Kurt Eichenwald writes: As news of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary played out around the country, the mantra from the gun-rights folks was fairly consistent: now is not the time to discuss how the government should deal with controls on firearms. It’s politicizing tragedy to talk about it, they whine.
O.K., I’ll agree. Let’s not talk about policy when it comes to Sandy Hook.
Instead, let’s consider the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre in 1984. Following the shooting of 40 people at that time, gunnies also said it was too soon to discuss new firearms laws; it would politicize the shooting at a moment that should only be about remembrance, you see. So let’s do it now—28 years is long enough to wait.
Or we can talk about the 21 people shot at the post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, two years later. Or the 35 at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, in 1989. Or the 20 that same year at Standard Gravure. Or the 50 at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, in 1991. Or the 14 at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst, California, the year after that. Or the 25 on the Long Island Railroad in 1993. Or the 15 at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Or the 29 at Thurston High School.
Or Columbine. Or Virginia Tech. Or Tucson. Or Aurora. Or Clackamas Town Center, just three days before Sandy Hook.
Or any of the senseless mass murders that have left behind piles of the maimed and murdered—the elderly, students, children, shoppers, worshippers, moviegoers, diners, workers, and even a member of Congress. One young woman—Jessica Ghawi—missed a gun rampage while shopping at a mall by a matter of minutes, only to be killed weeks later at the Aurora movie-theater massacre. Almost 1,000 innocent Americans have been shot in the last 30 years in these bloodbaths. And at each instance, the National Rifle Association and company try to shame us with this “not the time” argument so that we can’t discuss adopting laws to protect ourselves; eventually, the horror recedes, we move on with our lives, and we walk out into the world never knowing whether our heads will be the next to explode after being struck by a madman’s bullet.
Enough. We talk now. And my position is going to be direct: America needs to repeal the Second Amendment. [Continue reading…]
Repeal, goodness, that’s not going to solve a thing other than to satisfy a small group of individuals who believe such will stop violence. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, if someone is bent on destroying the lives of others, regardless of the reasons if those who committed the act are alive to tell about it afterwards. 9/11, Oklahoma, future drone attacks here in the U.S.A. People don’t seem to understand that with all the guns that law abiding citizens own, if used to kill others, well, just how many people would there be left to talk about it? Another thing, considering the social unrest that’s brewing here at home, what we witnessed last year Re: the OWS demonstrations around the country, could have been worse if the population didn’t have any guns at all. Personal freedoms are being eroded today, especially when the P.O.T.U.S. can have Americans shot dead, without any oversight. Paranoia, considering the present direction the government is going, that just might be what makes the difference between staying alive or disappearing into a black hole somewhere.