Unheralded

PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — A Crisis Of Selfishness

It’s the same response every time. “We need to arm teachers. We need more police at school. We need to focus on mental illness,” which stigmatizes mental illness, as opposed to focusing on the real issues. It’s never “Maybe there is no reason to EVER have an AR-15 that isn’t about personal pleasure”  or  “18-year-old kids shouldn’t be able to buy guns” or “we need universal background checks and red flag laws.”

Ross Elementary had a school resource officer who was unable to take down the gunman in part because of the kind of weapon he had — and it took considerable backup to finally end the slaughter.

Say what you will, the crisis of shooting in our schools is at it’s core a crisis of selfishness by people who cling to their “right” to have an assault weapon whose only purpose is to shatter and destroy. I’ve heard people talk about how they have a right to have them because they are “fun” to shoot.  My question is, at what cost? There is no way this would have happened the way if did if gun culture in a state that claims to be “pro-life” didn’t prioritize personal pleasure over community safety.

It’s about worshiping a false idol at all costs. And right now, the cost are the lives of little children. It won’t stop until we attack the core selfishness at the root of it all and ask those who refuse to ban assault weapons if their right to have fun is more important than the right of children to go to school without fear.





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