Another day in America. Another needless tragedy at the hands of a gunman.
And although it's "people who kill people" and not their weapon of choice, I haven't heard of any knifing or stoning epidemics occuring in our nation. At least not for the last couple centuries or so.
Even then, no knife or stone would take out a couple dozen innocent children in a matter of minutes, at the hands of one person.
In a perfect world, humans would learn to use its words when faced with conflict. In a better world, in times when a violent act seems somehow justifiable in our minds, we can concurrently reason with ourselves to at least use non-lethal means to achieve the act. In a somewhat functional world, an emphasis on catering to one's mental health will take precedence over all else.
But, sadly, we live in none of the above. Therefore, to search for a resolution aimed to achieve any of that - at least at this time in our history - is unrealistic.
Therefore, in lieu of suggesting the complete elimination of firearms, which would fall upon deaf ears (and, ironically, probably lead to a violent citizen uprising), I'd like to propose a common-sense compromise. It may seem simplistic in nature, but sometimes in life, efficiency is effective. Work smarter, not harder, right?
What I'm about to propose will save thousands of lives every year and instantly reform a nation that has an incredibly disturbing, insatiable appetite for lethal weapons, one which dwarfs any other civilized country on the planet:
- Mandatory minimum two week waiting period on all firearm purchases, during which time a background check is conducted. Have you ever been pissed and someone or something, thought irrational thoughts, then had some time to cool down and ultimately saw things more clearly again? Of course you have.
- Mandatory gun safety and responsibility course to be completed (and perhaps they already have this to obtain a license. But if they don't, that baffles me. One needs to take driver's ed for a driver's license, and those are only used for weapons a small percentage of the time, whereas a gun's sole purpose is to be a weapon. It's not a very practical paper weight.).
- Ban all automatic weapons. For those pro-NRA, pro-2nd ammendment fanatics who are opposed to this, please tell me why. If it's simply to provide equal footing for every citizen, where is the line drawn? Grenades? WMDs? When can we eliminate the need for the upper hand? And for the hunters out there, taking down a buck with an oozie doesn't seem very sporting.
Will this stop all of these horrific acts we're forced to see on the news from happening? Not at all, just like driver's education courses don't weed out every terrible driver who puts others on the road at risk. (Trust me - I've lived in New Jersey and Florida for most of my life, so I've rolled the dice most times I pull out of my driveway). Will it save many? Or even one, without threatening the security of anyone else? I don't see how it couldn't.
Three simple rules and thousands of lives spared. Tens of thousands of others spared the trauma and tragedy. So many others with a peace of mind which dissipates a little more every time we check the news and see the vicious cycle start over again, negating the opportunity for those who perished needlessly to at least serve as benchmark for the continued evolution of humanity.
But until that happens, it'll just be another day in America, where we pride ourselves on being a standard-bearing society and somehow eat the bullshit we manufacture with no hesitation...
