NRA Press conference
Wayne LaPierre Executive Vice-President of the NRA (National Rifle Association) has just entered the realm of living satire. [And oh-by-the-way, should a man this obviously delusional be allowed to own a gun? let alone lobby for other possible nutjobs to own guns?]While nearly all of America reacted with shock, horror, and sadness by the repulsive and wildly disturbing massacre of innocent children in the Newtown CT. mass shooting last week, the NRA mercifully kept quite. Today they decided to break their self -described "respectful" weeklong silence in order to demand that "armed" police be located in every school in America--i.e. it is back to business as usual for the NRA.
You would think that comic writers had reduced things to their most absurd with this one. While I half expected the NRA might be chastened by the gristly shooting, and look for some "cosmetic" legislative changes like pressing for (or at least not fighting) an assault weapons ban, or a multi-dozen bullet cartiridge ban or blanket gun registry or any of the numerous modest and sensible measures that even a majority of the NRA members support, I really did not expect the NRA to be so completely detached from reality as it clearly is. The organization has been completely co-opted by the gun manufacturers...perhaps it always was, but the naked mercantilism on display today was the starkest, I've seen.
If the media, TV, movies, music, games and politicians are so obviously the problem--but not guns (as the NRA asserts)--then why do other countries (like Australia, Canada, UK etc) with all these notorious influeneces but with lots fewer guns also have lots fewer mass shootings?
I do not mean to imply that zero blame should be allocated to our crime obsessesed culture, it just seems obvious that fewer guns (especially the military type) in our society would just as a matter of math result in less gun related violence.
posted by Daniel @ 12:17 PM
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