When one concedes the battle of language, one is already losing the war. President Obama in his interview with the BBC:
The issue of guns, that is an area where if you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense, gun-safety laws.
"Mayci Breaux, 21, died at the scene, and Jillian Johnson, 33, died later at a nearby [Lafayette, Louisiana] hospital," reports CNN. The shooter "was a guy that was a drifter ... that just happened to be in this theater and took two beautiful lives," said state policeman Michael Edmonson.
"We were like, wow, this is crazy," said a theatre patron. "Coming to a movie on a Thursday night, we never expected that we would see a crime scene and a gunman (in our) theater."
The issue at stake isn't that the United States is negligent of "gun safety," but that the gunman was in control of a gun.
Gov. Jindal's solution? "We can pray. We can hug these families. We can shower them with love, thoughts and prayers." After, that is, their loved ones are dead —and the same goes for tomorrow. What an unmitigated, diseased, uncaring ass.
What can you even say anymore?
Posted by: Anne J | July 24, 2015 at 09:00 AM
Anne J probably expresses how we all feel, but we can hope guns will be a "tipping point" issue. It's impossible to imagine a majority of American opinion makers and voters suffering an indefensible legal framework much longer.
Posted by: Bob | July 24, 2015 at 10:09 AM
I agree, Bob. This is just getting to be too much. Two shootings in a week. It's almost like they're getting more frequent.
Posted by: Anne J | July 24, 2015 at 02:15 PM
Well I'm already hearing the knives come out for the people who deal with mental illness. Of course the issue of mental health care only comes up when a mass shooting happens. They never pay any nevermind to the hundreds every day who intentionally shoot themselves and only themselves with no intention of hurting anyone else. Nobody cares about them. Yes, I am bitter and angry. I am worried that those of us who have mental illness are going to be the scapegoats and by targeting us, they're going solve the gun problem.
Posted by: Anne J | July 24, 2015 at 02:26 PM
Both as CA governor and US president Reagan began defunding mental health facilities to lower taxes. The result has been that as of 2009 about 25% of the homeless population was mentally ill, compared to 6% of the general population.
The gun lobby wants to focus on mental health to deflect blame from their product. They're not interested in increasing funding for mental health programs. This is politics at its worst.
Posted by: Bob | July 25, 2015 at 07:55 AM