Despite domestic gun violence
and deaths reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S., its Congress remains
chained to the gun and ammunition industries and their lobbyist, the National
Rifle Association (NRA). The 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
is invariably trotted out to defend their position even though this amendment was
written to protect the framers should the masses revolt. The NRA even went so
far as to prevent Congress from even authorizing studies of ways to reduce gun
violence until 2022 when “the floodgates were opened” making funds available for
such studies. [1]
What
has followed so far and not at all unexpectedly
by me is a series of charades purporting to be serious studies of the issue.
For instance, $2.25 million has
been awarded to the University of Michigan to determine whether turning vacant
lots into green spaces, such as community gardens, pocket parks or green
infrastructure, will reduce firearm violence in Detroit. [2] Such a
farce is totally expected at least by me from “pointy-headed bureaucrats” (to borrow the
pejorative coined by the late Alabama Governor George Wallace) and from naïve academicians
none of whom would know a good solution if it walked into their offices.
Aside from such silly
science, this year the U.S. government enacted a law that funds some mostly tangential
measures such as crisis intervention programs. [3] A few States have taken
matters into their own hands. California, for instance, is ranked the top state
in the nation for gun safety in 2021, yet this state has been plagued with
recent mass killings from guns. [4]
A measure
for curbing random shootings occurred to me after I read about the case of a shopper in a mall who was
legitimately carrying a gun. He shot and killed a man who had already killed
three shoppers. [5] The obvious solution, at least obvious to me, to preventing
or at least reducing such incidents is to deputize people who have legal gun permits, allowing the
permit holders widespread access to potential and actual killers. Smacks of the
Wild West, I know, but America has long
ago become the Wild Nation.
I
will not take space and time here to discuss an encyclopedic array of other
measures aimed at curbing gun violence. They don’t stand a chance in the Wild
Nation.
Moreover,
and far worse and ominous, the U.S., because of its corpocracy’s power elite, is
the most weaponized nation, the most murderous nation in foreign countries, and
the nation most likely to cause doomsday later this century. [6]
I
have written at length comprehensive proposals that if successfully implemented
would not only create a new America serving the people but would also lead the world on the pathway to
worldwide peace. [7] This is not the place, though, to summarize these
proposals.
In
Closing
I am
very guarded when going to the local shopping mall. How about you where you
live?
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