Gun violence is now a "natural" event in America, as unpredictable as the weather

[kpete]

We aren't shocked anymore when children are killed. It's become a normal part of American life. The taboo has shifted from horror at the shootings to horror at talking about shooting. This is called "politicizing tragedy" as if these mass murders are an act of nature rather than an act of human evil or madness (or both) enabled by easy access to the tools of mass murder.

But let's not go there. We will mourn the casualties the way we mourn the deaths of those in hurricanes and tornadoes. Gun violence is now a "natural" event in America, as unpredictable as the weather, and there's nothing we can do about it except gather together in the aftermath to help the victims. Indeed, the only enduring threat these events foretell is from those who would question a culture that deifies the gun as if it were a religious symbol rather than a lethal weapon.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/politicizing-tragedy-by-davidoatkins.html

[DrDan]

1. 8 children/teens killed daily . . so no wonder we are not shocked . . one every 2 hours and 45 mins

[Skittles]

2. isn't that what gun nuts want?

allow every fucking freak to be armed which means everyone else has to be armed to protect themselves. PRESTO! EVERYONE IS ARMED!!! That's the NRA Wet Dream.

[Tejas]

3. Please keep your fantasies just that...fantasies.

[Skittles]

5. *I* am not the one have FANTASIES

[_ed_]

19. That's what they think in their small minds

but all they really do is act as the useful idiots of the corporate gun manufacturers.

[enough]

4. Correct. We are absolutely helpless against it. That is the decision we have made as a society.

The weather is an excellent metaphor.

[4th law of robotics]

6. Comparable to deaths via STDs

well below traffic accidents, medical errors, obesity, tobacco, radon, etc.

[elehhhhna]

8. oh, no biggie then, nevermind

[4th law of robotics]

10. Just putting the hysteria in perspective

We'd save more innocent lives by making exercise mandatory than we would be getting rid of guns (even if that were possible).

[elehhhhna]

11. but your lack of exercise doesn't kill 12 people, does it?

weird argument

[4th law of robotics]

12. Are we looking for ways to save lives

or assign blame?

[_ed_]

20. False choice

I'm looking to save lives AND assign blame.

[apocalypsehow]

7. The right-wing fetish for guns, like Jim Crow, will one day be legislated out of existence.

And people will talk about these massacres our country has had to endure for decades now with same mixture of bewilderment and contempt - for the gun culture crowd - that we now do for the notion of segregated restaurants, and the racists who supported them.

As America turns increasingly "Blue," thanks to demographics, meaningful gun control is coming to the United States of America eventually. And it will a great day when it does.

[4th law of robotics]

13. Interestingly enough a lot of early gun laws in the US were associated with Jim Crow

all those regulations keep "those people" disarmed and helpless.

[apocalypsehow]

14. Interestingly enough, that right-wing, NRA talking point has been debunked

time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time again, ad naseum.

And yet you keep repeating it. I wonder why?




Well, no, I really don't. It's obvious as the day is long.

[Skittles]

18. CORRECT

[fascisthunter]

9. indeed... and some will reason it away, because they don't care

and don't want to try to.

[brewens]

15. Does the NRA have kooks on the ground in Colorado yet? They usually

deploy a rapid response team to deal with anti-gun nut sentiment don't they?

[AntiFascist]

16. At least the BBC World News is putting news into context...

covering the tragedy in Colorado together with rioting in Europe. As unemployment becomes worse and food prices increase (due to the drought), civilization may tend to become more destabilized.

[KG]

17. sacrifices on the alter of 2A.

but we're safer than ever before don't ya know...