We seem to be a very odd bunch. By "we" I mean the upset, disillusioned, gun toting Americans among us. First the "upset, disillusioned" part:
We have a lot of societal issues. Minorities feel the deck is stacked against them, and they want fairer treatment. White supremacists feel that if minorities receive better treatment, it will be at their expense.
Every kid who can strum a guitar thinks he's going to be a rock star, and every kid who has any athletic ability thinks he's destined for professional sports stardom. Virtually all hit the reality wall eventually and find their life's work will instead be on a loading dock or at the paper mill.
Too many seniors had expected a comfy retirement, only to find their life savings vanish when they found themselves with unexpected and overwhelming medical bills, or their 401K's cratered, along with the company they worked 40 years for. At least they still have their Medicare and Social Security, right? Umm...maybe not. Hungry tax-cut vultures are eyeing them both.
It's been a given that each generation of Americans will be better off than their parents. Not so fast. The middle class has been losing ground for the past several decades. Kids are told they need a good education, then find themselves saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans they have trouble paying back.
Blue-collar middle class Americans have been especially hard hit. Many have seen their jobs outsourced to Mexico or Asia, and the replacement jobs they can find don't pay nearly what they need to maintain their former lifestyle.
Even comfortable white-collar Americans, who seem to have it all, say they feel overwhelming, intense pressure trying to keep it all.
Obese / short people know they'll never make it to a company vice-presidency. Those offices are reserved for beautiful / handsome people.
And then we have our addictions....alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc, all impairing our ability to attain the good life. Even those who take legitimately prescribed medicines....have you read the side effects today's meds bury in the fine print? Besides the ever popular constipation and / or diarrhea, they often include "violent reactions and suicidal tendencies". Yikes!
And scorned lovers, and lost promotions, and...
Which leads us to the "gun toting" part:
We do have a LOT of guns in America. An estimated 300,000,000 plus. The problem comes when some of those mentioned above just snap, unable to contain their anger. Then they go after those who they feel are responsible for their misfortune, such as what happened in Las Vegas last week.
Now we're hearing calls once again for gun control. "Stop making and selling 'assault rifles'", they say, "and we'll see less gun violence." OK, fine. Outlaw "bump stops", and suppressors, and even new AR-15's. (Note: an AR-15 is NOT an assault rifle, legally speaking.) With 300,000,000 guns already out there, does anyone really believe a disturbed person won't be able to get one? (Another note: 1,000,000 guns are stolen and presumably resold every year on the black market.)
The fact is, unless we can get a handle on these (and other) societal issues we face, we're just putting a tiny band-aid on a sucking chest wound with gun control. Once again, as has become the American Way, we're looking for a quick, easy way out. We're in denial.
S
Well you've got to start somewhere. Without really knowing the Vegas shooter's motives it's hard to tell which societal problem we need to foucs on. Unfortunately Trump's regime is sending us backwards and now taking us towards WWIII as he knows that's the only way to get Mueller off his back.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be having trouble staying on topic, Pat. I was pointing out that gun violence is the end result of our societal problems...not the cause of it. Instead of focusing on whatever problem mass killer X had, we need to attack them ALL. Until we get a handle on them, we'll have violence, by either guns or knives or trucks... Nobody mentioned Trump or Mueller or WWIII. Why did you bring them into THIS discussion?
ReplyDeleteIMO bump stocks are plinking toys that could be used in most fatal ways. I have played with one on another guys AR-15 and did not like it, painful to shoot and not trustworthy yet fun for a thirty round blast down a barrel that was not mine. I am behind banning them. I have never been into 60 or 100 round magazines, but I shoot at a range. The 100 round stick magazine was made for fire suppression with the military market in mind. I have never used one. I would be OK on a ban on anything over 30 rounds.
ReplyDeleteSociety ills; My Fathers family took care of each other, some had corporate jobs and government jobs, some were farmers and some just lived job to job. They all did OK and lived in homes and died about the same age. I know other families that never try or take responsibility for their life choices and they fail but someone successful in their family looks the other way. Now I see a lot of that. Family responsibility fell thru the cracks.
Neither my wife or I will get Social Security due to the line of work we were in. The years we paid in did not earn enough credits and our pensions would deduct from that also. I do not want to see the system fail though as it provides the only income for most of the middle class in retirement.
Healthcare needed some small fixes not a complete overhaul to insurance spects. Just hope we dance between the lines and enjoy the rest of our retirement. Good Post.
So, what you are saying Scott is that this is a recent phenomenon? My parents grew up during the
ReplyDeleteGreat Depression and no one went (excuse the expression) "postal." Times were tough, as they've told me, and most everyone just made due. You have quite a shopping list of "issues" and I wonder why we can't work through them now-a-days. I don't have an answer, but back in my parents days when life was more of a challenge, no one took a bolt action rifle or .45 and started plugging away at people.
The media.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteThe media.
ReplyDeleteZippy and Bill...I think we all probably grew up in about the same circumstances. Back then we didn't have walk-in closets because we didn't have that much stuff. We were of modest means, but so was everyone else we knew, in our neighborhood, town, and school. We didn't know anything else, and we made do. Today with the internet and 24-hour news with commercials, there is so much more to covet, and people to envy. And if we don't have it all, we feel cheated. And personal responsibility is a rare thing today, too. If something bad happens to you, it's always someone else's fault. "Yes, I broke into YOUR house to assault you and steal your stuff, but YOU pulled a gun and shot me. Now I'm in a wheelchair for life, and it's YOUR fault. YOU owe ME!"
ReplyDeleteTwo misfit, scorned kids get guns and shoot up their school in Colorado, and they are somehow held up as martyrs by other kids who are also outcasts or bullied. That's where copycat mass shootings come from. And don't forget drugs. When I was a kid we might get hold of a cigarette or a bottle of beer, and we were badass rebels. We never thought about hard drugs. Today they're in every neighborhood, every city, every socio-economic group, and they prevent us from reaching our highest potential, which is one more thing to be bitter about. In short, the conditions we live in today have very little in common with what we grew up with. Pressures to fit in and succeed are higher, there is more to envy and covet, and too many of us just snap when we fail to get what we want. The gun is where it all ends, but the causes are much deeper. IMO gun violence is not the cause of our problems, but the result of our problems.
I have no clue how to fix those societal problems. I've seen those posts on Facebook that say, "...it's because they took God of our schools..." but European countries are a lot more secular than America, so that's not it. Maybe they should teach more math and statistics in schools here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think "gun control" should be like "vehicle control." Everybody who wants a gun should be able to get one. Of course, you will need a license that you need to renew every so often (to make sure your eyesight is still OK and you haven't come down with Alzheimer's or a mental disorder). And it costs money. And maybe they should do it just like with abortions in some states: waiting period, you have to watch a video, travel for hours to get one, note from your doctor...maybe an ultrasound wand shoved up your a$$ (OK, disregard the last few - I'll take my tongue out of my cheek now).
Agreed. With a few exceptions that already exist, everyone should be able to buy a gun. A background check should be mandatory, along with periodic follow up checks to make sure you're still eligible and haven't lost your marbles. And of course, no full automatic guns, or morters or flamethrowers. ;)
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