The
shooting in Tucson is over. The victims have been honored
and the country has mourned. There has been tons of commentary
and analysis in the week since. A week of finger-pointing,
blame-shifting and responsibility-dodging. The facts have
been diluted and dismissed. But what I know is that there
are 10 facts that cannot be denied:
-
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is off
the ventilator and breathing on her own and will be
alright; she gets excellent healthcare
-
six other people were killed and 13
others shot for no good reason
-
many politicians are dodging any culpability
for anything that they may’ve done to urge this act
to occur—including incendiary language
-
the shooter, Jared Loughner,
is certifiably mentally unstable
-
mentally unstable people
will still be able to buy, own and carry guns
-
someone else having a gun
could not have stopped the shooter from shooting
-
members of Congress are
cowards who want us to spend more deficit money on making
them safer, while the rest of us remain less safe
-
law-abiding Americans will
still be chief among the number of mass shootings that
will occur in America
-
guns will be the protected
character in this drama
-
like Pima County Sheriff,
Clarence Dupnick, millions of Americans clearly understand
why this tragedy occurred
More
importantly, there are three things that could be changed,
should be changed, but won’t be changed. Without these
three points being corrected, we will have this conversation
again:
-
bans on guns—especially assault weapons &
accessories—won’t happen
-
politicians and political operatives won’t disband
their vitriolic language
-
prisons cannot serve as holding cells for the
mentally unstable; most mentally challenged people aren’t
charged with a crime until they commit one
Of
all of the dialogue surrounding the Arizona attack, very
little was focused on remedying the cause. The politi-sphere
won’t admit that it allowed hateful and harmful language
to contaminate the hate for progressive policies. The right
won’t admit that guns cause big holes in people; the left
won’t admit that they failed America by not legislating
gun-control laws when they had the chance. As a matter
of fact, a gun show was held at the Pima County Fairgrounds,
not far from the site of the shooting…just a week after
the tragedy. The organizers elected to continue with their
plans to hold the gun show despite any possible “insensitivity”
that may incur.
What
this tells us is that, in a capitalist society, money overrules
ethics, morals or anything else that should precede your
concern for the general welfare of the greater part of America.
People talked long & loud about 9-year old Christina
Taylor Greene who was also shot and killed in the attack,
but no one will protect her innocence by eliminating the
possibility of other little girls being killed by the human
killing machines, known as guns. There’s too much money
tied up in this commodity; therefore Americans choose to
let our children remain at risk.
When
it’s all over, said and done, much has been said, and nothing
will be done to prevent a tragedy like this from happening
again. In the final analysis, the final word on Tucson
is that nothing has changed, in perfect line with the meaning
of traditional conservatism.
BlackCommentator.com
Guest Commentator Perry Redd is the former Executive Director
of the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author
of the on-line commentary, “The
Other Side of the Tracks”. He is host of the internet-based
talk radio show, Socially Speaking in Washington, DC.
Click here
to contact Mr. Redd.
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