There are two things we know for sure. First, in the ten days since the mass shooting of 10 year olds and their teachers in Uvalde, TX, republicans have blamed the nightmare on everything, but the easy availability of guns. Second, when Michael Louis opened fire in Tulsa yesterday it was the 20th mass shooting in the United States since the Uvalde massacre. According to NPR and other sources it was the 233rd of a year that is barely six months gone.
Yes, tracking mass shootings in this country is like trying to keep up with Donald Trump's lies. They come so fast and there are so many the public and media can barely process them all. Before you have a chance to dwell on the depravity of one, another happens, then another, and another.
And still, the GOP is collectively like some terrible spoiled brat. You try to reason with it and it sticks its fingers in its ears and begins to scream gibberish so it won't have to hear you.
Mike Louis bought a .40 caliber semi automatic hand gun at a pawn shop three, or so days before his rampage. The purchase was not only legal, but thanks to the Oklahoma legislature and Governor, Kevin Stitt, Big Mike could legally carry that weapon, concealed, without a license, or any training wherever he wanted to within the state.
Less than three hours before the mayhem began Louis also bought an AR-15 style rifle from a local gun store. Hey, they're all the rage. No well armed lunatic in America would be caught without one. That buy was also perfectly legal. The truth is up until Michael Louis pulled the trigger the first time he hadn't committed any crime at all.
In fact even if he had bought the weapons earlier and given his relatives and friends cause for concern it wouldn't have mattered. Oklahoma has a law that prevents just such people from calling the authorities so they can temporarily disarm a potential shooter before the act and have him mentally evaluated. The statute is called the anti-red flag law and is meant to protect the second amendment rights of those who are--well--seriously fucking nuts.
No other industrialized nation in the world has mass shootings at the rate we do. None of them even come close. This barbarity is American exceptionalism at its most profoundly evil. It is killing babies, teachers, grocery shoppers, and now doctors in their offices. It is killing us as a nation. There are no excuses to justify it, or to explain it away. We must do something now.to get the guns off the streets.
Read this post quickly. It is going to be out of date within what seems like minutes these days. That's because as sure as dawn comes tomorrow the next mass shooting is right around the corner. The availability of guns and one political party's refusal to even think about solving the issue guarantees it.
sadly, sic vita est
6-2-22
I would say something, but have nothing to say. It is time for legal action.
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