As you can see, I have decided to re-start "Off Center (A Periodic Rant)." I hope that all of you who were followers of my commentaries will come back again as both readers and contributors. For the past few months I have been consumed with the intellectual and emotional process of making my decision to retire from my teaching job. Further, it has taken a great deal of intellectual energy to keep my classes fresh and challenging for this, my last batch of high school seniors. At some later date, most assuredly after I have been away from the day to day grind of teaching, I will use this space to reflect on my career. But for now I am going to pick-up where I left off in offering some more progressive reflections on the issues facing our society.
I have been both fascinated and saddened by all that has transpired in the wake of the senseless shootings in Tucson. Without a doubt, these killings were an example of an all too familiar horror story of contemporary America. A young man, slipping further and further into a hellish madness, systematically isolating himself from all that is nurturing and supportive in his community, finally unleashing his raving demons, embarks upon a bloody killing spree that stuns the entire country. And, like before, there is an impulsive rush to explain, understand, appoint blame, and even politicize, before all the facts are in. From the wacky fringes of the blogosphere and talk radio, to the hyper partisan pundits of twenty-four hour cable television news, to the calmer voices of the mainstream traditional media outlets, everyone has offered a take that above all else, justifies and promotes their own particular political and social agendas.
If you have been following my entries over the past two years, then there is no need for me to de-code these events from the perspective of a committed progressive Democrat. On the other hand, a look at those elements of this tragedy that are not subject to a potentially biased interpretation of the facts, may serve to shed some light on the all too familiar circumstances that contributed to so much bloodshed.
First, there can be little doubt that Jared Loughner was a deeply troubled young man on a collision course with a violent end. The evidence of his decaying sense of reality has been exhaustively documented. And yet, under Arizona state law, and the laws of more than thirty other states, he was perfectly within his rights to purchase, with incredible ease, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a number of thirty-one round extended ammunition magazines. The state of Arizona has a rigorous background check and licensing process for almost every conceivable human activity, including for those wishing to cut hair and manicure nails, but it sees nothing wrong with a Mogadishu-like approach to gun ownership. All partisan rhetoric aside, why are so many of our states so willing to make the acquisition of these horrific instruments so incredibly easy?
Secondly, the mayors of Philadelphia and Newark New Jersey were interviewed shortly after the tragedy in Tucson and they were adamant about how little attention is being paid to the gun violence in America's large cities. Without a doubt most of that violence is perpetrated by people who own their guns illegally, but the vast majority of their guns were legally manufactured in this country. Gun manufacturers know that a percentage of their product will never be sold legally, but they continue to produce them in ever greater quantities. Somewhere between leaving the Smith and Wesson, Colt, and Remington factories and arriving on our streets, a legal entity is making a fortune selling guns to all comers. But because of the strangle hold that the gun lobby has on our state and national legislatures, nothing is done to interdict this lucrative trade, nor to stem the production of so many more guns than could ever be sold through legitimate commercial businesses. No matter how far out one's interpretation of the Second Amendment may be no one could possibly argue this system of runaway firearm proliferation is what the Framers of our Bill of Rights had in mind.
Next, I honestly have no problem with law abiding citizens who feel the need for a source of home protection in being able to purchase a gun. But this idea of demanding the right to openly carry a loaded weapon out among the rest of us is selfishly unsafe and downright bizarre. If nothing else, Jared Loughner proved that one can wreak unspeakable carnage in a matter of seconds, once he had pulled his weapon from beneath his sweatshirt . And it is pure fantasy to believe that some gun toting citizen could have reacted decisively and quickly enough to save any lives. It takes law enforcement officers and our military years of rigorous training to learn how to most effectively use their weapons, and even they make their share of tragic mistakes. So what now, we all pull out our guns and open fire and all our bullets magically find the appropriate targets? That is juvenile fantasy at best and a gross violation of civic responsibility at its worst. Yet that is what many gun advocates are now promoting. Incredibly, some on the far right in Congress have called for members to begin packing heat on the House and Senate floor. That could make for some interesting outcomes during heated debates. Are these people that crazy? What are they thinking? Just in case a person in the gallery wants me dead I will quickly spin, draw my pistol with lightning like reflexes, and then get off a spectacular shot putting down an evil doer one hundred feet away.
Finally, the very least we should do is reinstate the Brady Bill ban on all assault weapons, magazines, and ammunition from our society, with the exception of our military and our law enforcement personnel. Military-style assault weapons have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to kill as many people as possible in the briefest period of time. As all the rest of the civilized world is moving further away from the kind of violence that these instruments of death create, we seem hell bent on plunging into headlong into the abyss. And to those of you who are so paranoid that you believe that your M-16 is the only thing protecting you from a tyrannical American government, then I would suggest two things. One, you are way too delusional to be entrusted with such powerful weapons in the first place, and two, you aren't really much of a patriot after all if you are convinced that our democracy is little more than a sham waiting for the first opportunity to enslave you. May I suggest you take your guns and conspiratorial beliefs to a place where they might actually be applied. . . Somalia, The Sudan, North Korea, Iran, or Burma. Now those people could really use someone like you.
No comments:
Post a Comment