Three
days after the Las Vegas shooting, a father was interviewed on NPR because his
daughter had been at the targeted concert.
His daughter was wounded, but I suspect his interview was broadcast
because his description of what he experienced, through the texts he shared
with his daughter during the shooting and his frantic journey after, was
sensitive and articulate. In it he voluntarily
added, without a question from the reporter, that he was a believer in the “second
amendment”, owned guns himself, and saw nothing in his experience to challenge
those beliefs. He said wasn’t mad at the
shooter, he blamed a “godless society”.
There
is currently a national law enforcement and news frenzy over why Stephen
Paddock did what he did. To date they have no answer. At this point, after
thousands of man hours devoted to this search without conclusion it should be
obvious that any possible answer that might be uncovered will be weak or
inconclusive at best. Yet the search remains under full steam without the least
consideration as to what will be gained by the public or the victims.
The
twisted mystery of Stephen Paddock’s mind may have been his intention all along,
to do something of horrific magnitude just to leave the world with a confusion
forever attached to his name. It’s as
good a reason as any and equally as useless to those he wanted to devastate.
However if that reason is correct,
perhaps the actions of Paddock will have a greater effect than even the more shocking murder of twenty 6 and 7
year olds, which couldn’t make a blip on the Nation’s EKG.
The
issue is not and never has been security, and it’s clearly not criminality
either. The problem is social. As a nation unique in the world we simply have a
tolerance for violence perpetrated through the use of firearms. Despite the
increasingly common gross demonstrations of this violence, we take no serious
steps to address that social condition, which is manifest every day, not just
with random displays of carnage.
I believe most every leader this Country has
produced has mouthed the words “..so this will never happen again” as if gun
violence was a spigot you could turn off with the right idea. It is a black
hole of leadership.
We
are more like an overweight individual who constantly snacks then is suddenly
shocked that after some huge binge he has gained so much weight. That’s
right my NRA friends, the problem is not the food…it’s the eater, but the
answer to his obesity is not to keep nibbling.
The
reason for gun control laws and regulations is not make you safe. Current
estimates of guns in America are at 300 million. Passing laws or restrictions will not make
the guns go away. What such efforts would accomplish would begin a social
recognition that solving individual problems, anxieties, angers, or no good reason at all (especially
for the deranged) is not acceptably accomplished through the use of a gun, even
if one is available.
Laws
are primarily society’s attempt to externalize ethics. Just because a law is passed doesn’t
immediately change attitude. The great
example of that is this Nation’s long journey to eliminate or at least minimize
racism, a journey as yet incomplete.
Gun
control laws are in desperate need of enacting, not to stop a Las Vegas
shooting, but for society as whole to take the stand that this is not who we are. Not to affect this generation, but perhaps
for the next or the one after that. That
our Nation’s leaders, Conservative Republicans in particular, do not have the
courage to face constituents who have been marinated in fear that their guns
are going to be taken away and thus left defenseless is the real tragedy that
is occurring year after year.
As
a result the use of guns continues to be an acceptable outlet for solving
personal problems, and for the lunatic fringe that outlet might look like the
compiling unnoticed an arsenal of weapons in a large, popular hotel for the
purpose of…who knows…what does it matter?
The
father, whose daughter was shot as he watched the events on TV and flew to be
with her, then felt it important to express to a National audience that he was “still
a Second Amendment person” is the issue encapsulated. That, with his daughter lying with a bullet in
her, he needed to express that unsolicited opinion at all is the problem we
face.
He
blamed it on a “godless society”. How could someone so wrong, be so right? Call
it a godless society if you like, but the fear he retains that his life would
be so severely compromised if his unfettered access to guns was modified is the
godless part. The society part is the
daughter left lying in a Las Vegas hospital bed.
