The mass shooting carnage continues. Sadly, it will continue to continue.

EDITORIAL



This editorial is being writing on the morning of Sunday, May 7, 2023. As of this morning, 291 people who were alive at the beginning of the year, aren’t anymore.

They were not killed by so-called “inappropriate books.”

They didn’t die at the hands of drag queens.

They weren’t murdered by Hunter Biden’s laptop.

They represent the body count from the 200 mass shooting incidents thus far this year in the United States.

Note: As mentioned, this is being written on Sunday morning. By the time you are reading this, that number will almost undoubtedly be higher.

As we suggested in our April 5 editorial, nothing will change. All the thoughts and prayers, all the tears being shed, all the vainglorious commentary from the media talking heads and elected officials won’t do a thing to stem the tide of senseless slaughter.

We’ve accepted it.

We don’t like it. It makes us sad. It makes us wonder “what’s wrong with the world.”

But we accept it. It’s part of the American tapestry. It’s what we must tolerate to justify filling our gun cabinets with weapons of war. We’ve accepted that the Second Amendment means more than what was written in 1789, when the weapon of choice was a front-loading musket that took 30 seconds to load and fire a single round.

“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Those last four words seem to be the hook. Telling folks that hunters and people interested in protecting their homes don’t really need a weapon that can fire off dozens of rounds in a short time, with projectiles designed to pulverize tissue and liquefy bones? Apparently, that’s “infringement.”

We don’t bat an eye when the local TV commercial comes on with the announcer shouting “GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!”

We love our guns.

Sure, we love our families. We cherish our kids.

But we LOVE our GUNS!

We blame everything but the guns.

It’s a mental health issue, even though other countries have mental health issues without this kind of mass slaughter. And Republicans have worked tirelessly to make it harder for lowincome Americans to access mental health services with Medicaid and Medicare.

They blame abortion rights. Legalization of marijuana. Blame “mouthy women” for standing up against male patriarchy, especially working women. They took God out of the schools, the 10 Commandments out of the courthouse. It’s the “drag queens” and “gay marriage.” How about the COVID-19 vaccine? Can we blame that? It’s the availability of smart phones and social media. The violent video games. It’s Critical Race Theory causing this carnage. It’s the kids from fatherless families being indoctrinated by liberal teachers at schools set in gun-free zones. Not to mention all those TV shows that glorify “zombies”.

Everything else is at fault. Everything, that is, except for the easy, unfettered access to weapons of mass destruction that require less training, less licensing, less government control than operating a motor vehicle.

So, this is what we get. Almost daily reminders that there’s no place safe anymore, not to send your kids, not to shop, not to worship, not just to sit and mind your own business.

We’re accepted gun violence. It’s part of the American landscape.

Thus, it will continue.

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