Enough Is Never Enough: Idiot Public Policy and Guns

We’re long passed the stage of being surprised at breaking news on cable TV announcing there’s been yet another mass shooting. Mass murders featuring guns are now part of the national wallpaper as a major political party with decreasing policy interest works hard at ignoring mass slaughter.

Witness the same lame robotic after-slaughter talking points to reporters. Despite it all, no one should forget how deranged the current state of play is regarding guns in America. That Republicans work as hard as possible to make us forget as soon as possible is a massive tell.

That mass murder has become so blasé that the current Governor of Virginia and his staff couldn’t be bothered to even wake up and tweet the basic “we’re monitoring the situation” message shortly after the second mass gun slaughter in ten days speaks volumes. When you create idiot public policy you can’t explain, and then those failing irrational policies bite you in the ass, your only choice is to ignore the failed results and wait for the news cycle to change.

That three students aged 22, 22 and 20 were murdered in cold blood at Virginia’s flagship University — their lives ended in seconds by a gun doesn’t appear to be altering the calculus. The after slaughter ritual is locked in: Shock, outrage, memorial, funeral. At least the left can argue they’ve tried. What are Republicans doing?

Gun policy has been adrift for years — our elected officials, specifically on the right — are as well. They’re now hiding behind a wall of airhead talking points on mental illness, crime and empty statements offering “thoughts and prayers.” But there’s an undeniable fact: The U.S. leads the world in gun homicides, gun ownership and mass gun violence. Only someone brain dead would conclude that the number of guns in the U.S. is unrelated to the acceleration in death.

“This is a stark reminder of senseless violent crime and so much of it is really a moment to reflect on the state of mind of America and Virginia,” said Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin at a media avail outside a food bank in Richmond, Va. OK let’s reflect: There have been over 600 mass murders in America in 2022 with no end in sight.

That Youngkin avoids the words “guns” or “shooting” in all public statements speaks volumes about the power of the NRA over a grown adults in positions of power who are scared to cross an organization with blood on its hands. All the money and power in the world can’t create courage.

The U.S. allows almost anyone to obtain AR-15 style weapons. For what? All for no logical reason anyone in public office can articulate. The media has all but thrown up their hands and has stopped asking elected officials how they can justify the need for weapons of war in private hands. The media isn’t bothering to ask Youngkin how current policy can be justified in the wake of two mass murders in ten days in Virginia.

Whether it’s Sandy Hook, Uvalde, UVA or Chesapeake someone should have to explain. As Moms Demand Action founder wrote on twitter today on Youngkin: At a forum last year, when NRA-lifetime member Glenn Youngkin was asked what gun safety measures he would support if elected governor, he replied, “I think we need to be fully clear: none.”

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