Jobs, Money, Pride

 Divided America

Do you see a beautiful woodland with colored leaves in this picture? Or alternatively, do you see a possible place to hunt?

Listening to an NPR show yesterday, a light bulb flashed on in my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about a certain speaker's words. Paul Theroux was talking about guns shows and not in the most flattering terms, and I liked what he said. The segment is linked here. 

Theroux claimed the reason gun shows are popular can't just explained away by saying that they sell guns. These days, anyone with an internet connection can easily buy guns and ammunition. 

The reason gun shows are popular is that they function as social events and encourage camaraderie and shared interests. More than that, Theroux said that gun shows are for those who have had something taken away, jobs, money, and pride in America. I would add that pushing out foreigners and anyone different is likely another goal. 

I often wonder why gun shows aren't just closed down in America if the government is serious about gun control. The chances of that happening are incredibly slim as politicians continue to cave as they always have to the National Rifle Association and have successfully squashed any popular concerns and calls to end gun shows. Politicians are obviously more worried about their own chances of re-election than they are about the slim chance they might be shot the same way as was Gabrielle Giffords. To me, keeping gun shows in business is a glaring sign of spineless weakness of politicians. They are continually turning away and ignoring with total impunity an opposing segment of society, the slice that agrees with me, that wants gun shows to end.

After Gabrielle Giffords was shot, I hoped the message would get through to politicians and society, but the carnage at movie theaters and schools continues, and yesterday at the L.A. airport. These craven outbursts by the violently insane are not the blaring signals of a strong healthy society to the outside world. Instead they are all testamentary evidence to the horrible neglect of a government to take decisive action on an essential lifesaving initiative that would save thousands upon thousands of American lives. The government was shut down last month, and it remains so as far as saving lives with gun control is concerned. I'm sad about that.

Why do you think politicians will not take action?