Don’t ‘politicize’ 19 kids dead because of gun laws? Politics is why we’re in denial!

By Julio Marchi

We Americans spent this last Wednesday trying to process grief and anger following the unimaginable massacre of 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas.

For the family and friends of those who died, the deep, everlasting pain defies full human understanding. The nation’s words of comfort will help, but will not change facts: At least 19 young children were brutally murdered by a damn teenager with an assault weapon. Not that I am blaming the weapon as most people is trying to do – again – because the ones to blame are those who allowed such an individual gain so easy access to those weapons.

Don’t take me out of context here… I am a gun enthusiast myself, and I have many weapons of all types and grades. I consider myself a responsible gun owner. I am fully trained, my fire-arms are locked and protected, and I go to the extent of maintain an active CPL (Concealed Pistol License) because I believe in the system and I strongly support the Second Amendment AS IT IS!

Even then, even at a distance from Robb Elementary School, the anguish is real and unbearable! Like millions of parents who took their kids to school Wednesday, or to day care, I am also growing seriously worried that one of those days I may be the next never to see my children again. I am terrified…

This week I heard many stories of students watching the news in horror and fear. Teachers and first responders back – again – reviewing safety plans, – again – not knowing if their school, or church, or shopping mall would be next. The shooter, and those who enabled his murderous spree, have stolen from all of us, taking away trust, peace of mind and precious, irreplaceable, beautiful lives.

So, does not matter anymore which “side” you think you are. Red, Blue, undecided, non-voter, whatever… Right now, and going forward, it’s beyond grotesque that any American can believe it’s the wrong time to talk about the bloodshed, or somehow “divisive” or “political” to think about remedies for mass shootings.

I am saying all that because the imbecile Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday the following: “Inevitably when there’s a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it,”. Notwithstanding, Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, a retarded Republican like Cruz, also said: “Now is not the time to politicize this tragedy,”. Both, and many, MANY (too many) politicians and officials – plus others – are once again doing exactly what those that belong to the demented faction of the Republican Party do better: say one thing and do exactly the opposite!

Naked Truth: voters who help elected those politicians, or supported those officials, they also have their fingers in the trigger of those guns, are killers by association, and are a big part of the problem…

It is time to CLEAN Washington from those pariahs. It is time to VOTE BETTER. To hold them accountable! Those guys have a job to do, and they talk too much and do too little. They get paid too much to do almost nothing, and – once again – I won’t be surprised if they rollover their fat bellies waiting for the next distraction that will drive the media (that, at this time, seem to be united around the same message) to eventually focus on something else and nothing, NOTHING, will happen until the next massacre when, I hate to say it, can bring me or you or anyone close to us to unexpectedly have to plan a funeral.

Talk show magpie Tucker Carlson accused President Joe Biden of “desecrating the memory of recently murdered children with tired talking points of the Democratic Party, dividing the country in a moment of deep pain rather than uniting.”. What an idiot!!! Carlson and his ilk are astonishingly wrong. Now is precisely the time to try to prevent another mass murder. Waiting will accomplish nothing, except ensure that more kids are killed.

Denial and delay give gun fanatics (not the responsible gun owners, like me and many others) reason to believe they can simply do it. Those people are simply crazy, or mentally ill. Many people is near to snap, and they are everywhere, closer to us all, silently indulging “supremacy speeches”, “hate narratives”, “racial slurs”, “false patriotism ambitions”, just waiting for the most banal reason to flip and do some atrocity (with a gun, a knife, an ax, a car, a truck, a chemical bomb, whatever they can find). That’s why we can no longer allow the denial narrative to dominate because such exemption doesn’t apply to any other issue. After a plane crashes, or a boat capsizes, or an amusement park fails, no one says the nation should wait to investigate the cause in the name of “unity.” This is B.S.!

A gallon of gas costs $4. No one thinks gas prices are too political for discussion. When COVID-19 ravaged the nation in 2020, no one said we should wait a year to avoid an emotional response.

In contemporary American politics, a debate is typically impossible until there’s a crisis too big to ignore. And, here we are…

If you have the stomach, take a look at the pictures of the young victims from Robb Elementary, then try to claim the nation’s addiction to violence isn’t a crisis. But, STOP blaming guns and start blaming mental illness and how people cannot be identified because they have “the right” to keep their dangerous medical condition private, and psychologist, therapists, counselors, or even doctors, are allowed to report them to the authorities, even as a “individual of risk” because they may lose their licenses. So, before blaming guns, blame the system that is broken and pave avenues for those people to gain access to guns when they could easily be identified and listed in a national database, same as sex offenders or DUI offenders. Try to get in an argument with a TSA agent and get in an air-travel on the following week… They can list you in a “non-flying list” that fast, and for the most nonsense reasons, but professionals cannot identify and report potentially risk individuals to the authorities to save lives.

This is the country you and I live today because too many people elect useless politicians for the wrong reasons and watch idiotic News Channels because we agree with some of their narratives… Again, not Red or Blue, because one way or another, this sh*t is the VOTERs fault!!! Not the guns!!!

About guns, mostly all Americans agree on what to do: Universal background checks. A national red flag law to prevent guns from ending up in the hands of people at a breaking point. A ban on some multi-round weapons and high-capacity magazines. Improved enforcement of existing weapons laws. YES, I am a gun enthusiast and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and yet I do support all those measures! I am fine with that! But, keep those crazy people who want to take all guns away as far as possible from this conversation because that would be the most stupid thing to do. They did it in Brazil decades ago, and the hell broke loose, and now it is all back as it was (but worse). It won’t work! It won’t solve the problem! It will only satisfy people who are afraid, and it will be a “false satisfaction” and a “stupid sense of security” because guns will not disappear. Only responsible gun owner will; lose their constitutional right, but criminals (and crazy people) will always find access to guns and tools to kill. So, stop the nonsense and let’s make it right! 19 angles are counting on us, together with countless others that had similar fate, to do something to mitigate this violence pandemic and get our society back to an acceptable civil – and moral – level.

Raising the age to buy weapons to 21 would also be an important step. Sadly, we must devote energy and focus on accelerating the efforts to secure schools and other public places from killers. We’ve opposed arming teachers (which I do not know if it would be a good or bad idea), and schools should not resemble prisons. But reasonable security steps must be funded and implemented. It does not need to something utterly complex or costly. Something like a “satellite police location”, something small enough to be discreet and easy enough to be build and transported to surround those targeted areas, a place where trained first responders can be stationary being steps away from the entries of the places, having special and fast access to the building through strategic entries and with enough information about the locations to be effective. This is not difficult to implement, and would – at least – intimidate the killers because their are – above all – cowards (otherwise they would attack a police station instead). That AND access to mental health counseling must be improved.

Will these steps prevent all mass killings? No. But imperfection is no reason to wait. We don’t repeal DUI laws even if some people still drive while drunk. The same approach is possible with gun laws.

As several people pointed out Tuesday, it took the Senate just a few days to respond to protests outside the homes of Supreme Court judges. When the government believes someone they care about is in danger, it can act quickly.