Just a brief rant

Today our Deceiver in Chief delivered an uncharacteristic speech relating to the recent shootings. The speech was read and there was no feeling, no emotion in his words. Hollow. Dead. Listless.

He said something about bringing back the death penalty for crimes such as these, as if that would somehow make anything better. The death penalty has never been a deterrent --- we know that. It also doesn't address the real problem.

Video games? Really? BS --- and it doesn't come even within screaming distance of the real problem.

He denounced bigotry, white supremacy, and blah blah blah. Okay fine. I'm glad he said it, but I have no reason to believe he meant a word of it. It also represents a 180 from the rhetoric we've been hearing from him for 3 years. So, which is it? Is it something from the heart, or is it what they think is politically expedient? I think it is the latter. I would be happy to be wrong about that, but then I remember Aesop's Fables and shudder. Also, none of that addressed the real problem.

Then he said what I was expecting to hear. That old, inane and ineffectual, lame argument that goes something like, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Well, although that is technically true, it evades saying anything about what firearms represent. Aside from their efficiency at killing things, they afford the killer with several advantages. The most insidious is that it gives a convenient disconnect from the crime.

They make it possible for the killer to be more of an observer than a participant. I doubt any of these people would be willing to go into a crowded area with any other sort of weapon that required they be up close and personal with their victim. Further, the firearm makes it possible to kill quickly, over and over and over. 30 round, 50, a hundred rounds. Easy peezy. Clean hands. Lots of victims. Never have to touch one of them.

We have all sorts of firearms with the ability to pump out round after round without hesitation. Hey, you don't even have to aim at anyone. Just give the crowd a good spray. Firearms, particularly the stuff they push across the counters today, are the great enablers. They make it possible for the weakest, most timid folks to be equal to all those others out there. Just point and spray. You don't even have to be involved. Wipe the mind clean, point and spray. Anyone can do it --- because they've been enabled. They are suddenly ... powerful.

How many times have any of the folks gone in with a bolt action rifle with five round capacity? Oh, it could be done, but it would take a rather different kind of person to do that. That wouldn't be a casual walk in, point, and spray deal.

So, what's the point? The point is that the gun, the kind we're talking about here. You know. 30 round magazine in the weapon and 4 more in the pocket. Fire nasty, high power killing rounds as fast as you can pull the trigger. Drop a clip. Load in another. Point and spray. So, the point is, the gun plays a big role in these crimes. The type. They're not hunting rifles, though the gun nuts say that they sure are, partner.

Fact is, if a hunter needs more than two rounds to bring down their prey, they shouldn't be hunting in the first place. If they don't have the ability to use a bolt action rifle, they probably shouldn't have a firearm either. Semiautomatic firearms are convenient. That's true. But there is no need for a magazine that will hold more than 5 rounds --- there just isn't. There's also no real need for removable magazines. If you're a sport shooter, you don't have a need for them either.

I'm not opposed to the 2nd Amendment. I'm not. But I sure as hell am opposed to these weapons that have no genuine justification for their existence besides killing people. They aren't necessary and there is no argument that makes any sense for their use, and the world would not come to an end if they were taken off the streets --- but quite a few more people would come home to their families on a regular basis.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Only the criminals will have AR-15s and SKSs and AK-47s and stuff like that. Maybe. So what? Criminals are not the ones going out shooting up restaurants and shopping centers. Use your heads for a change and not so much your testosterone.