At least another 17 dead in the latest crazy shooting......................... Why oh why?
Florida shooting suspect arrested after 17 people killed in high school attack
Because enough of the people in the country here have decided to worship at the altar of the Second Amendment. There is nothing more sacred to these people, and any attempt to consider any level of gun control must be stopped at all costs.
Once Sandy Hook happened, and nothing changed, the gun control debate here basically ended. If that wasn't enough, nothing will be. How much worse can it get than what happened at Sandy Hook? What worse thing could possibly happen? It will take a tectonic shift in the power structure an assembly here to cause anything to change nationally.
I've exhausted nearly every avenue I can find to leave (born in USA, only a citizen of USA). Unfortunately seemingly nobody is willing to take myself in my current living situation. I've exhausted every possible avenue to see if I at all qualify for dual citizenship. No dice, my family goes back just far enough to prevent me from qualifying for either of my potential heritages. I am stuck here hoping that I and anyone I love and care about are not shot by someone with a machine designed only to kill as many people as fast and efficiently as possible, because they are far too easy to get. I would bet I could get an assault rifle, 1000 rounds of ammunition, on my lunch break at work, and do it all while still having enough time to go through a McDonald's drive-thru for a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke, and not miss any working time.
Australia loses 35 people in the Port Arthur massacre, and almost completely revamps the entire system of gun regulation. More importantly, the culture changes drastically. I was in Tasmania in November 2016. I recall seeing a newspaper article (
this one) where people were concerned that Tasmanians had a discomforting number of guns in their possession. When I saw the number that was so concerning, it was a number I wouldn't even blink at here.
The number of guns per capita in Tasmania that was so concerning was less than a fourth of that across the entire USA. And that includes the lower ownership urban areas like NYC and Boston and Los Angeles that Tasmania (sorry Tassie residents!) just doesn't really have. If you limited it to places that resemble Tassie here in the States in terms of geography/population density, it would surely be even higher per capita here.
The USA has had shootings involving the deaths of 49, 26, and 58 people just in the last two years. Virginia Tech in 2007 and Sandy Hook in 2012 were similar. Five Port Arthurs in the last 11 years. Practically no changes at the national level. There's no appetite for change among the powers that be. Until that changes, this will keep happening. It is an absolute disgrace and will be a seemingly neverending stain on the United States of America, where "American exceptionalism" means being horrifically exceptional at not caring about the lives of our fellow citizens.
