Thursday, April 18, 2013

What hope now, America?

Yesterday the USA Senate rejected President Obama's initiative to take a more serious look at 'gun controls.' These proposals were hardly radical, just a tweaking to take away some of the worst aspects of the right of US citizens to have unbridled access to guns and other issues around multiple magazines etc.. Anyone sane should have been able to see that his actions were not an all out attack on their special right to bear arms. Indeed, I doubt that much would have changed, but at least it signalled  that the President wants to make the USA safer.
 It appears that the various lobby groups and the scare tactics used have influenced the Senate. This is most disturbing and as  result we can expect to see more headlines about deaths of people which are the direct result of guns being in the hands of individuals (and groups) who I wouldn't trust with a pitchfork! I know, no amount of legislation will totally protect people from the acts of criminals or those on the 'fringe.'
Combine the USA's large population and the ingrained thought processes that go along with gun ownership, the history of 'nation making,' that incorporated guns as a fulcrum, add in the criminal underclass and you have a potent mix. Now add the myths that accompanied  much of the film and entertainment industry and the resulting 'nowness' of guns in American society then you have all the ingredients for a society beset with weapons and a means of using them on one another. Unfortunately, counterbalancing responsible owners you have so many others who flout, exploit and use guns for reasons that border on psychopathic and criminal purposes. Then you have groups that stand up and politicize the ownership issue in ways that have entrenched guns as an infallible right. Time and technology have 'multiplied' the ramifications of gun ownership, leaving us with the situation we now see in the USA. Other than 'failed states,' no other country witnesses such carnage on the streets and in the homes of its people. Yes, Mr President, you have every right to be angry with your narrow-minded Senate.

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