Just a Thought: Gun Bans Will Do Little More than Thoughts and Prayers
Another mass killing and another round of calls for AR-15 bans by the left but the real cause is far more pervasive and ominous and the right wing folks will resist acknowledging this as
well. Bans seemingly are easy solutions. Charts and graphs seem to support them, however they are first-thought observations whereas important root causes are being ignored. We need only to look back sixty years and see
what has changed to create this deadly environment in the US.
In 1962 anyone could cut an ad out of a “Sports Afield’ or “Outdoor Life” hunting magazine, fill out their name, address and mail it in with $30 to have have a genuine
US military assault M-1 carbine delivered to their door step by the USPS. It would be many years before mass murders would appear on the scene so it wasn’t the guns.
So what happened? Remember Barry Goldwater? Remember Nixon? The Republicans were increasingly capitalizing on fear and division. Remember the Southern strategy? Republicans capitalized
on the anger of white southerners. Meanwhile the NRA went from a gun safety and marksmanship organization to a gun marketing organization, and fear sold guns. People who never thought of owning a gun were persuaded they needed
a gun for protection. It didn’t help that Reagan introduced drugs to inner cities either, so drug killings emerged. Back in 1962 owning a handgun or M-1 had a bit of stigma attached because why would a person need
one? People weren’t supposed to kill fellow humans. That stigma vanished. Suddenly everyone in the city needed a gun for protection, or so they were told. We entered the fear and hate culture, fully armed.
Remember Clinton, the Teabaggers and the vitriol that emerged during his term? The Republican establishment, along with their rising star, Fox “news”, began whipping up more
of that fear and anger. We were well on our way to our present fear, anger and violence culture that would only be magnified by conservative’s anger by the election of a popular black president. The installment of
Trump by Russia and his MAGA cult launched us into a runaway mass murder mentality.
Now about those charts and graphs of gun killings and gun bans: As mentioned, in 1962 guns were tools. Guns to kill people were generally not popularized but instead viewed with jaundice
by the gener al public. During the Clinton administration so-called assault weapons were de-legitimized by a ban. This had much to do with leadership focus and push. The same is true of other governments. A ban signals
that violence is not going to be tolerated and people don’t need weapons to live in that society. It changed people’s focus. A gun ban would do precious little to address the real problem our country faces.
So what is the remedy? De-escalate and stop fear mongering. Hold accountable people, politicians, corporations and news organizations who promote and signal violence.
Today a gun ban would not be accepted by folks with violent mentalities - we must change that thinking. The path won’t offer an easy or quick solution. People must vote with their
money, words and ballots or nothing will change . The die has been set. Not even a gun ban would work now as if one would have any chance in this insane, tortured political climate.
