Kill Fest

 It is an epidemic...

I mean, mass shooting in America.
Can anyone say they understand it?

I can’t. Neither, evidently, can the world at large outside America. And within that country itself, there seems to be a paralysis of spirit around the subject. What you hear, even from top politicians (especially, perhaps), is an unimpeded flow of nonsense. Meanwhile, the rest of the world stands aghast as, time after time, a presumably “ordinary” citizen picks up a gun- usually an automatic or semiautomatic, crams it full with ammunition, packs up an extra supply to make sure he does not run out before his awful purpose is fully realised. Thus equipped, he - it is always a he - packs the arsenal into his vehicle and sets off on a murder spree, targeting his fellow citizens in what has become almost a ritual: One of mass slaying at a location where hundreds, or even more, are gathered for work or play, education or worship, celebration, or any of the other ordinary things that people do when they try to live their daily lives.

The script, from Act I Scene l, to the Finale is now fairly predictable and, has even become almost pedestrian, except that the denouement is always so horrible: The perpetrator murders his fellow-citizens in industrial quantities and, sometimes, kills himself or is killed by law-enforcement or, in some cases, captured alive. But all in all, an appalling scene.  

Some of the elements in this tableau are pretty obvious: It can be argued, fairly, that such murderers are not “normal”. The “shooter”, as they are now called, almost certainly has some mental disorder that renders him unable to resolve internal conflicts in a normal way. I am just supposing here, because I do not have the credentials that would qualify me to make such an assessment. But, what is also obvious is that all of us are beset to a similar, if not the same extent, by the propaganda and misinformation that emanates from the various sources, ranging from tweets to campaign stops, to blogs, to TV and talk radio, and in the open web or in its darker regions; a poisonous brew poured out by top politicians and other opinion-makers, some by innuendo, others full-frontal.

Most of us, however, manage to sift out the dross and concentrate on what is real and logical, and true. But even among people who cannot separate the nonsensical from the sensible, most remain harmless, although they may fume and rage privately or among friends but go to their bed at night without harming anyone. The problem with America lies in its guns. But, for some reason, Americans seem unable to understand the link between the wide availability of firearms of all kinds in the population and the impulse to use them. Americans (some, at any rate) peddle nonsense about a Second Amendment to the constitution that allows citizens to “bear” arms. As follows: ‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed’. One supposes that it is all in the meaning of what a ‘free state’ is and what role the armed citizen, whether as an individual or in a collective or militia can do to maintain the state as a free entity. And while we are appalled by the power of the weapons held in private hands, there can be no contest between official government military on the one hand and a militia on the other, however well-regulated the latter might be. But in any case, that militia, whether regulated or not, is definitely not intended for unleashing its firepower against unarmed fellow-citizens going about their normal business. Restricting the type of weapons an ordinary citizen might wish to possess to just single-shot rifles or shotguns for use in killing animals for sport is bad enough. but that is something one can live with, knowing that the destructive power of such instruments would be limited when deployed in an urban setting. Otherwise, it is ludicrous to claim that repeater rifles have a place in downtown Dayton or suburban Denver or most recently Odessa, Tx, for example.

The country has to get real and understand that a deliberate misunderstanding of Second Amendment provisions is a sure track to ruin even for those who manufacture and sell firearms.

Tell Fren Tru

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