350 Gun Madness
Gun Madness
Here’s a subject
matter close to my heart, picked up in today’s Sun Herald by Peter FitzSimons … I've written about GUNS until I was blue in the face (in my book en.light.en.ment)
GUN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The way of the world these days is
that even though six people were gunned down in California a week ago, details
are already starting to fade But you still remember, don’t you, the father of
one of them, Christopher Michael-Martinez – who happened to be standing
in a convenience store when the shots rang out – making a speech for the ages:
“Why did Chris die?” he tearfully
and angrily demanded. “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians
and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When
will this insanity stop? When will enough people say, ‘Stop this madness’. We
do not have to live like this!”
You were moved, I was moved, some
Americans were moved. But not all of them were. As noted by American
journalist, Charles P. Pierce, the Chairman of the Election Commission of
Simpsonville, South Carolina, Todd Kincannon, tweeted his response to the grieving
father.
“Fuck him. He is a piece of shit.
His tragedy sucks, but he blamed me for it and wants to take away my rights.
The guy is trying to take away my rights to protect my family. Fuck him every
day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
He went on: “No idea how my son will
die, but I know it won't be cowering like a bitch at UC Santa Barbara. Any son
of mine would have been shooting back.”
This is no straw man. This is a
response emblematic of large parts of the American population.
And your job, and my job, is to make
sure that gun nutters here are subdued.