop life, because he thought he had a gun, because guns are everywhere .
So vote for your lives. Vote for progressive, leftist ideals of peace, safety, and men who bear arms for supportive hugging, and strong, experienced, women leaders who will fight for the common sense gun laws most of us want. #HarrisWalz2024
Harris-Walz winning the election isn’t a panacea, it won’t automagically give me the America I want in this respect, but I bet they move the needle if they get a Democrat-controlled Congress (that’s both of two houses of; the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives!). And if election and policy keep going that way, maybe in a generation we can be much more confident of not picking our kid up after school at the morgue a few days later.
I, for one, would welcome that.
Addendum: What this fine folk sang.
@philiplabes here we are again
♬ original sound - Philip Labes
[Light editing 2024-09-09T08:07:37-0700]