All Guns Are B*stards

All guns are bastards...

I was going to entitle this week's posting a bit more politely, but then something got the better of me. There is no such thing as a "good gun" like there's no such thing as a "good Nazi". (You can read why in last week's blog.) Guns--specifically AR-15 assault weapons--were designed with one purpose in mind and one purpose only: To kill human beings as fast and as efficiently as possible. 

That's it. AR-15s aren't for growing crops or helping you cross the street. They're for killing people.  (Only psychopathic mass murderers would be remotely interested in owning one.) They kill people so effectively it takes a DNA test to identify the remains. They serve no purpose for hunting because you can't eat a deer carcass riddled with lead. So, get it out of your head right now that any human-killing weapon has a dual purpose and that somehow it should be available for sale at your local Walmart. It doesn't, and it shouldn't.

As a parent, my heart is aching. I can't begin to fathom how the families of Uvalde, Texas, are coping with life without their dear babies, their school friends and teachers. What happened there was unspeakable and beyond comprehension. But Americans should have been prepared--we've been in this situation before. Only last week the bloodshed was in Buffalo, New York, and it involved a white supremacist 18 year-old shooting and killing innocents while they shopped for groceries in a predominantly African American area of town.

Why are we seeing this nightmare mass shooting scenario repeat itself over and over and over again? Why do police officers--or better called "publicly-funded security guards for the one-percenters' property"--act like chickens and cluck off whenever common folks' lives are at stake? Why does our government keep pouring billions into an institution that doesn't serve the people and, in the end, only serves the military-industrial complex's bottom line? What could we be doing to prevent this horror from happening again? 

My friend Sean Nestor explains it much better than I can, so please read his comments below. The article links provide good insights as well.

The time has come for more than just our "thoughts and prayers." We need faith in action in order to save lives. We need actual gun control and well-funded social services. Americans need to demilitarize the police and end our bloated military's senseless violence and resource grabs overseas. We need...

A Kind and Just Society

by Sean Nestor

There is a lot of high-profile gun violence local and nationally, but simply spending more money on more police and more weapons for police isn't going to change that. The only thing that will actually prevent violence is building a kind and just society, not one that gleefully throws people to the wolves.

There's a popular idea here in the United States that everybody's problem is theirs alone to deal with. It's appealing because it justifies us abdicating certain responsibilities. But the problem with it is that we wind up with a growing number of people leading miserable lives with no meaningful help who then turn around and make their problems everyone's problems by way of a violent tragedy.

We've also built an extremely dysfunctional economy, one where we give all our time to jobs that overwork and underpay us, leaving us little time for ourselves and our families, much less our communities. And because of that arrangement, we're all tired and moody and looking for easy answers, for quick solutions. 

Expect politicians across the aisle to line up and start pitching them to you in the coming weeks and months.

Unfortunately, reality is that there are no quick and easy solutions for the kind of extreme problems we're facing. We're either going to get serious about dramatically altering the nature and character of the country we live in, or we're going to suffer through ever-increasing violent tragedies.

If we really want to end violence, we need to accept that it will take a multi-generational effort of getting back to what the Constitution calls "promoting the general welfare." Keep people out of desperate states, and you'll keep people from acting out against innocent people in misdirected rage. 

In the near-term, that is going to look like a massive reinvestment in social programs--including universal healthcare--and a serious reevaluation of our cultural tendency to dump every social problem onto cops. In the long-term, that is going to look like moving away from militarism and capitalism as our predominant modes of operation.

These are political problems with political solutions. Whether we decide to enact them or not comes down to what work we're willing to undertake to make them happen.

Amen, Sean! Now...

Thurston High School.

Columbine High School.

Heritage High School.

Deming Middle School.

Fort Gibson Middle School.

Buell Elementary School.

Lake Worth Middle School.

University of Arkansas.

Junipero Serra High School.

Santana High School.

Bishop Neumann High School.

Pacific Lutheran University.

Granite Hills High School.

Lew Wallace High School.

Martin Luther King, Jr. High School.

Appalachian School of Law.

Washington High School.

Conception Abbey.

Benjamin Tasker Middle School.

University of Arizona.

Lincoln High School.

John McDonogh High School.

Red Lion Area Junior High School.

Case Western Reserve University.

Rocori High School.

Ballou High School.

Randallstown High School.

Bowen High School.

Red Lake Senior High School.

Harlan Community Academy High School.

Campbell County High School.

Milwee Middle School.

Roseburg High School.

Pine Middle School.

Essex Elementary School.

Duquesne University.

Platte Canyon High School.

Weston High School.

West Nickel Mines School.

Joplin Memorial Middle School.

Henry Foss High School.

Compton Centennial High School.

Virginia Tech.

Success Tech Academy.

Miami Carol City Senior High School.

Hamilton High School.

Louisiana Technical College.

Mitchell High School.

E.O. Green Junior High School.

Northern Illinois University.

Lakota Middle School.

Knoxville Central High School.

Willoughby South High School.

Henry Ford High School.

University of Central Arkansas.

Dillard High School.

Dunbar High School.

Hampton University.

Harvard College.

Larose-Cut Off Middle School.

International Studies Academy.

Skyline College.

Discovery Middle School.

University of Alabama.

DeKalb School.

Deer Creek Middle School.

Ohio State University.

Mumford High School.

University of Texas.

Kelly Elementary School.

Marinette High School.

Aurora Central High School.

Millard South High School.

Martinsville West Middle School.

Worthing High School.

Millard South High School.

Highlands Intermediate School.

Cape Fear High School.

Chardon High School.

Episcopal School of Jacksonville.

Oikos University.

Hamilton High School.

Perry Hall School.

Normal Community High School.

University of South Alabama.

Banner Academy South.

University of Southern California.

Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Apostolic Revival Center Christian School.

Taft Union High School.

Osborn High School.

Stevens Institute of Business and Arts.

Hazard Community and Technical College.

Chicago State University.

Lone Star College-North.

Cesar Chavez High School.

Price Middle School.

University of Central Florida.

New River Community College.

Grambling State University.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School.

Ronald E. McNair Discovery Academy.

North Panola High School.

Carver High School.

Agape Christian Academy.

Sparks Middle School.

North Carolina A&T State University.

Stephenson High School.

Brashear High School.

West Orange High School.

Arapahoe High School.

Edison High School.

Liberty Technology Magnet High School.

Hillhouse High School.

Berrendo Middle School.

Purdue University.

South Carolina State University.

Los Angeles Valley College.

Charles F. Brush High School.

University of Southern California.

Georgia Regents University.

Academy of Knowledge Preschool.

Benjamin Banneker High School.

D. H. Conley High School.

East English Village Preparatory Academy.

Paine College.

Georgia Gwinnett College.

John F. Kennedy High School.

Seattle Pacific University.

Reynolds High School.

Indiana State University.

Albemarle High School.

Fern Creek Traditional High School.

Langston Hughes High School.

Marysville Pilchuck High School.

Florida State University.

Miami Carol City High School.

Rogers State University.

Rosemary Anderson High School.

Wisconsin Lutheran High School.

Frederick High School.

Tenaya Middle School.

Bethune-Cookman University.

Pershing Elementary School.

Wayne Community College.

J.B. Martin Middle School.

Southwestern Classical Academy.

Savannah State University.

Harrisburg High School.

Umpqua Community College.

Northern Arizona University.

Texas Southern University.

Tennessee State University.

Winston-Salem State University.

Mojave High School.

Lawrence Central High School.

Franklin High School.

Muskegon Heights High School.

Independence High School.

Madison High School.

Antigo High School.

University of California-Los Angeles.

Jeremiah Burke High School.

Alpine High School.

Townville Elementary School.

Vigor High School.

Linden McKinley STEM Academy.

June Jordan High School for Equity.

Union Middle School.

Mueller Park Junior High School.

West Liberty-Salem High School.

University of Washington.

King City High School.

North Park Elementary School.

North Lake College.

Freeman High School.

Mattoon High School.

Rancho Tehama Elementary School.

Aztec High School.

Wake Forest University.

Italy High School.

NET Charter High School.

Marshall County High School.

Sal Castro Middle School.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Great Mills High School

Central Michigan University

Huffman High School

Frederick Douglass High School

Forest High School

Highland High School

Dixon High School

Santa Fe High School

Noblesville West Middle School

University of North Carolina Charlotte

STEM School Highlands Ranch

Edgewood High School

Palm Beach Central High School

Providence Career & Technical Academy

Fairley High School (school bus)

Canyon Springs High School

Dennis Intermediate School

Florida International University

Central Elementary School

Cascade Middle School

Davidson High School

Prairie View A & M University

Altascocita High School

Central Academy of Excellence

Cleveland High School

Robert E. Lee High School

Cheyenne South High School

Grambling State University

Blountsville Elementary School

Holmes County, Mississippi (school bus)

Prescott High School

College of the Mainland

Wynbrooke Elementary School

UNC Charlotte

Riverview Florida (school bus)

Second Chance High School

Carman-Ainsworth High School

Williwaw Elementary School

Monroe Clark Middle School

Central Catholic High School

Jeanette High School

Eastern Hills High School

DeAnza High School

Ridgway High School

Reginald F. Lewis High School

Saugus High School

Pleasantville High School

Waukesha South High School

Oshkosh High School

Catholic Academy of New Haven

Bellaire High School

North Crowley High School

McAuliffe Elementary School

South Oak Cliff High School

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Sonora High School

Western Illinois University

Oxford High School

Robb Elementary School

“More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine.” --Washington Post

 Related Articles: The AR-15 Has No Business Being in the Hands of Civilians
https://truthout.org/articles/the-ar-15-has-no-business-being-in-the-hands-of-civilians/ Shootings Aren't a Sign America is Broken. It's Working Exactly As Intended.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/25/shootings-arent-a-sign-america-is-broken-its-working-exactly-as-intended 
Cops Didn't Stop the Uvalde School Shooting (And They Might Have Made It Even Worse) https://theintercept.com/2022/05/25/texas-uvalde-shooting-school-police/

Guns, Guns, Guns, Guns, Guns, Guns, Guns, ENOUGH!

https://www.directleft.com/p/guns-guns-guns-guns-guns-guns-guns?s=r

To End Mass Shootings, We Need to Change the Deeper Structure of Life in the US  https://truthout.org/articles/to-end-mass-shootings-we-need-to-change-the-deeper-structure-of-life-in-the-us/

Uvalde Police Didn't Move to Save Lives Because That's Not What Police Do

https://www.rsn.org/001/uvalde-police-didnt-move-to-save-lives-because-thats-not-what-police-do.html

AR-15s Were Made To Explode Human Bodies. In Uvalde the Bodies Belonged to Children  https://www.rsn.org/001/ar15s-were-made-to-explode-human-bodies-in-uvalde-the-bodies-belonged-to-children.html

Mass Shootings Are a Symptom of the Declining US Empire's Fascist Reaction

 https://rainershea.substack.com/p/mass-shootings-are-a-symptom-of-the

 Seen on Twitter:

See? The Onion gets it. Why don't our "real journalists" and "real politicians"? #GunControlNow https://t.co/9eg84NLrmN

— C.A.M.@ TheRevolutionContinues.com (Pls read & RT) (@cynthianna3) May 25, 2022

The country where little kids get their brains blown out in 2nd grade classrooms wants to export its way of life around the world.

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) May 25, 2022

Is anybody ever going to bother to ask what about American society creates so many people that want to go out and kill as many people as they can in the first place?

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 25, 2022

Thoughts & prayers are empty with inaction. 19 Children dead & 2 adults. We need a nation-wide ban on assault weapons.

— Radical Jesus (@RadicalJesus4) May 25, 2022

These Democrats are using another crisis (this time a mass shooting) to get people to “vote blue no matter who” instead of using their power to fight for & pass popular gun safety legislation.

— Ryan Knight ☭ (@ProudSocialist) May 25, 2022

crazy how people are saying the solution is to arm teachers when three armed cops encountered the shooter first & did not stop him. huge hole in the “good guy with a gun” camp’s reasoning, unless we’re admitting that cops are not the good guys.

— nora🍒 (@noriekate) May 25, 2022

Kids Who Die
—Langston Hughes

This is for the kids who die,
Black and white,
For kids will die certainly.
The old and rich will live on awhile,
As always,
Eating blood and gold,
Letting kids die.

— Average NATO abolisher (@mrviscat) May 25, 2022

It's definitely not a coincidence that the nation which serves as the hub of a globe-spanning empire that's held together by mass murder and war propaganda and mass-scale psychological manipulation is the only nation with a mass shooting epidemic. But this will never be studied.

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) May 25, 2022

 ***

Dear friends, the shooting at Robb elementary in Uvalde, Texas has shaken us to our core. 

Just 60 miles from the southern border, the senseless murder of 19 children and two adults is yet another heartbreaking and infuriating consequence of lawmakers' failure to prioritize the safety of families over their political self-interest. These are the names of the confirmed victims:

Uziyah Garcia
Amerie Garza
Xavier Lopez
Tess Mata
Ellie Garcia
Rojelio Torres
Jose Flores
Jailah Silguero
Jayce Luevanos
Nevaeh Bravo
Jackie Cazares
Annabelle Rodriguez
Eliahana Torres
Makenna Lee Elrod
Lexi Rubio
Eva Mireles
Irma Garcia

We shouldn’t have to say it, but no parent should fear taking their child to school, afraid they’ll never come home. No parent should worry that the last thing we tell our kids in the morning is the last thing we’ll ever tell them. No parent should spend schooldays wondering “Am I going to see my kid again?”

Families Belong Together was founded to fight for the safety of children – whether at the U.S. southern border or in a school fifty miles away. When we value children, we do everything in our power to protect them, keep them safe, and keep them with their families. We continue to fail them time and again when we default to violence rather than putting systemic, common sense and humane policies in place that would very obviously keep them safe. 

In our grief we commit to working collectively to seek justice for the children and families whose lives were stolen this week. Together we must build a country that prioritizes the health and safety of children, no matter where they’re born, the color of their skin, or what papers they hold.

In sadness and hope,

Erin Mazursky, Interim Managing Director
Families Belong Together 

***

Tell Congress: BAN Assault Rifles.

Uvalde. Sandy Hook. Las Vegas. Sutherland Springs. Pulse Nightclub. San Bernardino.

Every single one of those massacres was done with an AR-15: an assault rifle that the NRA called “America’s Rifle.”

At this moment, the ghouls of the NRA and gun manufacturers are celebrating and partying at a lavish NRA conference in Houston.

Gun manufacturers like Daniel Defense, the merchants of death that sold the rifles used in Uvalde and Las Vegas, make blood-soaked millions while children are massacred.

For the good of the republic, and to save our lives, those that profit off mass murder like Daniel Defense must be destroyed.

Congress has a choice: cowardice or courage. They must hear from us NOW in this critical moment that assault weapons MUST BE BANNED.

Tell Congress: BAN assault rifles now.

An overwhelming majority of Americans – 63% in a recent survey – want assault weapons banned.

No civilian should ever own one. They are so lethal, even police are afraid to stop mass shooters wielding them.

A tiny minority of armed lunatics and an evil gun industry protecting their profits spend millions buying off politicians who throw their hands up and blame anything but the guns for mass shootings.

It’s. The. God. Damned. Guns. And Congress needs to hear from thousands of righteous Americans like you that we have had ENOUGH of massacres, death, and grief.

Today, we channel our pain and rage into action. Tell Congress: BAN assault rifles now.

Thanks for standing up.

– Progressive Reform Network