Monday, September 07, 2009

Don't we wish this was completely inconceivable?

Man in Georgia shoots 8 people, including children.

Man in Louisiana shoots 4 people, including a 2-year-old and a pregnant woman.

Man in Virginia opens fire and kills 23 college kids.

And on, and on, and on.

Why so much gun violence, America?? This is not what the 'right to keep and bear arms' that Americans have protected by law is all about. That right is based on a civilian militia who are called to band together in defense of this country should the need arise, to use their weapons in self defense or defense of this country in a lawful manner. (Excellent Wikipedia article here, which goes into origination and legal rulings on cases pertaining to personal use of firearms, both here in the U.S. and in other countries) It would seem to me that the authors of the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment to the Constitution would consider this right to NOT be about having a personal arsenal at the ready should the idea ever arise to slaughter your entire family because you are 1) mad at them, 2) drunk, 3) bat-shiat crazy go nutso, or 4) a God-awful person who is so fucking narcissistic that you believe that other people deserve to die because they made you unhappy.

Reason 1 means you should go chill out with a trusted friend until you've hashed out why you're so angry. Reason 2 means you need to sober the hell up before being allowed access to any weapon, including your car. Reason 3 means you should go see a shrink or counselor about the voices in your head that are telling you to put bullet holes in those people you purport to love. Reason 4 likely means you're an abusive asshole who has a big ol' bag of psych issues that have nothing to do with the folks at whom you're aiming a semiautomatic weapon. NONE of these reasons are enough to kill someone. None.

Would making guns harder to procure make these crimes go away though? Maybe, maybe not. Would it be any better if people had to pass an emotional fitness test before being allowed to purchase a gun? Probably not, because you just KNOW there's a black market out there for the folks who don't want the law knowing they have a firearm.

It would be glorious to live in a world where this kind of bullshit cowardice didn't happen, and that people with problems could recognize their issues and go get help before they ruined the lives of so many people. How on earth does one think that murdering a toddler is going to make anything better? How can anyone believe that slaughtering rooms full of college students is going to cure anything? How can one stand behind the notion that shooting up their estranged family is going to endear them to the general populace, or make their point of view any more understandable?

That, my friends, is crazy talk. Somehow, we should be able to establish a system that maintains our Constitutionally-endowed RIGHT to bear arms for lawful purposes with a policy that would ensure those arms are used in the manner it was intended they be used.

What makes basic common sense is that anyone who would shoot a baby, or a pregnant woman, or their grown son, or even a complete stranger if not in the act of self-defense or war, is a waste of skin and should be given a gun and a bullet to put through his (or her) own skull. After being flogged, of course. And maybe after having a 30-minute session with Chuck Norris, who I'm sure frowns on baby-killing.

Please offer up in the comments anything else that should be done to putrid human excrescences like those mentioned at the top of this post. Feel free to be as evil as you please. These people did.

No comments: