When I heard the news about the POS who shot up the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek and killed at least 6 people today before he was taken out by the cops, my thoughts weren't sad. They were angry.
Now fortunately I've had a few hours to cool off, through drinks at the Union with my Dad, Grandmother and fiancee, and by heading over to Capitol with about 50-75 others to give our thoughts and show our support (a small gesture, to be sure, but it's a start). But now that I'm back home, it's time to look at this incident, and yes, I am going to GO THERE. Some may say it is too soon to look at action and point the finger at causes, but we do this all the time, and we never seem to keep the next horrific mass shooting and hate crime from happening. So we have to talk about it now.
The first point I'll make is a positive one. Great work by the Oak Creek police and first responders on the scene. It seems that they avoided further atrocities and a possible hostage standoff that would have made this awful situation so much worse. Maybe we should give a little more respect to public employees like these guys who lay it on the line in thankless situations like this all the time. Whatcha say, Guv? Are these guys "lazy thugs" there, Scotty, doing the job that they did on a Sunday morning?
I also appreciate the immediate classification of this as "domestic terrorism, because it is. BS'ing about it and claiming it's a random 6-person killing does not get to the heart of what this bastard has done, and why it was done, and truthfully calling it "terrorism," even when it's a middle-aged white guy doing it, allows us a better chance to get to root of the problem, and make it more likely it doesn't happen again.
Now, the bad stuff. This continues the awful pattern of America's easy availability of guns leading to disasters. We always have this talk come up whenever a Gabby Giffords incident happens or the guy in Colorado shoots up a theatre, but it never gets further than that, especially when the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby starts threatening politicians with a lack of support or major opposition if they dare to restrict who can get a gun. Well, NO MORE. We need to find out how this wack-a-doodle got his gun, and any other stuff that was stashed in his old place in Cudahy (as of now, the neighborhood is being evacuated).
I am tired of people saying that the 2nd Amendment means that anyone and their dog should be allowed to have a gun. With that right to bear arms comes great responsibility, and it's pretty evident that some people can't handle that responsibility. If someone has a history of mental illness or violence or instability, maybe they should be able to have a weapon of potential mass destruction? Is that a really hard compromise to make, gun-nuts? Look, if you want a gun in your house or other places, and you haven't broken laws and pass a basic competency test, then you can have all the freaking guns you want.
But God forbid that someone ask for one day of training before getting the right to carry. Attorney General J.B Van Hollen wanted to put a rule in requiring 4 hours of training as part of the state's Walker/WisGOP-approved concealed carry law. But then the gun lobby spoke up, and Wisconsin legislators caved to the NRA and company, throwing out the 4-hour requirement last November. Oh, and do you think I've forgotten pro-Walker commercials the NRA ran during the recall election? You know, like this one?
The necks better pray this guy didn't get his weapons mail-order or over-the-counter last week.
Another thing I am tired of is people claiming targeted mass shootings are isolated incidents. Just three days prior to the Oak Creek shooting, a man in Mlwaukee walked into his work supervisor's office, shot his boss, and then killed himself. You had the Aurora theatre shooting just last month, the Giffords shooting in January 2011, and others in the last 5 years including the Virginia Tech killings, a guy killing 13 in a Hmong community Center, and Major Hassan at Ford Hood. Note how a lot of these follow a pattern of "one guy, crowded room?" Let's stop thinking these things only "just happen" and blow them off, and let's start dealing with the violent society we have built. One where someone feels a gun is their only way to solve their problems, and get even with the world.
It also isn't the first time someone went after a Sikh. The head of the Sikh-American Defense and Education Fund noted several anti-Sikh crimes in America in the last 18 months, including 2 being murdered in California, death threats to a Virginia family, aggravated assaults, and vandalism to a temple. 92 members of U.S. Congress sent a note to the Department of Justice this April asking to collect information into crimes against American Sikhs, and it is noteworthy that the FBI is taking an active role in the investigation in the Oak Creek killings.
So that's the first round of thoughts I have- your #wiunion thug law enforcement are the heroes of this story, and something we should be proud of as Wisconsinites on this dark day. But the availability of guns must be discussed (and this has been a failure of both Obama and the Republicans), and this country needs to have an honest conversation that goes into our violent culture, and how we can truly make this a more perfect union. Because it sure doesn't feel like it right now, with a loud minority controlling an issue that seems to be out of step with those of us in the common sense and decency world.
No comments:
Post a Comment