It is easier to get a gun in America than a wheelchair. This is not an anti-gun post, this is an anti-do nothing post in the face of an undeniable problem.
I don’t typically post politics on my public pages, not because I don’t care but because there are plenty of channels focused on division and our differences. I actually enjoy analyzing, researching and writing socio-political commentary, specifically foreign policy and healthcare, but I try to focus on sharing what connects us-like our humanity, struggles and human introspection. Algorithms are designed to achieve engagement through division, anger and outrage. We see this divisiveness play out in social media before it spills into the physical world, so I try to contribute differently.
Public safety concerns have been politicized by those who want to ignore a real problem, but this shouldn’t be political because safety is what government is supposed to be for—not to collect special interest money & career lobbyist goals which, let’s be honest, is exactly what the entire system is.
Up to 25 million AR-15’s are in circulation in the US. They are now labeled as the most “Iconic” weapon in the US. ICONIC. Those words for weapons. Where there is demand, there is supply. If you want to do anything within your control start with ending the demand. Stop. Being. A. Customer.
A few weeks ago (another) mass school shooting killed 6, including 3 children, in Nashville, but can’t say officials didn’t do anything. Right after school kids were murdered, Republican Tennessee legislature set out to protect guns and passed a bill shielding gun companies, dealers & sellers from lawsuits. Desantis quickly after signed a bill to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
While republicans were busy protecting the gun companies, another mass shooting in a Kentucky park hosting a sweet16 birthday party killed 4, including the birthday girl & her brother, and injured 28. Days later a man bought an automatic in 40 minutes for $600 right before killing 5 people in a Kentucky bank.
This is incredibly accessible. The process to get a wheelchair over a deadly weapon is far longer and more involved.
Gun deaths are the largest killer of kids and teens in America.
In 2020, mass shootings nearly doubled years prior—reaching almost 700 in a year. This year, we’ve had 210 mass shootings in 130 days. Mass shootings have spiked alongside increased gun sales.
After these shootings, a string of impulsive gun murders occurred in reaction to simple human error, like 2 cheerleaders killed for accidentally getting into the wrong car, a teen picking up his little brother, mistakenly knocking on the wrong house, a 20 yr old woman who was murdered for accidentally driving the wrong driveway, a father & his 6 year old child shot by a neighbor because he was upset by a basketball going into his yard, 9 texas teens shot after their prom, and recently an entire family of 5 was murdered in Texas by an AR-15 after they asked their neighbor to be quiet because him shooting his guns into the air was keeping their baby awake. And then this weekend 9 people were killed in a Texas mall. These are just a few examples from April.
Somehow, it’s controversial to point out this violence epidemic, yet not controversial that Americans have to worry about being shot for simply going to a mall, movies, school, grocery shopping, church or being in their own home.
I’m not for taking all guns (this would never, ever happen in this country), but how can every single citizen not see how we’ve lost ourselves when over 700+ mass shootings in a year doesn’t shake us to our core?
While I don’t understand guns, and never want to hold or own one, I get it’s a sport, craft and culture. I grew up in the Midwest and understand there are responsible gun owners who use it for hunting. I also know there are many republican gun owners who want gun safety laws too, but the ones enlisted to ensure public safety deny this glaring problem through gaslighting and fear mongering their base.
To be fair, republicans have great suggestions to solve this epidemic, like Ted Cruz & Trump proposing “hardened” one-door schoolhouses. One way in, one way out. This solution to 19 children and 2 teachers shot dead in an elementary school. Fire safety is also not their issue.
There’s also the NRA’s idea of arming every single teacher. You know, because teachers don’t have enough to do with the little we pay them. Schools are not terrifying enough because of meek gun laws, so let’s put metal detectors, armed police and guns everywhere too. This is the best they can do. There's also thoughts and prayers.
The party that is allegedly all about “law and order” refuses to do a thing while making it easier to get a gun by actively removing common sense laws that do exist. This level of “doing something” is about profiting from murder weapons while gushing propagandized fear to sell as many weapons as they can for their campaign donors rather than protecting taxpayers like teachers, police and their constituents' children.
I hope the same parents who passionately protested against masks because of the “fear” they inflicted onto children, to the point of threatening the lives of school officials, are the exact same parents protesting their government after every single shooting. How is this childhood fear not more valid than masks?
The same politicians who fear mongered masks 24/7 are the same ones heartlessly saying for years, “We can’t do anything about ALL shootings so let’s do absolutely nothing.” This to the fact that an AR-15 obliterates, completely shreds and blows up any adult human being it hits, let alone a child. Apologies for the language but this is seriously what’s happening.
How can the image of a child being blown up while sitting in their classroom not bother every human? What about children who are terrified to go to school? How does a child screaming from a Nashville bus do nothing to the hearts and minds of those we nominate to protect this country? Does this not meet the same fight they took over paper masks? .
Resolving to do nothing because of a list of excuses, like “people will get guns anyways or 3-D print them” is interesting. We don’t save every life with seat belts or other areas where basic laws have been set for safety but we still do it. When there is disease we don’t say, “We can’t save every life so let’s do nothing”. We still try.
Public safety is what the government is for and what we pay them to do. Contrary to belief we don’t elect these officials to take special interest money and build their lobbying career.
How sad when we don’t care about the mass murdering of each other. How sad when cold metal murderous weapons have more rights than the humans dying from them.
When it comes to the “pro-life” stance, republicans don’t say, “Why make a law preventing a woman from choosing when they’ll get it somewhere else?” (not untrue). This is hypocrisy and selective outrage. Where is this alleged “pro-life” heart when last month over 3 dozen mass shootings happened?
Pro-life doesn’t actually mean pro life, it’s just a term thrown around for political convenience because in areas republicans seem fitting, they are willing to have massive government involvement like banning books or drag, and canceling anything they don’t agree with like a free market beer company because of their ad.
We can argue that the real culprit is the human condition, and republicans do as they search to blame anything besides the destructive tools humans create. I don’t necessarily disagree that humans are at fault or that there are other contributing factors, like mental health or anger problems, as Governor Abbot blames while defending guns as not the problem and ignoring the ease of access. He and other republicans blame mental health, except him and his party actively vote against access to (mental) healthcare.
I also don’t disagree with Governor Abbot when he says Americans (humans) have an anger problem. This is precisely why we should have universal background checks, guardrails and require permits, training and an assessment process. If we are an angry society, as Abbot says, why on earth would we allow these people to carry guns to assist their temper fueled rage? Why would we implement stand your ground laws or require zero permits for the untrained and reckless hot heads? Perhaps this fact is why the same republicans won’t let a single person with a gun into their rallies or events.
So what is it? Do we not care?
Actually, quite a bit of people do care because 70% of the country want gun control, including NRA members and conservatives, but republican officials don’t tell their constituents this because they’re paid by the weapons industry (the entire system is). They also don’t share that the NRA has also lost over 1 million members since 2019.
It is estimated, there are possibly 400 million guns in this country, more guns than citizens. .
America is only 4% of the world's population yet we own 46% of the entire global firearms stock.
A Ron Weinerstudy by Northeastern & Harvard researchers found 1 and 5 gun owners bought firearms with no background check because of online private sellers and gun shows. When the Brady law was written, we didn’t have online or gun shows. This (loophole) is where AR-15s are predominantly sold.
Rules are not taking away rights. The party has made fear mongering a staple—creating a gun obsessed environment to the point that preschool kids being blown away does nothing to our conscience. Why is it so difficult to ask those who want deadly weapons to endure an extensive background check, permit and safety classes? I have to do more than this just to get a wheelchair.
At the heart, there’s much anger and volatility rooted in fear and (financial & social) insecurity that the public senses, even if they don’t have the words to explain why. It’s about a society that is deeply hurt, screaming in rage to be heard to the point they’re willing to kill anyone. Social ills are a reflection of the cultural society at hand. This felt discontent has largely been created by our leaders who exploit the less powerful, while executing the tried-and-true divisive fear of our (equally powerless) neighbors.
Combine disillusionment with a society that glorifies weapons and violence, and you have a cultural problem.
We are absolutely obsessed with weapons in this country to the point that AR-15s and guns are perceived as fun “toys”. To the point that many churches have politicized and adopted guns as a sign of not only patriotism, but faith. To the point that sending an annual family Christmas photo with every single family member holding assault rifles, including the kids, is proudly deemed “American”. To the point where NRA conventions, once a small non profit that began on the grounds of gun training & safety, but now one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington, are swarmed with little kids taking photos with guns—indoctrinating and normalizing weapons to the next generation of customers.
Part of this culture has been stoked by the conservative party with their non-stop “radical left” vilifying campaign—positioning the lie that only ONE party or one side is to fear or blame for all their woes—when the problem is actually systemic.
The equation of selling fear sells more guns. This is called distraction. Leadership has irresponsibly divided the public for their own gain—to the point it’s dangerous because civilians take their frustrations and anger into their hands-using weapons designed for war.
But our obsession with guns is rooted much deeper. I often compare government or leadership to a parent, and the public like children who learn from the example of adults.
America is the world’s most prolific arms dealer, supplying weapons of destruction to rebel groups, terrorists & brutal conservative regimes around the world-under the support of BOTH parties. Weapons and war are a major part of American history and our industry with only 21 years of peace in America’s 247 years as a nation. In other words, we’ve been at war more than 93% of the time of our history. No wonder we’re a culture obsessed with war and weapons.
In 2021, the top-five Arms weapons makers and contracts received over $150 billion from the Pentagon, and up to half of the $24 trillion spent by Pentagon since 9/11 has gone to war profiteers—gaining the largest share of their revenue from U.S. government contracts with the arms’ dealers excessive executive compensation essentially subsidized by US taxpayers. .
We've been told guns should be important to our lives. We’ve been fed ads for decades by this arms industry that greatly influences Washington.
For those who will reduce me to just a liberal, I see myself as very non-partisan and find much trouble with the entire 2 party systemic structure. The founding fathers warned us against this trap—calling a 2 party system “the greatest political evil under the constitution.”
If you think of it, what happens when you divide people into only two teams like a football game? We’ve been taught we can only agree with, never criticize, “our side”, spending most of our time only scrutinizing the other side. This system has created blind tribalism fixated on “our side” winning and indefinitely loyal, in part because there are actually no options when the only other “option” is ideologically the direct opposite socially (a dividing aspect leaders know to concentrate on). Neither side truly reflects the more nuanced voter. It’s not realistic for 333 million people to fall under only two categories, but this is the case as we’re corralled into two pens and expected to punch it out.
We can justifiably complain about Republican leadership and the NRA, but we fail to see the root of the problem—why is the NRA allowed to buy the republican government in the first place? Because industries are legally allowed to pay-to-play our government; a system both the Republican AND the Democrat party protects and benefits from. Both parties. Period.
You can’t deal with major issues without looking at the roots. Focus on structural systemic issues that both party leaders protect and benefit from, like money in politics, no term limits, government trading stocks despite inside knowledge, no rank choice voting to make voting actually democratic instead of the guilting & vilifying voters through the “spoiler vote” scam, or the lucrative revolving government to lobbyist or lobbyist to government career plan. Focus on issues the public does agree on, but are kept from seeing like public safety, corruption or access to basic housing, jobs or healthcare.
We can try and divide the line as much as we want, but the system is the system. We can’t say we want gun control when the system is so incestuously ran and collaborative with weapons…and other industries.
With that, I’m not typically a fearful person but as a disabled person, I can tell you the thought of being in a shooting or crossing a rage monster is a consistent thought in my mind, so much so that I mentally strategize scenarios and plans of escape more often that I’d like to admit.
The lack of effort and lack of concern for human life is what gets me. But I think what is most stinging is those in control who see the problem, but knowingly exploit and lie for personal gain. We are in severe danger as a humanity when we don’t care for each other’s lives. This is when individualism doesn’t work, because heartlessness can destroy an entire civilization.
