Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy — fighting to come to grips with the
country’s latest mass murder, said, “Evil visited this community today.”
He was speaking Friday when a lone gunman shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and opened fire, killing 26, including 20 small children.
“Our hearts are broken today,” said President Obama, who added that these
tragedies must end.
There is no way to rationally comprehend this act, which was just the latest in a banner year for crazed gunmen. But let’s be clear about one thing: The shooter in Connecticut, 10 days before Christmas, was evil personified, but he wasn’t alone. He couldn’t have accomplished his deed without the aid of guns and America’s sick fascination with anything that shoots a bullet.
Guns are the common denominator in all cases of human wreckage out to avenge their inner demons. Now everyone is asking whether this latest atrocity will compel a productive dialogue on gun control. It will for awhile, but don‘t expect big changes. Still, with small children involved maybe even the hard hearts of conservative gun lovers can be melted.
Weak, greedy politicians are more tuned into the dollars greasing their
palms from the gun lobby than the families of children who had their
little bodies ripped apart by bullets. It’s interesting to note that the
National Rifle Association’s Facebook page went dark after the shooting. I
can imagine the comments it was getting.
These politicians — though Republicans are the true believers of the Wild West, stand-your-ground ethos, Democrats have blood on their hands, too —are aided by conservative judges who willfully misinterpret the Second Amendment and allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased by anyone with the money.
Add to this toxic brew the American Legislative Exchange Council, which
pushes for lax gun laws readily lapped up by Republican state legislatures
who use their unchecked majority to turn their states into bloodbaths.
In order to boost the conservative ideology, Republicans will pass gun
laws that will allow equal purchases of fire arms between the responsible
gun owner and the criminally insane.
Some politicians have called on better targeting of the nuts who might one day kill people. How do you do that in the land of the free? And if you do find a way, how do you differentiate between true basket cases and the merely eccentric?
Since it’s almost impossible to determine who might snap, the logical
solution is gun control. We can begin with an immediate ban of
semi-automatic weapons, which is the gun of choice for the deranged. The
U.S. had that ban once, and then George W, Bush and his merry band of
Republicans overturned it in a craven bow to the NRA.
Then let’s go after the NRA. Since the underlying philosophy of the leadership of this group is to have weapons to use against an encroaching government, let’s make the leap and begin investigating NRA leaders for conspiracy to commit treason. Or link them to terrorist acts, which is what Sandy Hook was.
The NRA’s interpretation is not what the Second Amendment is about. It was
to have people ready to join militias to defend their state or country.
There was no standing army. If conservatives can stretch the Second
Amendment‘s meaning to include semi automatics — whose only purpose is
killing people — then lets call the gun lobby treasonous.
Conservatives will say the bad guys will still get their guns. Maybe, but let’s make it tougher anyway.
Until America decides its children are more important than owning a Sig
Sauer, then incidents like Sandy Hook will go on, enabled by the morally
weak in Congress and statehouses across the nation.
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Stephen Dick is an editor at The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind. Contact
him at steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com.
