Funerals & Finger-Pointing

Although I am a big advocate of "mourning first and pointing fingers later," I can't help but to get caught up in the drama of both factions.  One faction is offering more strict gun laws as a solution.  The other faction is offering "thoughts and prayers."  It sucks that politics is overshadowing a great tragedy but that's the American way.  Every bad thing that happens is the fault of people who don't vote the same way you do.  I'm done mourning so let me start my rant.

A special word to the folks bringing up the Book of Genesis and the fact that God banished Cain for killing Abel, not the rock:  I am pretty damn sure the Uvalde death toll would have been slightly lower if that lunatic walked in there with a rock instead of an AR-15.  Please don't quote a book that was written before guns were invented.  The parents of the deceased children (some of them are devoted Catholics) don't want to hear that shit.  What good is banishing a killer that's already dead?

A special word to the folks saying that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun:  What happens between the time the bad guy starts shooting and the good guy starts shooting back?  A proactive bad guy has an advantage of the reactive good guy.  The good guys with guns waited a good 45 minutes before shooting back.  The good guy with a gun in Buffalo is dead.  Why aren't we offering "thoughts and prayers" to police officers who are killed by their own service weapons?

A special word to the folks mentioning that we did not ban planes after 9/11.  A group of radicals got access to a plane and killed thousands.  The key word is access! As a result, law abiding citizens have to ditch their shampoo and receive rectal exams before getting on a flight for the last two decades.  Since then there hasn't been that many planes intentionally flying into buildings.

Three things are needed in a mass shooting:

1. A Killer

2. A Gun

3. Bullets

Without a killer a gun is useless.  Without bullets a gun is useless.  Do you see the common factor here?  If the killer never existed, the tragedy never would have happened.  If the killer walked into the school with a gun with no bullets, he would have gotten his ass kicked.  

Please don't assume that I am anti-gun.  I am a proud owner of a Remington 870 pump action shotgun, I just don't have this desire to casually carry it into an Applebees.  Not only do I have a house to protect but I have two daughters who will eventually bring by boyfriends that I will need to intimidate.  However there is a difference between people like me and people that think that the addition of more guns is a solution to gun violence.  

Since I have mocked the people comparing guns to rocks and airplanes, I'll go ahead and make a comparison and feel free to mock me:  Opioid overdoses are a problem because the wrong folks are getting ahold of them.  Opioids do not need to be outlawed, they need to be controlled.  Mass shootings are a problem because the wrong folks are getting ahold of guns.  Guns do not need to be outlawed, they need to be controlled.  

Don't get me started on comparing abortions to school shootings.  

Yes, if a criminal wants to get a gun, they'll get one anyway off the street.  There is nothing wrong with suggesting that the seller of the weapon to a criminal should face a harsher punishment compared to someone peddling opioids.  There is nothing wrong into making sure the person you are selling a gun to isn't a deranged psychopath *cough...background checks...cough*.  There is nothing wrong with holding parents accountable when they provide their minor children with rifles and someone dies as a result *cough...Kyle Rittenhouse...cough*.  

Wouldn't it be ironic if there was a mass shooting at the NRA convention???

Taking a step in the right direction is better than not taking any steps at all.