Friday, March 29, 2024

The Insanity of Gun Violence.

October 9, 2017 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) Every few weeks our lives are interrupted by breaking news about innocent people being gunned down in classrooms, movie theaters, night clubs, churches and most recently an outdoor concert. During these highly stressful times, we stop what we are doing to reflect on the preciousness and fragility of life, we offer our prayers and condolences to the families affected by the tragedy and we tell ourselves this isn’t America. We recite this claim with the convictions people give to their religious mantras. We repeat this lie hoping to convince ourselves that we were somehow different, but this is America. This is who we are and we need to accept it. Insanity isn’t just doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Insanity is also denying the truth right in front of us.

Violence is a constitutive part of our history. America grew out of a violent revolution and hasn’t looked back. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, we are told that we can know a tree by the fruit it produces. In America, we scorn and rebuke our rotten apples, but we refuse to indict the tree that produced them. We have to quit using the same shocked language we apply to these tragedies and come to grips with the fact that this is normal. America is, and always has been, a violent nation.

Our culture has glamorized violence through novels, television, movies and video games. The spike in mass shootings over the last decade is a generational consequence of celebrating death more than life. America’s fascination with violence consciously and unconsciously affects many of us in different ways.

It starts out as innocent games of cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. We send these same kids to schools that have canonized our nation’s most historic battlegrounds and immortalized the soldiers who fought and died on those sacred grounds. We have Civil War reenactments where we simulate the experience of being on some of America’s most deadly killing fields. For every person truly repulsed by depictions of violence there are throngs of people cancelling out their voices.

Contrary to what we tell ourselves, the majority of mass shootings aren’t committed by people with a history of mental illness. These are meticulously calculated events designed to inflict as much pain and terror as possible. Too often we jump to the conclusion that the shooter must have been “crazy.” This is disingenuous. Saying someone is crazy is an easier pill to swallow than accepting the fact that our culture continues producing more and more people capable of committing these crimes.

There are so many Americans invested in the myths associated with America that (as a nation) we can’t look critically at this problem. Too many people are working overtime to systematically disconnect these shootings from each other- and often the motives behind them. America is under siege by the threat of random violence and we won’t accept the fact that our culture is complicit in some of the carnage we have seen.

America is stuck in a perpetual cycle of grief, inaction and denial. Our politicians don’t have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and we won’t look in the mirror. These stories start with a hail of bullets and end in death and prayers. We keep doing the same thing over and over and have the nerve to question the results.

Staff Writer; Danny Cardwell

Official website; http://Thoughtwrestler.blogspot.com

One may also follow this talented brother on Facebook; ThoughtW and alsoTwitterThoughtwrestler.


Comments

2 Responses to “The Insanity of Gun Violence.”
  1. Douglas Loss says:

    Marque, I don’t always agree with you, but here you are EXACTLY correct. All gun control laws do (and I mean ALL) is to remove guns from the hands of law-abiding citizens, the ones most in need of the ability to protect themselves and those they’re responsible for from the depredations of the lawless. This isn’t an issue of black vs. white, or rich vs. poor, or rural vs. urban, it’s a question of the fundamental right of any person to protect his or her life, liberty, and property. That right is meaningless without the means to do so. Gun control laws are in fact population control laws, meant to keep people dependent on government and not responsible for their own defense. Essentially, to keep them children and not allow them to become adults.

  2. M Anthony says:

    As an African American, a former detective, a gun owner and a former firearms instructor, I have a lot to say. We need to stop blaming guns and stop trying to get rid of the guns. We don’t need more purchase regulations. GUNS DO NOT KILL PEOPLE – PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.

    You might say there would be less killing without so many guns. My response is that guns are plastic and metal. There are too many people in this country of the wrong character, violent and criminal. But part of that is what this country itself has done. I suggest you look at the trial scene in New Jack City and overstand what Nino Brown is saying.

    I make no excuse for crime nor criminals but its not that simple and there are many factors that make, force or persuade people, into doing what they do. Yes you should be held accountable for what you do but again, there are more factors and players in the game than the public is admitting.

    The NRA is promoting the right to bare arms and also responsible gun ownership. Hillary stop the lies and tell our democratic political official to stop blaming guns for what people do. A GUN NEVVER KILLED ANYONE.

    We do not need to take guns away from responsible gun owners. Nor do we need to penalize us for what criminals do. If you take away the guns from law abiding citizens, only the criminals will have the guns.

    Criminals with guns are not usually buying them legally – unless you look at all these pre-planned Manchurian candidate sleeper active shooters. As for high powered rifles like M4s, M9s, AK47s, M16s etc, they posse no threat in the hands of a lawful responsible gun owner. So for some people to determine what guns others should be allowed to have is both unnecessary and a violation of our rights. Who are you to tell me what kind of gun I should or shouldn’t have and likewise?

    Let’s remember that when Hitler came to power he made the Jews register their guns. Then he took their guns away, removing their ability to resist what was in fact to happen to them.

    While African Americans are being gullible enough to turn in guns (I reference legal guns only) for gift cards and gaming systems, Caucasians are buying every gun they can find. They are going to gun shows and buying everything. African Americans need to make sure that we will not end up tomorrow like the Jews in Germany of yesterday.

    Buy a gun. Protect yourself, your home and your family. Go to the range and practice to build competency, accuracy and know what your weapon does. Responsibly store your weapon in a safe place (not on top of refrigerator where a child can get it). Learn the laws of your state and the carry permit guidelines – where you can and can’t carry your weapon, rules about weapons on your person or in your car.

    A gun or firearm is simple a tool that takes on the actions and “character” of its owner. Remember that.

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