We are number one. The United States has more gun deaths than all the other top 23 civilized nations in the world COMBINED. Our rate of gun deaths is three times that of Canada, where they also like their guns. Three times the rate.
Let me say this loudly, once again – we will NEVER solve this problem until our legislators act like parents and grandparents and stop acting like people scared of the NRA focused base. What is further troubling is most gun owners do not belong to the NRA and want change. Too bad. “It is a slippery slope” we hear from the NRA funded politicians. Well, burying your child is also a slippery slope into a rectangular hole.
Quite sadly, this is no longer news in America. It has become routine. Oh-hum, more people are shot in America. What shooting will come next week? How many more teens, young adults and college students will commit suicide due to access to guns (the number one gun death in the US)? How many more adults or kids will be shot, because a four or six year old found a loaded weapon? How many more people will be shot in an argument because someone had access to a gun? How many more people will be shot in a mass shooting because someone with a cause, a beef, or a fantasy got access to a gun?
Thoughts and prayers will not solve this problem. They have become a trite way for a legislator to say I am sorry your loved one is dead but watch me dribble the basketball to stall out the game clock until this week’s episode of gun death has subsided. In other words, the politician is saying “I won’t do anything, but you have my thoughts and prayers.” God must be tired of this lack of courage. He is probably thinking “I gave you a brain and a backbone – please act.” Or, another one of God’s children, some guy named Einstein said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.”
musingsofanoldfart 
Note to Readers: Our friend Scottie has included a must see video of a press conference of NBA basketball coach Steve Kerr after one of the playoff games. It is six minutes long, but you can glean his emotional plea in about ninety seconds. He feels what most of us feel.
You wrote this so well, Keith! Our schools are Not supposed to be prisons and death traps. They’re supposed to be gardens of learning and fun. We already have security cameras, metal detectors, police, and crisis workers filling our buildings, creating fear for our children to go to school. It’s crazy that one of the solutions politicians offer is to put ‘more guns’ in school!
Rose, good point. To protect many, the gun needs to be in the hands of someone who is trained to use it in an emergency. In the Aurora theater mass shooting, there were folks with guns present, but it was so smoky and dark they said they did not know who to shoot at. Keith
Note to Readers II: I have written variations of the same post theme about twenty times. A few of the posts can be accessed at the suggested reading beneath this post. The plea is the same. Sometimes it includes data, sometimes anecdotes, and sometimes suggestions for ways to address better gun governance. It is one of the more frustrating issues in our country and change is held hostage by primarily one political party who thinks the second amendment is the eleventh commandment.
Excellent post, my friend. I think that of all the posts I’ve written over the years, the topic of ‘guns’ has been the most prevalent. Frankly, I wish it were not so, wish it were not necessary, but … it just keeps coming back to haunt us. As Einstein is purported to have said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” If so, then this nation qualifies for the gold medal in insanity. Worse yet, there is little hope for a better world as long as our elected officials can be bought and sold by the gun industry and as long as We the People continue voting those same jerks into office and paying their salary.
Jill, like you, I am so tired of writing variations of the same post on better gun governance. Keith
I applaud both of you, you speak out about the gun violence. I did before in earlier posts about shootings but I am just sooo tired of saying the same words over and over again!! So I resort to my stories to make a point.
Well said post, Keith!
Thanks Joy. I fully understand the frustration. I am tired of the old cliches of a specific gun control action would not of stopped a specific shooting. A compilation of changes will make some difference and save some lives.
You are welcome and yes! Why is it that just because it may not save all we would rather just do nothing! I can’t understand the logic!
True
The Navigator poll now shows 7 out of 10 Americans believe gun violence and mass shootings are a “crisis or major issue” in this country. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said if we can elect 4 more pro-sensible gun legislation Senators (and hold those we have), we can get the action the vast majority of Americans want. In that deeply moving video you referred to, coach Steve Kerr pleads for a change in the dynamics of our 50-50 Senate.
A Federal universal background check law would be a start. Change may have to be made incrementally.
In a related matter, the Senate Republicans just BLOCKED DEBATE on a domestic terrorism bill that would have included efforts to curb gun violence.
Change can be done. It must be done. It’s up to us.
Annie, many thanks. It is long past time for action. Doing nothing is beyond poor stewardship. It is akin to malfeasance. Keith
Well said Keith. Powerfully put.
Keep up your valuable work and take care my good friend.
Roger
Many thanks Roger. People in the UK must shake their heads at America’s inanity on this and other issues. Keith
The Gun Issue is something which baffles most Brits Keith.
We have our own issues with Knife Crime amongst the under 30s and no one is going around saying it should be the right for everyone to carry knives…far from it, it is an offence.
Roger, plus it is hard to kill 20 – 500 people with a knife. Keith
Note to Readers III: I posted this piece on my two Republican Senators websites along with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. I encourage you to modify, adapt and use this as you see fit.
PS – I posted it on my Republican Congressman’s website as well.
A more lucid commentary on this situation I have seldom heard. Well done, Keith, for laying it out straight. I hope someone listens.
Yvette, many thanks. Folks Down Under must think we are bonkers up here. Keith
this is a crime and disgrace Keith!🙏
Cindy, it truly is. What Steve Kerr said speaks for many in words and emotion. Keith
Omg I hear he was amazing!!!
Cindy, if you have not seen it, check out my first Note to Readers, which has a link to Scottie’s post that has the Steve Kerr link. Keith
oh I def will Keith, thank you. I would hope his could make a difference.. we have to keep hoping/ trying!
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Cindy, I think we must put pressure on the legislators to act. Right now, people are touting a lot of window dressing without actually accomplishing anything. Keith
I agree. I saw Steve Kerr on T.V. repeating what he said. Powerful and on the money! 💖🙏🙏🙏🙏
Excellent. We need people to speak up like he is doing.
I totally agree with you!!💕
Thanks Cindy.
I imagined God, hands in the air, head shaking in disgust, asking, “what will it take?” If it wasn’t children in schools, senior citizens in a bible study, folks in movie theaters, concerts, malls, food stores, synagogues, or churches. Then what? That is the million-dollar question.
Lisa, well said. The bible study group welcomed the killer in and worshiped with him before he killed them all. Dante does not have a ring for that kind of person. Keith
Note to Readers: I have written before that dealing with our gun deaths will require a holistic set aside of changes. Background checks on all sales, waiting periods, codified bullets to help police solve crimes, finger printed triggers, required training and retraining, and a ban on assault weapons should all be done. Also, expanded Medicaid to introduce more people to mental health service, allowing a judge to temporarily seize weapons if the person is a threat to themselves, allowing doctors to ask about weapons, required security of weapons, addressing poverty to reduce crime, emphasis on more civil discourse, eg. would be helpful.
It’s so so very sad…
Betsy, agreed. Keith
Note to Readers: It did not take a week. There was another shooting incident in Chattanooga last night where at least six were injured. Pick up any newspaper on any day of the week and count the stories on gun deaths and shootings.
PS – Looks like America has another shooting in Oklahoma. One dead, seven injured was one count. And, on top of the Oklahoma and Tennessee shootings, Chicago had their more normative nine shootings, with three fatalities.
I think it is time to start naming names and telling them to act holistically to fix this problem. But make no mistake, it is a gun issue as well. If politicians says it is not, they are purposefully disinforming us as they are being told to do so by their sugar daddy the NRA who are putting money in their campaign coffers.
Note to Readers: Just after Uvalde, I have read of mass shootings in Tennessee and two in Oklahoma. Yet, in Chicago I read of the more normative shootings over last weekend killing three and injuring six. Today, in Charlotte, I read of a gas station shooting that injured three. It happens everyday in every city. Quoting Pete Seeger who wrote of war deaths in “Where have all the flowers gone?” it happens here. “When will they ever learn?” he wrote. Obviously, we have legislators who choose not to. And, the gun shootings continue.