It has been eleven days since we bore witness to the worst mass shooting in American history. 58 dead nearly 500 wounded. The outrage over senseless gun violence that always erupts in these now all too common occurrences has already faded to a whimper; lost in a tsunami of reckless behavior and outlandish rhetoric emanating from all corners of our society.
The hue and cry over gun violence is always quelled by the conservative pro-gun lobby with a defense of second amendment rights and the proclamation that: “guns don’t kill people…people kill people.” An assertion that the inanimate object, regardless of it proliferation among the masses, cannot be blamed for the actions of those who use it.
It is interesting to note that conservatives generally have a very different point of view when it comes to dealing with another purveyor of death by unnatural causes…illegal drugs.
The use of illegal drugs in this country has reached epidemic proportions. On that the vast majority of us agree. The manner in which we solve the opioid problem is subject to much debate. The majority of conservative second amendment enthusiasts believe that the illegal drugs are coming into the country through our porous borders. Their solution of choice is the one favored by the president…the construction of: “a big beautiful wall along our southern border.” Build a wall…cut off the supply of drugs…stop the opioid epidemic. Simple!
If we follow this point of view we are expected to believe that as respects the proliferation of drugs, it is the inanimate object…the drug…that is to blame; not the user. The coarse of ascribed action is to eliminate the drugs. In the case of the proliferation of firearms it is the user that is to blame; not the inanimate object…the gun. The coarse of action is to allow the proliferation to continue.
The insanity of this way of thinking is readily apparent and in today’s society increasingly prevalent.
And why not…
Just today the president was heartily praised by a large swath of our society for proposing to censure the media for publishing reports that he found unfavorable. That was right before he threatened to pull all FEMA and military aid from Puerto Rico where 3.5 million Americans are still living without food, water, power or medicine. “We can’t stay there forever.” He said.
There is a cancerous insanity increasingly prevalent in our social discourse that is threatening the very fabric of our democracy. Historically we look to our leader to calm the storm.
In this time of need…not so much.
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