Mass Killings

 

Mass Killings

 Mass killings by disturbed individuals are truly regrettable and inspire national outrage and sympathy.  Normally forgotten is that these killings are entirely anecdotal, normally do not have a racial component, and are not weapon-specific.  Most are shootings with firearms, but trucks and cars and knives and other means of killing have also been used.

 As in many such instances, the recent shootings in Georgia and Colorado have been perverted by the mostly clueless liberal democrats into race-based events, and they are again calling for additional gun laws and restrictions on the second amendment.

 One of the things being considered by the Biden administration is a re-enactment of the unsuccessful 1994, ten year “assault weapons” ban, forgetting that the term “assault weapon” is an artificial term relating to the appearance of certain rifles, and not to their capabilities.  An AR-15 “assault weapon” is a semi-automatic, one shot per one pull of the trigger, just like your granddaddy’s old hunting rifle.  The AR-15 (which refers to Armelite-15) just looks meaner.

 Identity politics dictates that it’s the color of the skin or the political orientation that determines the cause of any incident, and details must be tweaked to fit the appropriate narrative.

 The disturbed 21 year-old chap in Atlanta who shot 8 people, was apparently a twisted sex addict who targeted women sex workers.  This narrative was changed by the politically correct “woke” watchdogs to an anti-Asian racist theme, since many of the sex workers were of Asian origin.  The gun used was a plain old pistol, so the “assault weapon” aspect could not be brought into the racist fiction.

 The shooter of 10 people in Boulder, Colorado was born in Syria and came to the U.S. at three years old, so other than some possible original trauma in Syria at a very young age, the shooter was effectively American raised. There were indications of mental instability and a volatile temper, but apparently no racial or political aberrations.  Since the shooter used an AR-15 style weapon, Biden and his minions immediately raised the usual anti “assault weapon” cries, apparently again forgetting that these rifles are one shot after one trigger pull, notwithstanding their sometimes fearsome appearance.

 A favorite ploy of the leftist democrats is to take an unfortunate anecdotal event, like a mass shooting, milk it for every bit of emotional content, and use it as a basis for a debilitating executive order or legislative effort.  Our hearts also go out to the victims and their families of these tragic killings, as they do to victims of other disasters, but let’s retain the perspective of reality, rather than be ruled by the irrational emotion of the moment.

Ray Gruszecki

March 24, 2021