I held off my rant, mostly because it was so incoherent with frustration and rage, I didn't know where to begin. Interspersed with the stories of the funerals of innocent children and brave teachers, I've seen so many stories of people rushing to buy guns FOR CHRISTMAS, including a story today about a young-ish couple at a local gun shop.
Hey, nothing says Christmas like a gun! What better way to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace? Who ARE these people? I don't want to know.
Anyway, I decided to breathe and knit in lieu of ranting. And I'm glad I did, because one of my favorite pundits said exactly what I wanted to say:
Exactly my thoughts, without the cussing.
ETA this nice takedown of the "guns don't kill people," and other mindless sloganeering:
Debunking the talking points.
I think about this kind of thinking a lot; that you need one big answer that will solve everything, and until you come up with it, you do nothing. Life isn't like that. You need to take a million little steps to cros that bridge, climb that mountain. whatever. And the first step has to be getting rid of the guns.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
Those are great links, Catherine, And thank you for them.
ReplyDeleteI hope that we start looking at what European Countries have done to greatly reduce gun fatalities. This has to end. The horror and grief of it lasts a lifetime for survivors.
Good links, Catherine, thank you. Very informative for us in the Land Down Under.
ReplyDeleteWhen I followed the first link to the Washington Post I got very cheeky and voted in their online poll.
On the other hand, one of the toolmakers who works in our family business is a keen, skilled and responsible sporting shooter. Member of the local gun club, and something of an expert in muzzle loaders of all things! He is of Hungarian extraction, and when he goes huntin' he confines his interest to FERAL animals. Since Australia has a HUGE feral animal problem, this is practically a civic service. And he is dead against the 'weapons of war'.
Gae, in Callala Bay
Australia dealt with the assault rifle problem after ONE horrific killing, and people still have guns for sport, hunting, etc. It is a model we could follow, if we didn't have so many politicians (an overwhelming number of Republicans, but Democrats too) bought and paid for by the NRA, which has totally abandoned its former role as an organization for responsible gun ownership and is now controlled by truly scary Wingnuts. They haven't made a peep since 26 innocents were murdered by a gun they work very hard to protect as a "right". And that guy had enough ammunition on him to kill the entire school - he was stopped only by the arrival of the first responders, when he chose to kill himself. If they'd been delayed even 10 minutes the death toll would have been even higher.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are very pleased with the results of those gun control laws.
ReplyDeleteSome years before the massacre at Port Arthur (that triggered (!) the change) we visited the site -- it is the ruins of a notoriously harsh penal settlement. Very sad, eerie atmosphere, we have agreed that we will not go back there, too much.
There had been several massacres BEFORE Port Arthur, but that was the last straw. We actually lived a few miles from the Milperra Massacre, a disagreement between two bikie gangs, and among the dead was a totally unconnected 14 yo girl.
Gae, in Callala Bay2539
Great links! Thank you. I have NEVER understood why anyone needs a semi-automatic weapon in their home. Why????
ReplyDeletehorrible nightmare..dont understand it at all...
ReplyDeletei decided to knit baby hats instead of pulling my hair out..