Over the years I've had a half dozen friends meet violent deaths at the hands of others. Many more injured to varying degrees. Some were coworkers, all were friends, some close, some less so. Some were due to the hand that held the gun, most were not.
Most were not.
Countless others died of natural causes, far too young.
And in all that time, in all those instances, not once did the business where they worked, or where I worked, close for a week. I was never given paid time off to attend the funeral or console the victim's family. If I wanted to attend that was fine but I had to use vacation or unpaid time to do so. And I'm good with that.
Nor, in all that time, did I or anyone else call to ban the shotgun that he used to remove his lover's head, the fists and rocks that beat the young soldier to death by the lake where he loved to fish or the hands that slowly choked the pretty young Navy officer while she was repeatedly raped in her own apartment.
Nor do I blame anyone other than the shooter or the rapist. Or the drunk driver who made sure a 3 week old little girl would never know her father. Time and chance happen to them all.
The rampage in Tucson was tragic and horrific. An assassination attempt that unfortunately also took innocent bystanders as well. a unique twist in American politics and possibly what has riveted so many. So many say they could not imagine what the victims, their families and survivors are going through.
I can. And they have my deepest sympathy. Their is nothing that can be said or done to assuage that kind of grief.
The discourse in it's wake has been both appalling and confounding.
First, of course, came the attacks from Krugman et al. Detailed enough to ad nauseum this past week that I'm not going to go into it. Be careful what you say you might hurt someone's feelings.
And the "news" media interviewing Christina Green's mother the day after the shootings or Giffords husband, let alone ABC's already to air The Congresswoman and the Astronaut.
But then Congress, just sworn in and back from Christmas break, decides that, because their comrade, their coworker, was wounded they were going to shut down for a week. No business conducted. No work on health care or the Federal budget or unemployment. No, we're going to shut down because someone most of us know (and probably not well) was wounded in a town 2500 miles away.
No business conducted because someone we know was wounded 2500 miles away.
The inevitable calls for making it harder for law abiding people to get guns. Reinstating the assault weapons ban.
Newsflash: had Dupnik and others been paying more attention to this guy he wouldn't have been able to get that gun and might not have been allowed on the streets to begin with. Enforce exiting laws, don't try to make new ineffectual ones. And as for the assault weapons ban, the Glock 19 would not have been covered by it and it would have done nothing to protect Giffords or anyone else.
How about we ban knowingly carrying a weapon within 1000 feet of any elected official? So now we suddenly have a roaming gun free zone? In whatever state that a congressperson happens to be in?
Someone suggested allowing members of Congress to carry weapons. That's an idea I could warm up to, except that it's in D.C. where you can't carry a weapon. So why should they be allowed to protect themselves but not the countless others who are not allowed the same right? And what about in their home states, which may or may not permit carry?
Note to Congress: this world is an ugly violent unpredictable place. You have chosen to put yourself in the spotlight, and thus make yourself a target. It comes with the territory. If you can't handle it, get out and get out now. Because your life is no more valuable than any other persons. You have the same right to protect yourself that we do. You are responsible for your own safety, no one else. Just as we are for ours. Play by the same rules as the people you represent.
It's interesting that the person who has probably received the most death threats since Tucson is a private citizen and has stated She is not backing down.
And if you want to carry a gun by all means I have no problem with that. In may, in fact, help with that civility you have been yammering about. Afterall, if an armed society is a polite society then maybe an armed Congress. . .
But quit whining about how dangerous your job is, how your feelings might be hurt by someone exercising their right to free speech. Butch up you pussies. Sit the fuck down and get back to work. Pray for the victims and their familes, call and console them, but stop using Tucson as an excuse to take some more time off or strip others of their rights. If you can't handle it go home and bag groceries. The dangers come with the territory. And not just yours, but all of ours. The territory of living in a truly free society.
Most were not.
Countless others died of natural causes, far too young.
And in all that time, in all those instances, not once did the business where they worked, or where I worked, close for a week. I was never given paid time off to attend the funeral or console the victim's family. If I wanted to attend that was fine but I had to use vacation or unpaid time to do so. And I'm good with that.
Nor, in all that time, did I or anyone else call to ban the shotgun that he used to remove his lover's head, the fists and rocks that beat the young soldier to death by the lake where he loved to fish or the hands that slowly choked the pretty young Navy officer while she was repeatedly raped in her own apartment.
Nor do I blame anyone other than the shooter or the rapist. Or the drunk driver who made sure a 3 week old little girl would never know her father. Time and chance happen to them all.
The rampage in Tucson was tragic and horrific. An assassination attempt that unfortunately also took innocent bystanders as well. a unique twist in American politics and possibly what has riveted so many. So many say they could not imagine what the victims, their families and survivors are going through.
I can. And they have my deepest sympathy. Their is nothing that can be said or done to assuage that kind of grief.
The discourse in it's wake has been both appalling and confounding.
First, of course, came the attacks from Krugman et al. Detailed enough to ad nauseum this past week that I'm not going to go into it. Be careful what you say you might hurt someone's feelings.
And the "news" media interviewing Christina Green's mother the day after the shootings or Giffords husband, let alone ABC's already to air The Congresswoman and the Astronaut.
But then Congress, just sworn in and back from Christmas break, decides that, because their comrade, their coworker, was wounded they were going to shut down for a week. No business conducted. No work on health care or the Federal budget or unemployment. No, we're going to shut down because someone most of us know (and probably not well) was wounded in a town 2500 miles away.
No business conducted because someone we know was wounded 2500 miles away.
The inevitable calls for making it harder for law abiding people to get guns. Reinstating the assault weapons ban.
Newsflash: had Dupnik and others been paying more attention to this guy he wouldn't have been able to get that gun and might not have been allowed on the streets to begin with. Enforce exiting laws, don't try to make new ineffectual ones. And as for the assault weapons ban, the Glock 19 would not have been covered by it and it would have done nothing to protect Giffords or anyone else.
How about we ban knowingly carrying a weapon within 1000 feet of any elected official? So now we suddenly have a roaming gun free zone? In whatever state that a congressperson happens to be in?
Someone suggested allowing members of Congress to carry weapons. That's an idea I could warm up to, except that it's in D.C. where you can't carry a weapon. So why should they be allowed to protect themselves but not the countless others who are not allowed the same right? And what about in their home states, which may or may not permit carry?
Note to Congress: this world is an ugly violent unpredictable place. You have chosen to put yourself in the spotlight, and thus make yourself a target. It comes with the territory. If you can't handle it, get out and get out now. Because your life is no more valuable than any other persons. You have the same right to protect yourself that we do. You are responsible for your own safety, no one else. Just as we are for ours. Play by the same rules as the people you represent.
It's interesting that the person who has probably received the most death threats since Tucson is a private citizen and has stated She is not backing down.
And if you want to carry a gun by all means I have no problem with that. In may, in fact, help with that civility you have been yammering about. Afterall, if an armed society is a polite society then maybe an armed Congress. . .
But quit whining about how dangerous your job is, how your feelings might be hurt by someone exercising their right to free speech. Butch up you pussies. Sit the fuck down and get back to work. Pray for the victims and their familes, call and console them, but stop using Tucson as an excuse to take some more time off or strip others of their rights. If you can't handle it go home and bag groceries. The dangers come with the territory. And not just yours, but all of ours. The territory of living in a truly free society.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so [are] the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
-- Ecclesiastes 9:11,12 --
1 comment:
No law man can devise will ever stop the kind of being who did what occurred.
If there is anything we can do it has to be to detect, diagnose and separate such beings before harm can be done.
And THEN to seek a cure
Post a Comment