Guns (Again)

What more can anyone say? If there is any proof that our government is controlled by money it would be the gun lobby. The fact that the vast majority of American citizens, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, support increasing gun control measures while Congress continues to pass utterly insane gun laws to make it easier to get even more lethal weapons is proof that our democracy has been hijacked. The same Congress and President seen praying for the victims of the Las Vegas terror were the same guys who passed a law making it easier for people with serious mental illnesses to purchase guns last month and who are about to pass another law to allow the sale of gun silencers. Can you imagine the death count if the Vegas shooter had silenced his weapons? As Kimmel aptly said “they should be praying for god’s forgiveness for being owned by the NRA.”

Nothing is going to change regarding gun violence, except the death count. It’s a fact that we have to live with – or is it? If every one of the roughly 80% of Americans who think there should be some common sense restriction on gun sales were to make it clear to Congress that they were going to vote on that issue, it might change. Better yet, if the same number of people contributed one dollar to campaigns of politicians running on stricter gun control, change might come. But those are only theoretical ideas because the fact is that Americans are complacent about violence in general.

Our culture is a violent culture, more violent than any other nation in the world. Some countries, such as North Korea, have governments that use violence to keep power. That violence is targeted and political. Our culture is one of random violence among the people.  Controlling guns would eliminate the vast majority of violent deaths, but not stop violent deaths altogether because we have become habituated to violence … indoctrinated from an early age by everything from video games to incessant coverage of carnage in the media. Watching violence in the media may not cause violent acts, but it sure numbs us to it and allows us to ignore it. Gun control policy is controlled by money from the NRA, but gun violence is a symptom of something far more profound and intransigent. Until we change our tolerance of violence in general, none of us are safe (no matter how many guns we own).