Dimensionally Barrett

From Kaiser Family Report “Child and Teen Firearm Mortality in the U.S. and Peer Countries”  What strikes one first off is that is that the Australian slaughter was an anomaly. The shooting at Brown University is almost now a social ritual.  Statement by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese The one has prompted the national government to discuss enacting even stronger legislation(1) to limit who gets to own guns. The other tragedy has prompted the national government to do nothing. ‘Thoughts and prayers” from elected officials in the back pockets (oh, who am I kidding? front pockets, too) of the gun lobby are likewise meaningless, compounded by anti-public healthcare legislation at almost every turn, a Presidential Regime that could care less about whether the non-rich live or die, a complicit Supreme Court and Congress, and a vocal ultra-Right Wing cabal of dunderheads who scream about violations to the Second Amendment and that the government is going to take their ...

The Onion nailed it sometime ago. We will continue to hear politicians and the NRA bullshit about “what to do about this?” Ad nauseam. And no, this is not a two-sided argument:  Democrats have repeatedly submitted commonsense gun legislation and the Republicans have repeatedly stonewalled or shot it down. This is not going to be a post written in measured tones. No deep analysis of facts, arguments or figures. We’re way past that. I should be writing in all caps. This, and every article that has anything to do with shootings, gun control, lives lost because of the one and lack of the other, should all be posted in ALL CAPS, like so many primal screams. No, what follows is going to be declarative and judgmental- often harsh - about this country and our society as it is. We are not a particularly smart, or brave, much less, free country. We are not brave, if we feel a need to own guns too. We are not smart: we can’t even pass decent legislation, even if or rather, particularly when ...

It is far too easy to get upset, angry, and apoplectic every time a politician, a so-called “elected leader” offers “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of the latest mass shooting and the bereaved and then, in nearly the next breath, declare that “the other side” is guilty of politicizing the issue when the subject of gun control is brought up. It is also exhausting. I live in Houston where there is permit-less conceal carry. My situational awareness spikes whenever I’m out, although so far, not to the point of dread. However, for someone who enjoys movies and writing about them, I sometimes wonder if someone is going to go off in a theater. Or if I’m strolling down the street on a walk, is someone having a bad day going to decide one white bearded guy is less necessary or when I’m grocery shopping, what are the chances that someone else is going to lose their shit or decide to take out a store out of grievances along a spectrum (maybe racism, political orientation, gender orientat...