How long, oh Lord? How long?
Robert Card's commanding officers in his army reserve unit knew he was nuts. Robert Card's family knew he was nuts. People in his hometown of Bowdoin, Maine knew he was nuts. In fact the only person in the entire state of Maine who apparently didn't know Robert Card was nuts was the person who sold him the AR-15 style weapon back in May of this year. Although in truth, that salesperson might not have cared one way, or the other.
Hey, this is America. Everyone gets to buy an assault style weapon, right? It is in the by God constitution. Well actually it depends on your interpretation of the document and as we know, just like the bible, the constitution says whatever the reader wants it to say.
The question of gun control has been with us for a long time. So has restrictions on guns. Old Wyatt Earp wouldn't let you carry a piece within the city limits of Dodge. In Tombstone, AZ the gun fight at the OK Corral was precipitated, at least on the surface, by an attempt to enforce laws restricting carrying weapons in the town.
A few of us might even remember that late November day in 1963 when Walter Cronkite wondered on air how a nation could allow the mail order purchase of weapons without any restrictions, or questions asked. He was moved to ask the question because the President of the United States had just had his head blown off thanks to a rifle bought through the mail by a guy named Lee Harvey Oswald.
That's all ancient history now, but the problem still plagues us. That's because politicians like Ted Cruz believes it is disrespectful to debate gun control while the families of people killed by such weapons are still mourning. Unfortunately, thanks to our never ending supply of violent cranks and guns someone in this nation is always mourning. This years mass shootings have come, on average, every 66 days.
Cruz isn't the only one with a cheap excuse. Senator Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana told reporters after the massacre of children in Uvalde, TX that AR-15s are needed to kill feral pigs in the central part of his state and therefore shouldn't be banned.
South Carolina's Senator and brown noser in chief, Lindsey Graham wondered why the military didn't alert everyone they had a Sgt. 1st class who was hearing voices and threatening to shoot up his reserve training center. When Robert Card was on active duty this summer it was the army who had him locked away in a mental facility for two weeks. It wasn't their fault some quack let him out.
In any event Card had already bought the murder weapon before being temporarily hospitalized. At that point it was up to his family to report his growing insanity to the authorities in order to kick Maine's yellow flag law into effect. Obviously, they didn't do so. It isn't something most families are willing to do.
The search, at this moment, is continuing for Bobby Card. Nothing has been seen, or heard from him since that terrible night in Lewiston. Odds are he is the bottom of that murky river that runs through Lisbon, ME where they found his car. At this point we can only hope he is.
And we can only hope someone in congress will address the root of this uniquely American problem. Screw the mental health laws, no one is going to fund improved mental health programs. No one is going to simplify statutes which allow authorities to confiscate a weapon no matter how crazy the owner is.
No, the first step is right there if we'd just take it. Stop selling AR-15 style weapons and the high capacity magazines now. Right now. Ban all that deadly shit. It won't stop every violent criminal in this nation, but it will slow them down. And, despite what some might tell us, such a ban does not violate the constitution.
Besides, if nothing else, we need to give those Louisiana feral pigs at least a sporting chance.
10-27-23
I do not have anything to say that I have not said before. We should at least be trying to do SOMETHING about this.
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