Guns: Observations From the Front Lines
Mark Rubin
Warner Wolf did sports for many years. He’s famous for Let’s Go to the Videotape, and this link shamelessly helps Mr. Wolf sell his book. The guy has sued Don Imus, which explains my interest in helping him.
Anyway, here’s my videotape. Stretch yourselves, non-clickers! Watch A. Bunker, of 704 Hauser St. in Queens, and a veteran of the Big War. In reverse he channels D. Trump, of 85-15 Wareham St., in Queens, who avoided service in Vietnam because of bone spurs. Norman Lear created Archie Bunker. And our Momzer-in-Chief? Candidates include Fred Trump, Roy Cohn, and sub-human matter I can’t mention in mixed company.
Oh, you thought this piece was about guns and what happened in Parkland? Right!
We have POTUS telling the nation’s governors a few days ago: “You know, I really believe—you don’t know until you’re tested—but I really believe I’d run in there, even if I didn’t have a weapon.” Damn, but how do you unpack the stupid? How does an active shooter situation ever benefit from having an untrained, unarmed person in the mix? Unfortunately, this guy thinks this statement sells and, sadly, he’s probably right.
But, as with infomercials, there’s more. Mr. Trump includes the governors in his “all in” cheer. Then he tells everyone “the way they performed was a disgrace.” They? A School Resource Officer who did not rush into the school. (And, I think, law enforcement for not more successfully dealing with Nikolas Cruz beforehand. Certainly, the system failed but I do not recall R horror when the intelligence community didn’t connect the dots associated with guys who didn’t care about landings taking flying lessons in 2000-1.)
Maybe Scot Peterson—the SRO, not the California murderer—should have entered the school. My gut says otherwise, for enough televisions and mystery-thriller reading tells me backup matters greatly. Bottom line: I don’t know for sure, but I’m confident that I have analyzed the issue more deeply than has DJT.
A conscious lack of analysis and thought dominates this issue. Arm teachers? Where do the teachers keep the guns? Locked up? In their desks? On their hips? More accessible = more useful. But, and this matters greatly, what about the risk associated with a gun ended up where it shouldn’t be. More importantly, has anyone heard or read a discussion about these issues? … I thought not!
Then there’s what guns in schools mean for kids. Has anyone heard even a peep about how kids knowing someone’s packing will affect them? Even a suggestion that this might be a subject worthy of consideration?
And … there’s more, still. Some Wingnuts—people, in the sense that that have beating hearts, normal parts, etc.—decided it’d be OK to claim those students who survived the Parkland shooting are crisis actors. They’re not crisis actors, and those among us who make such claims deserve whatever legal opprobrium we can offer them. (BTW, when did “crisis actor” join the lexicon.
Then … there’s Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska). Years ago he advocated for the Bridge to Nowhere. His latest contribution to humanity? Right here, and I won’t comment on it, except to cite to Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1.”
The real problem? In the United States we have more guns per capita than any other country, by far. Firearms death rates? We’re No. 12. Ahead of us? Countries from Central and South America, mostly with very small populations, drug cartels, and lots of instability. So, what?
There’s lots and lots of yada yada, blah, blah, blah about guns. Late to the party jackasses like POTUS, Governor Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) offer solutions. Of course, if the shooting did not involve an affluent Florida school, Ricky and Marco would be silent or spouting the NRA positions.
Bottom line? Since Bobby Kennedy’s death on June 6, 1968, those of us who appreciate why we need to limit access to deadly weapons have been fighting a rear-guard action against a small group of Americans who talk about their gun rights. And for those 50 years we’ve heard repeatedly one simple refrain: there are so many guns already, so whatever we try to do will never solve the problem. In fact, yesterday morning a totally pompous blowhard called Charles Cooke—excuse me, Charles C.W. Cooke—said, on Morning Edition on NPR: “I still think the gun debate is intractable, both because there are so many guns in circulation that it seems to me that we are always going to be tinkering around the edges and also because this issue has, over the years, largely been won by conservatives.”*
Three more things, quickly. First, the Right tells us after every shooting that “it’s not the right time to discuss gun control.” Except, this time when the discussion started it turns out they were “at the ready” with a load of offensive talk about fakers and liars and such. Second, this disastrous conversation demonstrates just how badly our processes are failing us. And, finally, and lost in this horrible mess, are the lives of real people, ended and in the case of their families, shattered. Condolences, truly. You all and all of us deserve a better deal!
*By the bye, Mr. Cooke has lived in the states for seven years, and has been a citizen for 13 days. Not even a citizen for a fortnight and this 33-year-old knows so much?