As a young man I watched JFK, Medgar Evers, MLK, Malcom X , and Bobby Kennedy assassinated . It was the start of political violence in my life time. Violence continued from there to the Reagan shooting. Then there was a pause in political violence and the violence turned to the schools which still continues today. Yesterday as media was concerned about Kirk there was another school shooting that got nothing more than a quick media blip
While the killing of Kirk was tragic and should be condemned we must now look at the cause for the rapid increase in this kind of violence.
Many will say it is to many guns or the mental health of so many. These are just the vehicles not the cause.
In the last decade online media and its influencers have offered a new form of information for the masses worldwide. With that new power these people also have a monumental responsibility to get there views heard but subdued as to not be the cause of political violence. But yet they have been one of the leading cause for this violence. Kirk himself fanned the flames many times. But he is not the only one. As a TYT member I have watched both Cenk and Anna rage about issues. Their passion while with good intentions riles some to a state that makes some act. Read the daily comments after such rages are spoken.
Trump himself yesterday was full of rage over Kirk’s death at a time when a true leader should be calling for calm. Yesterday on the House floor words were so heated that members of Congress almost started physically fighting.
We are at a time when real leadership must prevail and I am sad to say we do not have those leaders in positions of power. Let us hope things will change
If we were all of the sudden not requiring licensing to drive a car, there would be no mystery as to why fatalities would skyrocket. “…a well regulated militia…”: we needED licensing for guns, which implies safety training and a means of making it difficult to get a gun if you have mental/violence issues.
But it’s moot now; this country is over, thanks to the Supreme Court. Maybe a State that exits can finally address this long neglected issue, overriding the childish paranoia of gun nuts: “If the government starts registering guns, it’s the first step to taking them away!” Yeah; like they did with cars?
I agree 100% on requiring things like a License and Gun Insurance like we do for cars. Unfortunately, I don’t think this would have stopped this killing of Charlie Kirk. This guy seemed to have training; possibly even military training. If that is true then he would have passed all the requirements for a gun.
Yeah, probably; but we do what we can to reduce the total number getting killed, based on a utilitarian philosophy.
So answering your question with your observation as to what we can do: not much.
MAYBE if there were licensure laws, this guy would have been less likely to get turned on to being a gun nut; but maybe not. England technically allows guns, but only under regulated circumstances. So many more people there do not see it as a go-to solution. In a culture like ours that sells bullets from vending machines -can we be surprised? (vending machines at a firing range only? that’s OK…)
What is the cause? A feeling of powerlessness and the belief that this is the only course of action to change what is going on.
Not endorsing the philosophy, but noting it: “Mao Tse Tung says change will come…” Change can come at the end of a barrel of a gun; it did in the Revolutionary War. But it’s clearly not the only way…