One of the parts of my job is to weigh in on the issues of the day. As most of you know my views on the issues are rarely in sync with the rest of the talk radio world. Yesterday the gun issue took front and center again and a great weariness overcame me. I told myself after one of the myriad mass shootings that we have lived with in America over the past 20 years that I wasn't interested in talking about the issue of guns anymore.Las Vegas would just take it's place on the dishonor roll of American history. It didn't matter what anybody said…our society was not going to change. As long as our elected officials were bought and paid for by the gun lobby there would never be serious changes to gun laws in America and the body count would continue to pile up. In fact, as the dead were counted in Las Vegas, Congress was getting ready to vote on a bill that would make it easier for Americans to buy silencers for their weapons. Sure, why not? The same old arguments will fill the airwaves…”guns don't kill people, people kill people”…”you gonna ban knives too?” As a guy named Timothy Simons put it yesterday “When a 64 year old man kills 58 and wounds 500 in fifteen minutes from 1200 feet with a knife I will absolutely call for knife control. Until then, you've made the worlds crappiest point”. “It's not the time to talk about gun violence” You're right…its too late. I've heard all the arguments. And most of them are bullshit. I won't bother to remind my gun owning friends that they are much more likely to shoot themselves or someone they know with their guns then they are an unknown intruder. The idea that a man can purchase 16 automatic weapons, can carry them into one of the biggest hotels on the Strip and open fire from a window on a crowd below, should give even the most ardent second amendment supporter pause…but it won't. I won't bother to remind them that the second amendment is just that…an amendment…that could be changed if we were interested enough to do it. And that their reading of the amendment itself may not be how the framers read it or would read it if they saw the carnage possible with todays weapons. I won't bother to remind them that since 1968 more people in the United States have been killed by firearms than Americans have been killed in all of our wars in history. When Republicans in Congress tell you that the Vegas shooters guns are “a right” and the medical treatment for the 500 survivors are “a privilege” (Ron Johnson I'm looking at you) isn't it time to say “what the hell is wrong with you people”? But I wasn't going to say it because I believed it was a waste of time. They aren't going to listen and they aren't going to change. No matter how many dead bodies litter the streets. No matter how many domestic abuse incidents turn into murder-suicide. No matter how many kids accidently kill themselves or somebody else. Politicians like Richard Burr and David Perdue will continue to take millions of dollars from the gun lobby and then send out “thoughts and prayers” when a Vegas or a Sandy Hook or a Charleston or a Columbine happens. As Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer for George Bush put it yesterday, “Enough BS, for thoughts and prayers call a priest or rabbi. For decent gun laws call a congressman, and if he doesnt DO anything, sack him”. Even though I agree with Mr. Painter that your #thoughts and prayers are so much pissing in the wind, I wasn't going to discuss it because I didn't see the point…..and then I read a quote from the old Nazi hunter Ellie Weisel
“Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented”.
So don't be silent. if you believe that guns have become a scourge on society that must be controlled speak out. Despite the vitriol that you will receive for your efforts and the lack of progress from our elected officials who listen to the money rather than the cries of the wounded and the wails of the families of the victims…over and over and over again.
Songs Of The Day…a couple of early Petty tunes for ya. You had a good run…gone to soon.
