The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a gun control bill that tackles holes in existing background checks they say will take care of the problem: “people who shouldn’t have guns shouldn’t be allowed to have guns.”
What brain surgeon said that?
It’s true, though less than 10% of the shooters who each killed 4 or more people in such a shooting failed their background check. Yet, facts no longer matter in political discussions about creating bills in Congress. All that is important is making voters feel like members of Congress really care and can unify around such an important cause to stop mass shootings.
I will not bore you with a list here of the 167 shooters in the last fifty years that have sprayed bullets and killed innocent Americans with guns. What we are doing here today is having a reasonable and factual discussion of how the law does and should play into stopping more of these shootings going forward. And facts do NOT support the Democrat Party premise that more laws — especially stiffer background laws — will save any American lives.
So what can be done?
Before we tackle that, let’s put a bow on the box of increased and more intense background checks on the table in the House right now. Here are some points for your consideration.
- Several recent mass shooters were given approval to buy guns based on incorrect or missing information from that was used in FBI background checks. Often information in those files is incomplete or incorrect.
- Criminals don’t buy guns from Walmart or Bubba’s Gun Shop! They either purchase them on the black market or steal them. Few would pass a background check in our current system and certainly would not be cleared in the passed House bill if made law. Those hundreds of Chicagoans slaughtered in the last year by guns were killed by people who easily obtained guns through theft and illegal purchases. Obviously stiffer background checks will not stop even one of those.
- By the way: I have heard NOTHING about all the African American young people and babies that every week are murdered in Chicago with many more sent to hospitals for serious gun injuries. The Leftist media in America virtually ignore reporting about those. Are their lives not as valuable as white Americans killed in these publicized mass murders? Or is it just that the Democrat media spokesmen don’t see opportunities to score brownie points from those stories when the mass shootings of white people by white people give them more anti-Trump, anti-conservative ammunition with which to attack Second Amendment adherents. Anyway, dead young African Americans killed by other African Americans doesn’t fit the storyline for Chicago, New York, and D.C. national news outlets. Those killings are too routine now. They want “fresh meat.”
Americans understand Congress and know how those 535 men and women operate better than ever before in American’s history. Few actually represent their constituents or those constituents’ ideas. Members of Congress puke their party mantra in press conferences, interviews and press releases — those that are necessary to secure votes in the next election AND to continue the flow of campaign dollars to fight the election battle. Seldom in this process is much thought given to the needs of constituents — especially regarding gun violence and mass murder. Why is that? Heck, there’s no easy way to stop the shootings. It would take actual cooperation with members of their own party and the other party. They’d be forced to actually sit in rooms and find consensus in crafting legislation, selling their legislative ideas to members of their own party and their opponents, AND their constituents at home. None of that should be a problem at all. After all, they’re paid to do that already! And most of their constituents feel certain their Congressional representatives get up every day and strap on the gloves to beat-up on any and all that stand in the way and oppose the repairing of old and crafting new gun laws to stop mass shootings. That only happens in LaLa Land — They NEVER do that
Stopping Mass Shootings Options
Besides beefing up background checks, what options does our government possess that could possibly stop these shootings? There is no single thing that can possibly take care of that. And there’s no single person or group that can possibly do that. It’s going to “Take a Village” (quoting Hillary’s book title) to get that job done. What village could do that? A pretty big one: the United States of America.
There are 333 million Americans. There are at least that many privately owned guns in America. I don’t know about you, but before we reach some tipping point in the mass murder process, shouldn’t we figure out a way to make sure owners of those hundreds of millions of guns are not going to use them to kill themselves or others? There’s no government program that could possibly confiscate that many guns from that many people. Hey: I live in the South. The common expression among Southerners about that topic is to that famous Charlton Heston quote: “From my cold dead hands!”
What Can We Do?
More detailed and in-depth background checks may help some, but it’s certainly not a solution. However, structuring such checks to identify those with mental illness history, current mental and/or emotional problems, or some anger history that goes beyond reasonableness and somewhere historically has put others in danger could keep firearms out of the hands of those who might in an emotional outburst otherwise use a gun to slaughter someone or some people.
Other than possibly creating a law requiring all gun sales that occur at gun sales and also personal gun sales to go through an eligibility check, additional checks will not move the “mass shooting” meter very far. We certainly cannot legally force surrender of firearms or confiscate firearms. There are far too many Supreme Court decisions that have been handed down on that subject that confirm the legality of firearm ownership by private citizens that would support rescinding Second Amendment rights. A required “gun buy-back” would also not work. Why? How many think that criminals would actually turn-in guns they stole or they purchased from someone knowing they are stolen? None are going to participate in such a program.
You know who would really lose in either of those scenarios? Law-abiding American citizens. They follow the law. They would have turned in or voluntarily participated in either or both of these programs. Criminals would then know the coast is clear — no private citizen would have the ability to protect themselves. Criminality and gun crimes would only quickly escalate in number and severity.
Is there any other possible way to tackle this issue? Yes there is. Take a moment and read of one that has been in effect for years and works dramatically: especially at schools. “Slaughter at School” was published here February 16, 2018. Go to the story page and scroll halfway down the page. It tells the story of how the nation of Israel virtually eliminated ALL mass shootings in their country. How? By arming volunteer teachers and other adults at schools, putting two Israeli military members on each school bus that transport kids, and teaching mandatory courses for gun safety, how to operate handguns, and how to use them. Until that program was initiated, horrible mass shooting plagued schools and other public entities. In the last twenty years since its inception, mass shooting have disappeared! Read that story for yourself.
Summary
We don’t know it all. And when it comes to guns, their governance, and American safety in public, politicians have taken over every conversation of how to manage those. Why not do this: let experts craft rules, procedures, and processes that work in other places, tailor those to each of the most obvious locations for shootings to happen, and teach Americans what to do and how to do it. And there’s one more thing.
We must arm Americans for security! Don’t panic: it works. Think about this:
- We must arm Americans. Simply put, most shooters are cowards. And where do most mass shootings happen? Where shooters are fairly certain no one will have a gun to shoot back. Why else would most American mass shootings happen in gun-free zones? Because shooters know they will face NO opposition! Very seldom are mass shooters at these slaughters planning on getting shot themselves. They want to live. With that in mind, they’d be pretty stupid to go to a school to kill teachers, coaches, administrators, or fellow students if they knew there were some teachers, coaches, administrators and even fellow students who not only are armed, but have intense training on every type of mass shooting and what to do when a shooting begins to happen.
- In Mobile, Alabama, several fans were killed at a high school football game the end of August. There were no armed guards there. If those who had guns and used them knew there were certainly armed guards on-site that were there strictly for assuring no nut-jobs would start a massacre.
- What about gun laws? I could go on perpetually on this one thing. Why don’t we enforce existing gun laws? There are more than 100,000 existing gun laws at federal, state, and local levels. There are exhaustive laws governing every thinkable infraction in gun use. I doubt 1% of those gun laws are uniformly enforced. And there are numerous excuses for doing so.
Summary
Lawlessness doesn’t just start happening with anyone stating, “Hey, we’re going to stop following the laws.” Historically it has always been a gradual process. And once we get started, we very quickly will find ourselves and our nation on a really slippery slope. What’s at the end of that slope? Lawlessness.
We proudly proclaim to our foreign neighbors near and far that we are “A Nation of Laws.” That for two centuries has been the top American trait we have to confirm all the good things that America is blessed with. Yet politicians at the top of their governments and up and down their political employment ladders we say everyday the unequal use of the law to attack political opponents or to reward people for their actions in support of the politician or a political position — ignoring the law! They surprisingly in those moments for that promise made during their swearing-in their promises to hold the laws of the institution in which they serve.
Americans in government find ways to establish fundamentals in the office in which they work and then translate those fundamentals into every other area of their life, From the political structure in which they serve, we at TruthNewsNetwork fear the certain beginning and then rapid slipping into Anarchy in the U.S. And if you stop and think for a few moments, you’ll recall which of these events that have already happened. Socialism is being pushed down the political throats of Americans. We may already be on that hill.
Let’s find ways to get off that hill!
