“I want to express my condolences,” “My thoughts are with you at this terrible time,” “My condolences to all of the victims and their families,” “let’s not politicize this situation at this tragic time,” “let’s not jump to any conclusions about the cause of the shooting.” Does it sound familiar?
Those are the words of dozens of spineless politicians every time some gunman kills numerous innocent Americans with a rapid-fire machine gun.
There is no doubt that America tops all of the countries throughout the world when it comes to the mass murder of people at public schools, hotels and airports.
By one estimate there have been school shootings every four days and over 60 since January 1.
The response to these tragedies by the Republican leaders of this country continues to be almost a carbon copy of senseless indifference to the loss of life that dominates our daily headlines.
To show how hard it is to get the elected leaders of our country to understand the gravity of the situation we face, President Trump in his rare expression of condolences, took the time to somehow blame the surrounding community for failing to detect that the issues that were troubling this deranged person.
But, the President has continued allegiance to the National Rifle Association was topped by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who looked like a deer in the headlights when he was interviewed by the various media outlets.
Rubio who has an A-plus rating from the NRA, tried to duck the failures of his party by suggesting that we don’t have all of the facts and that legislation would not cure the causes of this latest horror show.
Rubio represents the people of Florida who just witnessed their children and teachers being mowed down and somehow he couldn’t find the words to say that maybe better background checks, supported by 94 percent of Americans, are the legislative answer.
In this case as in many others, a real background check might have discovered the fact that the alleged shooter was under treatment for emotional issues and he wouldn’t be able to easily obtain an assault rifle.
Somehow, “Little Marco” as the president called him, also fails to note that there is a need for a major change in the Florida laws when it comes to guns.
At this moment, doctors treating patients with emotional issues are prohibited from asking if they have access to guns. There are no restrictions on who can buy a gun and in fact, civilians can carry a gun on school property.
Gov. Rick Scott, who is planning a campaign for the U.S. Senate, also ignored the fact that a better background check law might have made a difference.
One thing should be clarified and that is I have no problems with people having access to a rifle or a handgun if a real screening took place.
But the powerful NRA has no interest in changing gun laws because the bulk of their revenues come from the gun manufacturers.
Every time we have a new mass murder, the NRA’s response is that if more people had guns in their possession there is a possibility that a shooting would be stopped.
Even President Trump has frequently stated that the answer to these killings could be arming more people as a preventative measure.
In 2016, the American Journal of Medicine published a study, which concluded that Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than people in any of the developed countries. We lead the world in gun violence deaths and for the past two years, we have had a dramatic increase in the number of gun casualties.
Even worse is the fact that we are the only country in the world with a record number of school shootings.
There is little doubt that the leaders in Congress will do nothing to correct the flaws in the current law.
Regrettably, more school shootings will take place as well as Las Vegas type mass murders by semi-automatic weapons.
So long as a substantial number of members of Congress are in the hip pocket of the NRA this great American tragedy will continue.
