School Shootings Are Fodder For the GOP Dystopian Society Message
Do you know why the Republican lawmakers and their lackeys don’t do anything meaningful to stop gun violence? Because they don’t want to stop gun violence because the perceived fall of society, the dystopia, the carnage is what makes the party click, it is absolutely necessary for the likes of trump and cruz and abbott and….
If we were to turn the corner on violence, the GOP would have to come up with another theme but nothing could match their clarion call that Americans need their guns for protection in this nation of blood and mayhem. If the society shifted toward less violence and more peace, the market would vanish for those revolting posters of trump’s face superimposed on Rocky’s AR-15 toting, muscle bristling body. And demand would dry up for the equally revolting MAGA T-shirts emblazoned with the phony picture of scowling trump on a Harley hog all superimposed over the American flag.
And the bride is the NRA, the perfect suitor and funder for the violence and anger that the GOP so desperately needs. Step in fantasy land for a moment and imagine if trump and the other violence enabled leaders took the time of the NRA convention to announce their full and uncompromising support for a raft of gun control laws including a ban on the sale of all assault-style weapons. That actually felt pretty good, fleeting and dreamlike though it was. Reality is a real drag.
And needless to mention, the right wing networks and the wingnut bloggers and the QAnon lovers all have a vested interest in the status quo. A real step toward a solution would be disastrous for the vested interests. Imagine the headlines on Fox News: No more military style rifles available, deaths from mass shootings reduced to none. Or what if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., had to hold a news conference to announce that climate change has been reversed because of a dramatic drop in the use of fossil fuels. Oh to dream.
I guess one positive point is that it is a good thing that the GOP doesn’t rely on airline danger or traffic crashes to get out its apocalyptic message. That would mean that more airline crashes and car accidents would be a good thing which sounds almost as absurd as saying that more children dying in mass shootings is a good thing. How ridiculous.
And with a rise in sustainable energy, there would be no market for the lobbyists for the oil, gas and coal companies. The same goes if the Republicans could actually coalesce with the Democrats to stop the flood of deadly though legal drugs pushed by the legal medical and big pharma. There would be starving lobbyists everywhere begging for a handout now that their cash cows have disappeared.
The Republicans absolutely need to stoke the fires of anger in every way possible and that is why leadership presents racist solutions so that the right wing can continue to hammer on a theme of white supremacy. It is absolutely key to their survival that they paint the Democrats as the party of Black Lives Matter enablers and baby killers and tree huggers who would devastate the nation and rip away the jobs of tens of millions of coal-loving, petroleum-worshiping Americans and wishy washy ivory tower types who don’t understand that having a gun is a God given right, as it was said by that nadir of humanity, Wayne LaPierre, the leader of the NRA.
Speaking of the NRA, woe be the future of the weapons companies if any of their virtuoso killing machines are outlawed or if the public suddenly realizes it’s really not necessary that there are now more than 400 million guns in the country, more than any other nation in the world while at least a third of all civilian-owned guns in the world are in American hands.
That would mean the “15 acres of gun and gear” would disappear from the NRA convention. No more semi-automatic assault rifles like the 5.45x39mm PSAK-47 for $949; 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington PSA PA-15 for $699; .224 Valkyrie Black Rain Spec 15 for $1,299; .243 Winchester Alex Pro for $1,999; .270 Winchester Browning BAR Mark III, $1,339; 6.5 Grendel Alexander Arms, $1,707; 6.5 Creedmoor FN SCAR, $3,999; 7.62x39mm, PSA PSAK-47, $799; .300 Blackout, Barrett REC7, $1,785; .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO Daniel Defense, $2,499; .30–06 Springfield, M1 Garand, $650; .350 Legend Ruger AR-556, $1,299; .450 Bushmaster Ruger AR-556, $1,299; .458 SOCOM CMMG, $1,049; or that ever popular .50 Beowulf Alexander Arms, $1,569.
The NRA could shift to promoting old Woodstock hoodies or maybe sell flowers but there’s no way to fill 15 acres.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, knows which side his bread is buttered on so he feels no compunction when he tells Americans to pray for the families of the latest victims but stalks away in a huff when a reporter asks him why there are no school, mass shootings in Canada.
Cruz told the MAGA crowd at the NRA convention that if banning guns was the answer, “Chicago wouldn’t be the murder hellhole that it has been for far too long.” Someone should tell Cruz that the N.Y. Times fact-checked the claim and found that after adjusting for population, Chicago’s rate of gun homicide was the 26th highest in the country in 2020. The three cities with the highest gun homicide rates were Jackson, Miss., Gary, Ind. and St. Louis, Mo. and all have more permissive gun laws than Illinois. I was going to send the Times story to Cruz but he wouldn’t read it anyway.
Texas Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott said the killings in Uvalde were a “horrific tragedy that cannot be tolerated in the state of Texas.”
Abbott had been scheduled to speak in person but couldn’t make the convention so he delivered his address by prerecorded video instead. Abbott said that gun laws already on the books “have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people in peaceful communities.” I guess that’s why last year, Abbott, who cannot tolerate horrific tragedies, signed a law making it easier to own and carry guns in Texas.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, whose district includes Uvalde in one of the nation’s gun happiest states, said now is not the time to discuss gun policy but rather it is time for “love” and “compassion.” We can talk about it later, when tempers have cooled and Gonzalez’ base doesn’t want to hear about it any way.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s solution is to “harden these targets so that no one can get in ever except through one entrance.” Maybe barbed wire, maybe handing out guns to the kids at recess, just don’t ban assault weapons like the two that the Uvalde killer used to carry out his crazed, mayhem. Make sure that Mrs. Jones,the kindergarten teacher, has an assault rifle under her desk even if she were to use it, she would probably shoot off her foot.
And trump offered his deep and layered observations at the NRA convention.
“The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens who can protect a lot of people,” trump said to thunderous applause. “The existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.”
And trump should know evil. It’s too much to think he would understand that studies have shown that armed police in schools have not deterred mass shootings. Even if he knew such a fact, he wouldn’t say it and risk tarnishing his well-polished, feces covered faux reputation as a true American.
So the right wing, the NRA, the nut job media and the rest of the crowd work so hard to normalize mass shootings so that kids think a mass shooting drill is just an excuse to get out of the classroom for a while although other children suffer under the fears real and imagined of a person coming into their quiet classroom and blasting holes into little Johnny, little Sally and the teacher, Mrs. Jones.