I’m a Floridian. I live in Orlando, I go to Disney once and a while, and every time I thought to myself, ‘how blessed we are to be able to be in public with hundreds and thousands of people, and not feel seriously worried about terrorism’... this is no longer true for me. We allow weapons of mass destruction to just about everyone, and we should not be shocked when those weapons are used for mass destruction.
We will do nothing to prevent it from happening again
People on the right (and some even on the left) think we want to take all their guns and people on the left want to prevent horrific mass shootings, and the two sides cannot move the needle in either direction. It’s like the car is parked on the tracks, one side says move back, the other move forward, meanwhile the car is plowed into continuously, and people die over and over and over.
I’ve heard every side of this argument now, my mind is numb, and I’m just exhausted listening to and reading the back and forth. Is this just our world now, people die in scores and we do nothing?
...we have to accept that we live in a country paralyzed and unable to try new things...
A friend recently told me that “we may have to accept that we live in a country paralyzed and unable to try new things. That opinion and statistics and facts have all been blended and twisted so as to make any efforts to make meaningful change almost impossible. When two parties have and live in separate realities, moving forward is impossible without one sides wholesale revolt.” I thought he was being obtuse... but now I’m wondering if he was right.
So I think... I want to ban assault rifles, or any weapon that can kill 50 people in a matter of a minute. It seems simple enough, right? Let’s limit magazines, or make ammunition very expensive? How about a buy back program, we give you twice as much as you paid for an assault rifle? What a deal! But supposedly reasonable people who love guns say that they need the weapons to protect themselves, and that if we ban one gun, why not ban them all? But... we can’t even try... and if we do, they will vote for whoever won’t regardless of whatever else they stand for.
They rant about how guns protect people, and how people deserve to be able to protect themselves, how most gun owners are responsible good people. Or they’ll trot out something about how handguns kill more people. Some even angrily retort that if we try to take their guns they’ll shoot those who come for them. One person I know said they shouldn’t even cover shootings, because far more people die from drone attacks, and if we care about human life, we should cover those incidents instead.
...shouldn’t even cover shootings, because far more people die from drone attacks, and if we care about human life, we should cover those incidents instead.
But why does anyone need that much firepower? What’s the point, that you could kill scores if you wanted too... is it weaponry for a future race war? Are aliens coming and their weakness is lead? IS there some T-1000 Deer out there sworn to kill you? You worried the government, that can’t even insure healthcare for all, is coming for you and yours? Is their some army arriving tomorrow red dawn style, and you want to have a starring role?
So... stalemate. The guns continue to fly off shelves, and we have to watch as more people die. Not from me of course... I want it to stop. But to my fellow Americans.. and especially southerners? To them the killings are acceptable, and even preferable to giving up their guns, or even changing the laws a little bit. I just...don’t understand.... and maybe I never will.
