The tragic mass shooting of Republican members of Congress does indicate the need for stricter control of guns, particularly guns like those so typically used in these attacks. Several pundits and a GOP candidate for office have trotted out the tenet that more armed citizenry would prevent events like his. One Republican House member even said he would carry a gun in his pocket from that day forward. Hogwash.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise had armed security guards with him at the baseball diamond. And not just any security guards…but well trained Capitol Police…who did in fact save a lot of lives that day…but still couldn’t immediately stop the gunman from injuring a number of people. There is no way a well meaning citizen with a gun could have been more effective. As I’ve said here a number of times…none of us are going to be John Wayne or Dirty Harry in these instances…we may well wreak more havoc that we prevent. As we have often witnessed, well trained qualified law enforcement officers have a hard enough time.
And for just a minute, let’s have this sink in. The guns used by this murderer were legally purchased. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise since he was a older white man from middle America. The last person in the world anyone on the right side of the aisle on Capitol Hill would fear owning a gun. But truthfully, does any American really need that kind of fire power…even to hunt?
I don’t think that there will be any changes on gun ownership coming out of this. The NRA just has too much sway with the electeds in Washington…even though those electeds became the targets. But it is time that the nation start a rational discussion on preventing future mass murders in America. We’ve long ago reached the point where the carnage was past unacceptable.
P.S. Thank goodness all of the victims have excellent health insurance…most of them government provided health insurance.
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