We won’t do anything. Let’s not pretend like we will.Thousands of people went to a country music concert and because some mad man had a small arsenal in his hotel room, more than 50 of those people are dead, 400 are injured.We all feel horrible. Is there any other way to feel when innocent life is extinguished? Part of what we’re feeling is because we can put ourselves in those people’s shoes. They weren’t doing anything remarkable or dangerous or crazy. They went to a concert. My daughter went to see Luke Bryan a couple of weeks ago. She was in a crowd just like this.Social media overflows with people praying for Vegas, and commending first responders, and talking about their breaking hearts.Politicians will give somber speeches in which they quote scripture. Bloggers like me will write yet another post about how something needs to change, about how we can do better.Hundreds of reporters and law enforcement will scour the internet and public records in an effort to find out more information about the mad man. His family will express their disbelief.We’ll all search for humanity in an act that’s most inhumane.But soon another story will come along and we’ll forget.We’ll forget our reactions when we first saw the news. We’ll forget the sheer shock at the sound of gunfire in those videos. An intermittent barrage. A furious chain of pops that reminded me of lighting an entire package of Black Cat firecrackers.We’ll forget our anger. We’ll forget our frustration. We’ll forget our logical disbelief that this country can’t do any better when it comes to guns.The NRA knows this. Our politicians know this. All they have to do is wait. They can release a statement today in which they mourn the dead, send their thoughts and prayers, and thank first responders. Most statements won’t mention trying to solve the problem. They know they can just wait for it to go away.Until it comes back. It always comes back.And for those people who don’t forget—those who advocate for stricter gun laws, not just after a mass shooting, but all the time—gun lovers have a litany of reasons why we can’t fix the problem.Banning guns won’t keep criminals from getting them.Guns aren’t the problem, mental illness is the problem.Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.The Second Amendment!So we just go on with our lives, and hope that we’re not unlucky enough to choose the wrong concert, or the wrong nightclub, or the wrong movie theater, or, God forbid, the wrong school.We take our chances and accept the incompetent impotence of leaders whose main concern is keeping their job. Instead of standing up and putting themselves on the line—and not in a real way, not in the way that the police who responded to the shooter put themselves on the line—to do what is right, to show the sort of courage that we used to expect from our leaders, they engage in the ancient art of covering their ass.Democratic Senators from conservative states take the easy way out and vote against any bill that opposes anything short of letting any lunatic carry any gun at any place for any reason. Senators like Joe Donnelly from Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp from Montana, Max Baucus from Montana, Mark Pryor from Arkansas, and Mark Begich from Alaska should have trouble sleeping at night. Their inability to stand and cast a difficult vote that might imperil their own political future is shameful.Long ago, in a country different from ours politically, sexually, racially, culturally, and ethnically, a group of men decided that the right of a militia to bear arms shouldn’t be infringed. And in so doing they handcuffed this country. Those of us who don’t want to get shot, who don’t want others to get shot, are at a perpetual disadvantage.Our leaders can talk all they want about unity, and coming together, and a light shining in darkness, but their words are hollow.This country has decided that the right to bear arms is worth 34,000 human lives every year. When 3,000 people died on 9/11, we changed laws, consolidated government agencies, broke down protective barriers between law enforcement and intelligence, and spent trillions of dollars waging war.We have eleven 9/11’s every year due to guns, and we do nothing.We can proclaim ourselves the greatest country in the world. We can say that we’re Making America Great Again. But we’re not going to do anything about the gun problem in this country.Let’s stop pretending we will.Wasn't that well-written and fun to read? You should subscribe to my blog and we'll send you an e-mail every time I write a new one. Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
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