The Texas Brainsaw Massacre Is Not Alone
Time to start looking over our neighbor’s shoulder on quiz day…
This won’t be only about the shooting in Uvalde, or how Texas Governor Greg Abbott abolished the Concealed Handgun Permit in September of 2016. This is more about the fact that as a crumbling empire, we don’t know what we’re doing and don’t seem to care.
In these tender moments (and this year the U.S. has had over 200 of them), I find it interesting that the R and D camps dither on about one or the other; “It’s mental health!” or “No, it’s guns!” The simple part first; the U.S. has done nothing about either one, and it won’t. There’s no money in it for the oligarchy who pay for campaigns. Period.
The so called liberal can’t even muster up the spine for real gun laws, or an assault weapons ban that worked in the 1990s, until we repealed it (see that paragon of virtue l’il Chucky Schumer or the decidedly senile Joe Biden). Meanwhile, the so-called conservative decries money for Ukraine in lieu of baby formula, while voting against money for baby formula, while being “pro-life.” That being said, it’d be a good idea have both, mental healthcare and real gun policy. I don’t know, just ask what every other country does, like Japan? “Oh, but they’re a homogenous culture! It’s easy for them!” Aside from the obvious racism, there is zero empirical evidence that a uniform culture has any bearing on any metric. UK, France, Canada, and Australia, among others, are heterogenous, so explain their low gun deaths and zero mass shooting epidemic, please. How about we become more open about what’s wrong with the U.S? Oh yeah, that would be un-‘Murican…
This week San Francisco Giants Coach, Gabe Kapler said he won’t be coming out for the National Anthem until this country gets better. Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr was very emotional before the playoff game with the Dallas Mavericks, his own father having been assassinated as a diplomat when Kerr was 21. We have to be this piqued at politicians and lawmakers. We must threaten these people’s jobs.
The gun people are so quick to blame everything but the guns and our lax rules, while crying about more prisons, which the Democrats will gladly give us (Crime Bill, anyone?). We are the most incarnated population on earth and the fact that 90% of mass shooters had no prior record is all but ignored. Everyone forgets that the NRA was a gun enthusiast organization. For nearly 100 years, until the 1960s, they were pro-gun legislation, even helping craft laws to ban the Thompson Sub-Machine Gun (Tommy Gun) and other regulatory actions. So yeah, the NRA today? Fuck ‘em. They’re just another toady lobbying group so that Smith & Wesson don’t get sued.
We need real healthcare and real gun laws. NO other country in the industrialized world has this issue while the U.S. is number one in bombing black and brown countries and self-esteem. Last year we had 693 mass shootings. This year it looks to nearly double that. Oh, and don’t tell me to pray. In case you haven’t noticed, it ain’t working.
Abe Abdelhadi hosts the Bitter Truth with Abe Abdelhadi on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Excellent commentary, as usual. It's a good expression of our rage and heartbreak over what has happened. It was so good to hear about the Giants and the Warriors coaches take a stand. Thank you, Abe.