Why Is There No Outrage?

From the Brady Campaign:

"If, in the month of March, tainted peanut butter or spinach had led to the deaths of ten people in Alabama, eight in North Carolina and four in California, Congress would be calling for investigations and legislative reform."

Yet, the silence is deafening. In one of the above referenced mass shootings, the one in Alabama, an assault rifle was used. No one has called for the ban on assault rifles to be re-established. Nothing has happened. No one is outraged. No one is calling for someones head on a platter because these innocent people died. Several of the victims in North Carolina were nursing home residents. You can't get much more innocent that that.

It is a shame that 30,000 people die a year as a result of gun violence. There is no Mothers Against Gun Violence or Parents For Better Gun Laws nor is there an American Gun Violence Prevention Society or a Foundation for the Prevention of Gun Violence. The NRA intimidates any politician who might even think about introducing better gun legislation. The scare tactics are immediately thrown into high gear to ensure that gun owners are sufficiently brainwashed into thinking that their guns are going to be confiscated.

This past election, the NRA and its minions spread the word that the Democrats were going to take away guns. Never mind that the Supreme Court had already ruled on that issue. Never mind that the President has said that he respects the right to own guns. The doubt must always be kept alive. The NRA must have money to pay its highly paid staff, after all.

I know that at least some will respond that "criminals will get guns regardless of the law." Right, but think about how many people have gotten them legally, then gone out and committed mass murder. There must be better gun laws in this country. It is imperative that assault rifles be illegal, for the sake of innocents as well as the police. Police officers normally carry some caliber of semi-automatic pistol. They simply cannot compete with assault rifles. Unfortunately, these weapons have been legal again, since the Bush Administration let the law lapse. There are thousands of them on the street now. I'm sure there have been many legally purchased for the Mexican drug cartel armies.

Unfortunately, Americans take diseases more seriously than gun violence. I don't mean to minimize the terrible diseases that we fight every day. Yet, why can't we be AS serious about gun violence and the major trade in guns. My state legally exports hundreds of guns to northern cities, such as New York and Philadelphia. Nothing is done to stop them, because they are bringing bucks into the state, and it is now run by Republicans, who want to spread gun violence, rather than stop it. They have weakened the gun laws, making it easier to carry them in crowded venues, on state parks, in restaurants. and other places where innocent people can easily be killed by some nutcase, who thinks he is going to take out a criminal.

I am a gun owner. I own several rifles and pistols, including one of the greatest military rifles of the 20Th Century. I enjoy shooting black powder and have a flintlock under construction. At the same time I recognize the danger of guns. There are so many innocent children killed because someone didn't secure their weapon or teach their kids the danger of it. In the end someone rarely pays the price for the death.

We, basically, ignore the tragedies. At the time they happen, everyone talks about how sad it is and how awful society is, but rarely does anyone do anything to prevent the next one. Too many people subscribe to the "guns don't kill people, people kill people" foolishness. Well, my friends, when it happens to you, your family, or your friends, are you going to ignore it also?