There is much to be said about what happened in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24th, 2022, where yet another 18-year old “lone wolf” with guns and ammunition slaughtered people. In this case, 21 people - 19 of them children – in an elementary school.
The abhorrent act lasted for well over an hour, starting with the shooting of the killer’s grandmother, and only ending when the police finally entered the school after waiting all that time and finally killed the shooter. It happened just ten days from the racist-fueled slaughter in Buffalo, New York, only we don’t know yet what motivated this particular “lone wolf” shooter. He didn’t exactly lay down a manifesto like the other one did. He did, however, bring plenty of ammunition and body armor, just like his predecessor.
There is much that needs to be said about this. Like how the police changed their story of their role in this matter about a dozen or so times. Like why they waited over an hour, tasering and arresting parents, before they finally decided to move in to take on the shooter. Like why a door to the school was left open for the killer to enter. Like why the killer even did what he did.
But these are things that will take time to get straight, if at all.
What I do want to talk about, though, is the disgusting and disgraceful actions of the so-called “conservatives” and their party of fascism, hate, and hypocrisy, and how they worm their way around this slaughter like they have all the others. Yes, this is the party that I used to be a dues-paying, card-carrying member of, back in the day when they still had some modicum of honor and dignity. Clearly that is not them anymore.
Let’s start with their reaction. They are quick to give the same prepared speech about “thoughts and prayers” and how “mortified” or “horrified” they are that this bad thing happened. And I don’t mean similar speeches. I mean copied-and-pasted from some talking points memo with one or two personal changes made so they don’t accidentally say “insert spouse name here”.
Then there’s the whiny demand from the party of fascism that people don’t “politicize” the tragedy. From the party that does nothing but politicize! The same party that demands immediate political action concerning any other kind of issue or tragedy, now, all of a sudden, demands that *this* kind of tragedy not be “politicized”.
It should also be noted that this happened just days before the National Rifle Association was to hold their convention just a few hundred miles away from Uvalde, and many of the fascist cult-followers would be in attendance, including their narcissistic cult leader, the orange-skinned abomination who should never be named. The same orange man-child who, it should be noted, personally demanded that nobody in attendance bring any kind of firearms... to a convention that worships firearms. Not to mention banning knives, laser pointers, toy guns, backpacks, pepper spray... basically all the things that you would find at a gun show.
So... they’re all for banning guns in a convention that worships guns, albeit for a limited time, but not for any kind of gun control everywhere else. Got it. Self-serving hypocrisy. Duly noted.
This is followed by the demand from those in Congress from the party of fascism and hatred that any kind of legislation be “postponed”. Not “blocked” but “delayed” so they could supposedly come up with “agreeable legislation”. Only it never happens. We have seen this over and over again. There is no common ground met. There is no “bipartisan” agreement made. Any legislation or regulation proposed is fought and filibustered tooth-and-nail by the party of fascism, no matter if it’s the day after a tragedy or a year later. The “delay” is just to wait until the anger and rage of the tragedy passes by and the demand for them to “do something” fades.
But perhaps the worst is the party of fascism’s scapegoating. Their disgusting grasp at anything and everything to blame other than access to guns.
Back in the 1990’s it was the media to be blamed. Violent movies. Violent video games. Violent TV programs. Turned out none of that was the case, but it didn’t matter because they pulled those lies out every time.
The most recent scapegoating is to say that this is not a “gun” issue but a “mental health” issue. It follows their eternal screed that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. Right. People... with guns... kill people. It might make sense except that this is the same party that cuts funding for mental health services. The same party that opposes “red flag” laws that would flag those who would be possibly dangerous and should not have guns.
So... you blame mental health, but don’t fund the services to deal with mental health, and you sure as hell don’t want someone with a potential mental health issue to be barred from having guns, even for a limited time. Gotcha. Double-standard.
Then there’s the new wrinkle from the disgraceful, disrespectful, and dishonorable sack of cow dung representing Texas, the Canadian-born “Cancun Karen” himself, Senator Ted Cruz. According to the bearded flatulating sphincter, we don’t need gun control. He thinks we need door control. He thinks that schools should have just one door for entry and exit. Just one.
And let me guess... a wall too? Really high with barbed wire, right? Because that is working so well at the Southern border, isn’t it? You know, there are places like that already. They’re called prisons.
Forgetting for a moment the extreme fire hazard that would ensue if such an idea was imposed by the bearded flatulating sphincter, the fact still remains that the “one door” of the elementary school was left open for the killer to enter. So much for that “genius” of an idea.
Let’s get brutally honest here... every single person that has an “R” next to their names has blood on their hands over this massacre. Everyone at the NRA convention, the orange-skinned narcissist, the bearded flatulating sphincter, the slack-jawed turtle-dick Senator who claims to be the “minority leader”, and even the governor who decided not to attend the NRA convention, they all have some measure of blood on their hands and stains on their souls. They did not give the killer the guns or the ammunition, but they helped create the situation to where that killer got his hands on those things far easier than for whatever kind of help that he would truly need.
Not only that, but they are guilty of scapegoating the killer’s actions and they have set the stage for many more other killers to follow.
You want to say this is a “mental health” issue? Fine. Then fund the help for it.
You want the “good guys with guns” to step in? Fine. Then they need to do that instead of waiting around for an hour like cowards.
As a practical libertarian, it’s not that difficult to see that some measure of control will be needed. Ideally, rights should be absolute, but they’re not. You do not have an absolute right to free speech. The party of fascism has made that quite clear when they started talking about banning books and banning programs. But so too is the right to bear arms not absolute. There needs to be some measure of control. Those who should not have guns really should not. And if you decide that those people should still have guns, then the blood and the blame for that next tragedy needs to be on all your hands and your souls.
