In “active shooter” class (they were mandatory training at a former employer), they would tell us — if you can escape, escape. Don’t wait for anyone.
If not, and you are stuck in a classroom, grab the largest most destructive item you could find. Everyone. Because if the shooter came in, everyone needs to toss that item at the guy all at once.
That is not a plan. That is madness.
Here is a plan.
Regulate any and all firearms sold in the U.S. If you don’t like regulations, you can purchase yours on the underground market off the grid. If you get caught with one of those though, the penalty is going to be severe. Real severe. Like you get an arm chopped off — severe. I’m actually kidding. (LOL)
But anyway…
The Rahm Emanuel Doctrine
Guns are dangerous. They were created to kill. They should be regulated. People buying them should submit to background checks. Individuals guilty of domestic violence should lose their gun rights.
Most Americans think background checks are necessary.
Why can’t they pass into law? Because America is addicted and committed to violence and the two parties in control in the U.S. are playing a dirty political game with us. But mostly, it is a culture of violence here in America. “Tonz of gunz” rule this place.
Yes, human beings are violent. Yes, human beings kill other humans regularly, daily, and hourly. And they kill themselves. Approximately 70 people each day shoot themselves to death in America each day. Did you know that?
I did. But I also know that the media is playing a game with us. There is a mass shooting, of some type, each day in America, on average. They only report the ones that will make them money on advertising and ramp up web traffic.
Black Americans killed by a white supremacist. Small children killed in school by the Latinx white supremacist.
Don’t believe me? Check this database —
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
When the shooting in Texas smothered the media, I cringed. Then I saw the stupid political games begin. The Republicans doubled down on gun rights. And President Joe Biden gave a speech. He did not want to miss the moment. He does care I do believe. But mostly, this is how this plays out always.
Places everyone.
Biden gave his speech mostly because these were small children. Just like before, the outrage was a bit more intense because the shooter was a white supremacist.
Because a President could give a speech every day about gun violence and ask for guns to be regulated. Every day, on average, there is a mass shooting. Some of them are run-of-the-mill shootings where the shooters know their target and/or why he is shooting. And some are random.
My girlfriend dumped me for another guy and after a few lesser incidents, the shooter goes on the rampage and then shoots themselves.
Right after the Buffalo shooting, there were two shootings in Texas. And then right after that, two shootings in North Carolina. The only reason why no one gives a damn is that these were typical shootings (as if a shooting incident is typical, right?).
No speeches were given. No thoughts and prayers. No one said a word. This was not an opportunity to score political points. As the great Chicago philosopher, Rahm Emanuel once said — every crisis is an opportunity. The killing of children by a maniac is a crisis. Speak.
The Culture
When President Ronald Reagan bombed Libya in 1983and killed Libyan President, Muammar Qaddafi’s daughter, the poet, Kenneth Carroll called it a “drive-by.” That is the street violence terminology for shooting people from a car driving by a house or through a community.
You kill random people or anyone and place yourself in minimal danger. Years later, the U.S., under President Obama, along with NATO, pulled multiple drive-by bombings on Libya.
That is what the American military does. The U.S. unilaterally bombs other countries or just invades. This sends a message. This is how we roll. This is who we are. This is the culture of America. Yes, war is a racket, but it is the culture.
We teach our children that is okay to settle disputes with mass murder with these violent attacks. Historically, this is what we have done. Our leaders do it, all of them — why not me? Children learn from our actions. They grow up in this culture of guns and violence. They grow up and read about this.
So, things are violent and destructive — yes. But, this is the exact result one can expect in a country, full of guns, the absolute freedom to possess guns anytime anywhere, and the commitment to violence by the country’s leadership in the country’s imperial affairs. “Same as it ever was…”
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Previously Published on Medium
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