17 dead in a Florida high school. God, have mercy on us all.
In terms of frustration ratio, my more than mildly irked that this has happened again. AGAIN. What's worse about this time is that, according to the news accounts, the shooter showed all the warning signs. A lot of students predicted that this would happen from this guy, and yet-
It. Just. Did.
But, getting back to the frustration ratio, my real frustration is with the folks who chime in when these things happen who cannot and will not make suggestions to "fix" this ongoing problem with any kind of suggestion that is based on reality. They have knee-jerk reactions and suggest things like smaller capacity magazines, a moratorium on gun ownership, more background checks- that list goes on and on and a lot of that has already happened- and yet, the problem persists.
That frustration is heightened even more because no matter how many of these "suggestions" we put into play, they ignore two immutable facts:
- All those "suggestions" do is make it harder for citizens who obey the rules.
- Criminals - and would-be criminals - don't obey the rules. That's why they are called "criminals" in the first place.
What this tells me is that the folks who make these "suggestions" fall into just a couple of camps: those who really don't have anything actionable on their minds and feel they must react (kind of like the guy writing this blog right now.....ahem) and those that have buried their heads so far into the sand that they might as well double for a fracking rig.
As long as we don't deal with reality, this is going to continue to happen. We can confiscate guns- and then the bad guys will be the only ones with them - again, this is the reality we live in. I don't make the rules here- but as long as there is someone who is willing to "bend the rules" and sell/give away guns in an illicit manner, folks like this latest shooter will continue to be able to get them. And, don't fool yourself- it's easy to buy an illegal weapon from someone who obtained one thru illegal means. Clearly, confiscation will do no good- and like it or not, it's prevented by the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution no matter how you'd like to read it or read into it:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Again- people can read into this all they want to, but the operative words here are the last 4- "shall not be infringed" - and if you actually did read the Bill Of Rights you'll already know that it says nothing about what the government can do- all of the Bill Rights has to do with what the government cannot do, and that's important delineation to note.
So, like it or not, the 2nd Amendment is here to stay, folks. Confiscation is illegal, and it wouldn't help anyway since there's an awful lot of guns in this country and there's simply no way to get them all. That's not gonna work.
I've been around firearms all my life, and consider myself to be somewhat of an "arm-chair expert" on them, and I can tell you that there has never been a case of a gun killing anyone when a person isn't attached to it. That's incontrovertible. Moreover, there's no such thing as "accidents" when firearms are involved- there is only "negligence". That is also incontrovertible. If it isn't an unintended firing it's worse because they meant to do it. Again- incontrovertible.
The thing no one really wants to sink their teeth into is this - and I hate like hell that I'm about to sound like a GOP guy, but it boils down to mental health. It just does. No person in their right mind would do the things that this shooter has done. In colloquial terms, they are "crazy" but in clinical terms they are mentally ill.
And, that's really all there is to it. It's difficult to take a step back on a day like today and dispense with the partisan rig-a-more-roll and just examine the facts dispassionately, but that's what needs to happen if anything is really going to be done about this. Or, let me try to illuminate this another way:
Florida is well known to be a very liberal leaning state. That's not a bad thing, mind you. But, the mindset that seems to suggest sweeping reforms is largely from the liberal mindset- and, again that's perfectly ok - so it follows naturally that the predominance of the folks affected by this latest shooting are probably liberal in their stances on this issue. (I am NOT saying, trying to say nor infer that there is anything wrong with a liberal stance here) These same folks who think and understand these things from a common mindset are the ones probably paying the most attention to those things, and yet, when confronted with a known person who many said they predicted would do something like this - those same people didn't do anything about it. Now why is that?
Because as a society we are plagued with the idea that this kind of thing happens only to others. And, as a society, we want a "fix" in place that relinquishes all of us of the need to invest in the solution. If someone had reported this, they would have to go to the police and make a complaint and that takes time. If someone did go to the police with this, then the police would have to start a case and invest their time. If the police did start a case and they contacted this person, then that person is going to be inconvenienced and that takes time. And effort. And follow-up. And, also in this society, there is absolutely no tolerance for an undotted "i" or an uncrossed "t" and either of those make the litiphobes go nuts, so they don't even bother to put in either the time or effort.
So, the only real thing to do is bury your head in the sand and hope it doesn't happen, or you bury your head in the sand and hope someone else takes care of it- and let them be litigated when things go wrong.
We have to do something about mental health in this country, and not just because of school shootings. The population that has mental health problems is so vastly "underlooked" after (note: NOT overlooked, because that would imply that someone is looking but not seeing) and that state of disarray is the single biggest common denominator in things like domestic abuse, homelessness and also wanton violence. I'm all for mental health checks as part of a background check regimen for gun ownership, but the problem there is that only the lawful will participate.
People who have had diagnosed mental health issues should not own a gun. I'm onboard with that. Again, we're talking about just lawful people here- so what to do about the unlawful? What do we do with the folks that absolutely will get their hands on a weapon and use it like this shooter did?
I have a partial answer to this:
- If the perpetrator of an act like this is found to be in illegal possession of a firearm, they immediately and permanently lose their US Citizenship. Even if they were born here and their entire family is US Citizens.
- The perpetrator should be tried as a Terrorist. Not "domestic" or "extremist" - terrorism is terrorism.
- If the perpetrator is found guilty of Terrorism, they should be sentenced to life with no possibility of parole- and by that, I don't mean they get a parole hearing every 7 years as a formality- I mean they don't even get a hearing.
- If the perpetrator has their citizenship revoked, they must immediately find - at their own expense - a country that will take them. They will also be unable to re-enter this country on a work visa or even with a passport from that country. They are literally pariah as far as this country is concerned.
- Failure to relocate as a newly defrocked American citizen earns you a nice long stay in a Federal prison. Without parole. Without parole hearings. You're done.
Now here's the worst part of my idea- culpability. People who have heard of someone possibly doing these things and don't report it- they should be guilty as accomplices. Perhaps lower in stature than what constitutes a normal accomplice, but nonetheless- they should be held responsible for their own inactions. That doesn't stop with mere citizens- if the cops knew that this could happen and no one stepped in, they should be equally responsible as this type of accomplice.
The idea here is simple: this is a problem that we all face, and we all have to get involved if we're going to fix it. No one is immune, and there should be consequences for those that think they are.
This is a problem that is going to take a lot of time and energy to fix, and it's not going to go away overnight. If you're idea of fixing this is somehow related to purely gun ownership, then you're as much a part of the problem as those who hear stuff and don't do anything about it.
In the meantime, I'll just be over here, heartbroken.