Mass Shootings Are Freaking Most Americans Out

Random and frequent Mass Shootings seem to freaking Americans out. Correctly, I think, but happening none the less. A couple of things about it. First they affect a tiny group of Americans. Second, we have them so much more than any other country, yet we can't seem to stop them. And now, the are freaking us all out.

And the response has become as predictable as the wind. Urban dwellers find semi-automatic gun killings appalling and don't understand their motivations, they just want it to stop. 

Gun nuts find these shootings another reason to buy more guns. Their motto is "Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun." They also publicize the hell out of the very very rare times a good guy with a gun does actually stop a bad guy. And THAT is a great story on any news, so the crazy position is normalized. But it is super rare. More often, if there are multiple weapons the police find it harder to spot the bad guy.

And "normal" people find themselves in this odd position of being torn between the two. Many use guns for hunting or have a gun for safety. They find mass shootings both scary and frustrating. These events drive an all or nothing position on both sides.

The National Rifle Association, originally designed to to serve this final group of responsible gun owners has morphed, through gun manufacturers' massive donations, to an all or nothing group. Which means, to urban dwellers who never needed a gun, to lump anyone who owns a gun into the NRA's absolutist position.

AND the NRA has huge propaganda position published ever time there is a Democratic President to "buy as many guns and as much bullets as you can, before Democrats take your guns!" This results in a sales boom right after a Democrat takes office. It happened with Clinton, Obama and Biden's administrations, even though no Democrat thinks outlawing all guns is possible and most don't even want to do it. But constant ads on conservative TV tell a different story.

The NRA also advertises right after a Republican President is elected to buy "Your guns and ammo NOW, while you still can." Which means that for at least a year before and a year after gun nuts as normal people are told that "liberals want to take your self-defense".

Now every shooting drives gun sales to the NRA. Which kind of makes sense now that the great majority of NRA's money comes from gun manufacturers. It has truly changed from a group that supports hunters to a lobbying arm of the gun industry.

The latest and most frightening position is now ex-President Trump is saying to buy guns to prevent a general uprising or - depending on how deep you go in the rabbit hole - play a part in the coming uprising. Which is extra scary when you remember that under Trump's direction hundred of people stormed the Capital building to prevent a newly elected President from being duly processed by Congress.

So how to you stop this merry go round? To this, I have no answer, only heart-break. Because, despite my liberalness, have shot skeet and liked it. Ed knows deer hunters throughout the mid-west that are responsible. We are part of the great middle ground, that is a majority of the population but unserved by politicians.

No media (right wing crazy or left wing extreme) makes a living driving a reasonable position. Reasonable doesn't drive sales or advertising. And we are a country that thrives on capitalism which means, ads that drive gun sales or  ads that donations to anti-gun lobby are seen as normal. There is no media or lobbying group anymore that supports a middle ground.

Shootings definitely don't drive change, they just harden positions. We had a shooting that killed hundreds of people in Las Vegas, and nothing happened. Neither laws nor opinions moved at all. 

Why all the fretting over this in America" Because the right to own a gun is protected by the Constitution. Owning a musket and being part of a state militia is protected in the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court has ruled, expansively, that owning almost any weapon that is hand carried (except a rocket launcher) is now protected by the Constitution. Including mass shooting guns that fires dozens to a hundred rounds a second. Why is owning a gun not tied to being in a state (not private) militia. Because the framers put a comma between "owning a gun" and "being in a state militia", and we have been arguing over whether the two clauses are tied together or not for about 200 years.