Another massacre - and nothing changes
Published June 15, 2016
by Chris Fitzsimon, NC Policy Watch and NC SPIN panelist, June 15, 2016.
There’s simply no way to make sense of the tragedy in Orlando that left 50 people dead and 53 others wounded. It just doesn’t seem possible somehow that one human being can commit such an unspeakably horrific act against fellow human beings in cold blood for whatever twisted motive emerges from the current investigation.
It seems like that every time this happens, when a man opens fire in a movie theater in Colorado or an elementary school classroom in Connecticut or an African-American church in Charleston.
It simply doesn’t make sense.
Neither does the fact that we continue to make it easier for it happen again and again.
Nothing changes after we are horrified and we find out that the shooter was seriously mentally ill or identified with foreign terrorists or domestic hate groups or maybe was tortured himself by a lifetime of agony and abuse and self-loathing.
Sometimes the victims are targeted because they are gay. Sometimes they are targeted because they are African American. Sometimes it’s impossible to know why they are targeted.
But ultimately it doesn’t matter. They are all human beings murdered where they dance, where they worship, where they learn. And nothing changes.
There are vigils and funerals and speeches and wall to wall news coverage and experts of all sorts weighing in. And nothing changes.
A troubled man who has been tracked by the FBI can walk into a gun store in America and walk out with a semi-automatic weapon that with a magazine also readily available can shoot up to 40, 50, 100 times a minute without the need to reload.
A person that the government believes is too dangerous to board an airplane can buy that same weapon too without a second look.
Anyone can buy that weapon any weekend they want at gun shows across the country with no questions asked, regardless of their background or criminal history or mental state, because nobody there is required to check.
Polls show that troubles the majority of Americans, the majority of Republicans, and even the majority of members of the NRA. But nothing changes.
A conservative commentator in North Carolina was asked on talk show after 20 children were mowed down sitting at their desks in Newtown why people need to be able to buy a weapon that can shoot 100 times with reloading—and he yelled loudly in response “because of my freedom.”
What about the freedom of the children at the school and the worshipers at the church and the patrons at the nightclub?
Nobody is trying to take guns away that are used for hunting or self-defense but why does anyone need a weapon of mass destruction in their home?
And why is only the Second Amendment considered absolute? Freedom of speech is enshrined in our constitution too but it has limits. You cannot shout fire in a crowded movie or produce child pornography or even communicate a threat without facing serious consequences, yet they are all forms of speech.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees us privacy but Congress continues to debate how much data the government can collect about us in the name of national security and there are calls for the FBI to increase its tracking and surveillance of people who might pose a threat even if they are citizens protected against unlawful search and seizure.
But somehow the Second Amendment is more sacred even when our safety is also at stake. Even when people are massacred by weapons that are designed to make killing easier.
President Obama, in his latest plaintive plea for some sanity in our gun laws, said in the wake of the Orlando shooting that doing nothing is a decision too and that’s what Congress and the NRA have decided to do after every horrific event.
Nothing changes.
Congressman Alan Grayson from Florida said this week that it is way too easy to kill people in America and he’s right.
It is way too easy to kills lots of people.
The tragedy in Orlando is a devastating reminder of that.
Now we’ll see if our leaders will finally do something about it or if they again will make a decision to do nothing and let the carnage continue.
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2016/06/15/another-massacre-and-nothing-changes/
June 15, 2016 at 10:07 am
Richard L Bunce says:
You can shout fire in a theater... actors do it all the time on stage. If I am in there with friends who know there is not fire I can shout fire. If there is a fire I can shout fire. If I think there is a fire but there is not I can shout fire. It is intent, not the word fire.
Luckily France and Belgium have strict gun laws, that could not happen there... oh wait.
At least this guy did not have ready access to a pressure cooker...
June 15, 2016 at 10:09 am
Bruce Stanley says:
I don't see any comment in this column regarding the pattern of homophobic behavior within the Muslim community. Isn't this a concern that needs to be addressed by the media, Chris?
June 15, 2016 at 10:45 am
Norm Kelly says:
Another headline where the author is predictable without reading! Talk about nothing ever changes! Same lib mantra; same lib failures! Will I bother reading? Perhaps. Could be funny. Sad as heck, but funny.
Of course it doesn't make sense. It's called 'senseless killing' for a reason.
Is there a common denominator here? Is it possible that close-minded libs are missing the point or common denominator? Of course. Cuz libs almost always miss the point. And they definitely miss the point when it's 2 of their favored, protected groups that are in conflict. In this case, protected group 1 are gays; protected group 2 are radical islamist terrorists.
What do 'good' libs, radical left-wing zealots, consider the common denominator? What do die-hard socialists, and Chris, believe the common denominator is? Simple, cuz they listen to their simple-minded leader: insufficient gun control & gun confiscation! If only central planners were allowed to remove ALL guns in the nation, then and only then, would all of America be safe, and then all protected lib groups would be safe and libs wouldn't have to choose which is their preferred protected group. In this case, the simple minded leader of die-hard left-wing zealots has decided that radical islamist terrorists are the more favored group, above gays. The simple minded left-wing socialist zealot expressed more outrage at Trump than he did toward the radical islamist terrorist responsible for killing lib-protected Americans! And simple-minded left wing zealots appear to go along with their leader without question.
'Neither does the fact that we continue to make it easier for it happen again and again.' You mean like allowing EVEN MORE undocumented unknown muslim 'refugees' enter our nation and be placed BY CENTRAL PLANNERS somewhere/anywhere in the nation? Perhaps if we took Donald's idea just part way, it would be better than the non-plan scheme currently in place by lib zealots!
'identified with foreign terrorists or domestic hate groups'. Oh, you mean the FBI should have done something about this nut-job when they found out he was a radical islamist extremist? But wouldn't that go against the dictates of the lib-zealot-socialist-muslim leader of central planners? Would the current simple minded lib leader ALLOW ANY muslim extremist to be properly identified and dealt with? Or does his scheme simply return said extremist bent on killing Americans back into society HOPING it can't be traced back to his failed policies? Perhaps IF the current simple-minded occupier were to live in the real world, admit his muslim standing, admit his hatred for America, and admit that he would rather allow extremist terrorists into society than to allow Republicans to continue to live in America, then we would be starting with some honesty and be able to more accurately deal with the results. Of course, we have to admit the result of his bone-headed scheme is that more Americans are killed and MORE radical islamist terrorists are allowed into our nation. But his holiness isn't willing to admit anything truthful. Witness his stand on both socialized medicines failures as well as Billary's failures and lies! Without radical islamist extremists killing Americans the left-wing zealots scheme to confiscate all firearms from Americans will fail. Allowing more radical islamist extremists to kill more infidels, radical left-wing zealots can continue to write editorials on how bad our gun laws are and how failure to confiscate guns will mean more deaths. Nothing about the extremists who are simply following the dictates of their backward ideology that can no longer be called a religion!
Left-wing zealots have been asked which law could have prevented any of the radical isalmist terrorist killings. The response from left-wing ideologues has typically been silence. Unless they admit that their laws would NOT have prevented the mass murder by a muslim extremist. But, perhaps it would be appropriate for the FBI to make sure that someone like the most recent muslim extremist HAD been prevented from purchasing a semi-automatic gun. What would have stopped the FBI from putting this guy on the list of those who can't purchase firearms? Isn't there a law already in place to prevent this? Could it have been used? Or was it the radical extremist muslim-lover muslim-excuser in chief that prevented this muslim extremist from being properly dealt with?
Common denominator alert: for all you socialist simple-minded left-wing zealots who go through life with your eyes closed and your ideology so committed to the demon party, the common denominator IS RADICAL ISLAMIST TERRORISTS! They are told by their 'religious' book to KILL INFIDELS! That means the majority of American citizens. Not gays. Not whites. Not blacks. Infidels! It's that simple. Even a simple-minded lib zealot can wrap their mostly unused brains around this FACT! You just need to recognize it as a fact. Cuz that's what it is!
None of this is a personal attack on any specific lib zealot, nor Chris. I simply use Chris as an example here because he is the author of this post. Is any of this an attack on socialist left-wing close-minded zealots who fail to recognize facts? Yes, all of it, cuz close-minded fact-phobia people aren't just frustrating, they are allowing Americans to be killed. But 'what difference does it make at this point'?!
June 15, 2016 at 11:06 am
Richard L Bunce says:
If the preliminary reports turn out to be true and the killer was indeed gay/bi it will be interesting to watch the various special interests group try to spin who it and who is not actually gay/bi... will have to form a government agency to issue LGBT licenses.
