Looking down in disgust.


Mostly, I try to stay away from headline stories here.

But when I read the news today, my heart sank.

Two kids walked into a high school, dressed in black. They opened fire in a cafeteria. Fifteen children were killed. An additional 24 were injured. Shot. In cold blood. In a school cafeteria. They should have just been sitting there enjoying lunch.

As a nation, we were enraged. How could such a thing happen? Outrage. Anger. Someone needs to take responsibility for this, we said. We need to make sure this will never happen in our schools again, we said.

We said a lot of things. Oh. And lots of people thought. And lots of people prayed.

That was Columbine. Twenty years have passed.

And nothing has changed.

Over 187,000 students at 193 schools have experienced a school shooting since the Columbine massacre, according to a Washington Post. In the United States of America. We haven’t done one damn thing to stop it.

Idiots.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a mass shooting in New Zealand. It happened with a gun. A couple of guns.

A few days later, New Zealand legislature passed a law banning those guns.
I posted a meme on my FB page. A meme I created which said that. Gun advocates posted arguments against this. Fuzzy logic arguments too blurry to bother repeating.

Trump says we should ban cars? That’s his answer? Well fine. If we are going to treat cars and guns the same, then let there be a 3 month study period to learn about shooting a gun, as we do with cars. Then there has to be a written test, and a practical test. Then, if you pass those, you can pay to get a license to use one. If you want to buy one, you must provide all the same criteria that you would to buy a car. Including proof of insurance. You must pay to maintain this insurance for as long as you own your gun. Certain guns will not be available for public purchase. Just as high end race cars, and other types of vehicles are banned from public purchase. Then of course we have a myriad of traffic laws which apply to driving. In the same ways, these will be applied to guns.

That should be a good start. Better than what we are doing now.

Yeah. Trumpy says we should ban cars. That’s his wisdom.
And then I get up and read this morning’s headline.

“Sydney Aiello, who survived the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, has died from suicide, people close to the family told CNN.”

And tonight. Another: “A second Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student has died in what police are calling ‘an apparent suicide.’”

If there is a God, then I am sure he’s looking down in disgust, at our stupidity.
And he is saying,

“I tried to teach them about peace. I gave them brains to think with. And all they can do is defend their guns, so they can kill one another.”