It’s on You

Another week, another mass shooting. Last week stemmed from bigotry coming out the of the white replacement theory. This week is just some eighteen-year-old venting his rage (I guess) on poor elementary age children. My last post focused on last week’s deplorable event arising from the white replacement theory pushed by Fox Entertainment (or at least one of the main conservative medias pushing this theory) and lamented that someone should legally do something about Tucker Carlson and find a legal reason to separate the Murdoch family from Fox Entertainment.

This week, the issue is more diffused. It’s not just Fox Entertainment.

We’re having our usual conversation (or debate) on whether we should strengthen gun control laws (on the left – definitely yes; on the right – an emphatic no). The arguments have not changed I keep reading that most Americans support strengthening some kind of gun control but the Republicans in Congress (and possibly in the state legislatures) keep blocking “sensible” legislation.

Since we’re having the same conversation, I don’t forsee any change or movement to implement something. It didn’t happen when we had the Sandy Hook massacre of first graders in Connecticut back in 2012, it didn’t happen when we had the Parkland school shooting in Florida in 2018, so I can’t imagine anything happening after this massacre of elementary age children. For some reason, children do not move these Republicans to act.

I’ve been trying to find data on mass shooting because I want to see what the frequency of mass shootings was before the assault weapon ban was instituted in 1994 and allowed to expire in 2004, the frequency during the ban and of course, frequency after expiration. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything yet.

Next, the latest Ipsos polls suggest the majority of Americans support some kind of regulations to restrict access to guns in some fashion.

• 84% for requiring background checks before sale of guns
• 70% for red flag laws allowing police to confiscate guns from individuals courts deem dangerous
• 74% support laws limiting sales of automatic guns
• 72% in favor of raising the legal age to purchase guns from age 18 to 21
• 77% oppose allowing anyone to purchase a good without a background check or waiting period
• 49% are in favor of arming teachers

Beto O’Rourke made a show of confronting Greg Abbott, pointing his fingers at the Texas governor and claiming “it’s on you” that we’re facing yet another mass shooting of children.

And yes, Greg Abbott and the rest of the Texas Republicans are responsible for not doing anything about the mass shootings, but maybe we should also include another group of people?

How about the voters who keep voting in the Republican leadership? Without the voters, they would not be there.

Texas has an attorney general who apparently is under indictment for securities fraud and whose aides have accused him of abuse of office and bribery, and yet, the Texas voters picked him over a Bush candidate in the recent primaries. This attorney general insists the solution is more guns by arming teachers.

Well, the problem with more guns is that the teachers would have to be packing those guns on their body, ready to be pulled out in case a shooter comes visiting. That gun can’t be sitting in a desk locked up or in another room if time is of essence. Furthermore, will teachers be carrying AR-15s on their body because that type of gun is what the most recent mass shooter used. The policemen in Uvalde apparently didn’t want to go into the building without backup support because they were outgunned by a single shooter. The stories about the Texas policemen are just horrible and distressing but their alleged non-actions do suggest that being outgunned will hinder any attempts to stop the shootings. So, are teachers going to pack AR-15s?

Texas has a senator who is known for being brash and somewhat of a show boater. Ted Cruz was willing to go to the edge and possibly bring the US to default on its debt and inflict untold misery on Americans and the world. And yet, despite those histrionics, Texas voted him back in, just in time for him to attempt to escape to Cancun during Texas’ deep freeze and power crisis that caused the death of between 246 to 702 Texas citizens, depending on who you ask. He didn’t stick around to try to help his constituents.

His solution is to harden the building and have a single door rather than multiple doors into and out of the building. That solution sounds like a fire hazard and is an immediate non-starter.

Texas’ lieutenant governor Dan Patrick suggests prayers. Yeah, thoughts and prayers. All signs are that thoughts and prayers do not work.

If Texas voters want some kind of change in gun regulation, then they would have to vote out the entire slate of Republican officials, from Congress in Washington down to the state legislators and on to the local representatives, to open up the possibility for change.

Same thing throughout the US, if voters want to enact some kind of gun regulation, then they would need to send a message by voting those Republicans (and some Democrats) out.

But they keep voting them in, so it’s on them. The responsibility is on the voters – they have blood on their hands.