Guns don't kill people

 Guns don’t kill people…

 

Once again we have heard the rallying cry that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  Well that would be correct but how about keeping guns away from people, particularly the ones who have a tendency to kill.  As Dr. Angelou said, “when people show you who they are, believe them.”  But I digress.

Once again this past week there has been a mass shooting in the U.S.  We are the most violent country among the world’s developed nations.  This time it was another school where innocent children were not simply killed but had their heads and faces blown away by an intruder bearing a multi fire assault weapon so that DNA was required to identify the victims.   Yes there was an SRO (school resource officer) in the building. Yes police officers arrived but as at Parkland didn't go in the building.  Some folks are suggesting that one SRO is not enough, we should arm the teachers as well.   We do love our guns.

In spite of the horrendous happenings this past week schools do continue to be among the safest places in our society.

Presumed Constitutionalists will tell you the second amendment gives us the right to keep and bear arms.  It makes one wonder if they have read any other parts of the Constitution.  How can some elected representatives continue to refuse to limit the purchase of weapons meant primarily for wartime combat?  They are not used for hunting because as with the little children this past week, they would destroy the animal.  

One of the most onerous things almost every politician will tell you they have to do is raise money.  Left, right and center- regardless of political orientation- raising money is hard and not fun.   In rides the National Rifle Association, it provides both money and voters to politicians who do as they are told.  If you are an elected official and you want its support you will tow the line they tell you to tow. 

We are a nation grown up from the wild west.  And many of us are still there.  This week there have been lots of prayers, lots of “we won’t forget these victims”, lots of broken hearts.  But the truth is these victims, like many before them, will be forgotten within the next news cycle.  The survivors will be left to mourn, to cry, to try to repair not just broken hearts but lives forever broken by the loss and by what they saw.  

Can our elected officials do something to mitigate all horror?   Sure but then how would they get the money and the votes the NRA provides.  This issue isn’t about the Constitution, the Second Amendment, it’s about keeping their jobs and getting reelected.  

Guns don’t kill people, but cowardly politicians sure enough have a hand in it.