I began a new adventure this week. I am co-hosting a radio talk show with my friend Liz Gabert once a month, and the show is called SW Meets NE…On the Right! Liz is a proud native of Texas, and I am a true blue New Englander. We blend our Right-leaning thoughts into a one-hour show. Here is the YouTube link for our pilot show this week.
Our topic was the Second Amendment and the impact that the recent mass shootings have had on an all-out assault on our gun rights. It was an interesting conversation about the misnomer “assault rifles,” age restrictions on purchasing AR15 rifles, more extended wait period on background checks, and the fact that no changes in any laws will make an iota of difference in illegal shootings. People who commit crimes do not reference the laws before they act. Period.
Two things we need to do is find ways to identify potential shooters by monitoring Social Media for people to predict their actions and by each of us being more aware of what is happening around us. We need to sharpen our senses for real issues that are potentially dangerous. We need to have the courage to speak up when we see a situation that may escalate. This second task is not easy, for we all see and hear things we blow off as noise.
We always see the trail left by a mass shooter after the fact and wonder how we missed it. We must close the gap, find these crumbs, and prevent a situation where we all say, how did this happen.
We had a dynamic guest on-air during our show. Keith Hanson of Critical-Dynamics is a radio talk show host, a gun advocate, and a gun use trainer. Keith was well versed in the mental illness aspect of mass shootings and the impact of stabilizing drugs given to children in adolescence.
In Keith’s opinion, and backed by U.S. government statistics, these drugs used at an early age is the common denominator in 89%. That is a number that should motivate an investigation into this excessive use of medication and be able to correlate a pattern in potential mass assault perpetrators. To think this would be logical, but you would be wrong. The narrative that people want to push is guns and the need to restrict the purchase and use of all handguns. This is the “it’s the gun, stupid” mentality and is short-sighted.
The gun is to blame as much as General Motors for a car accident. The gun and the car are inanimate objects, and in the hands of a drunk driver or a mass shooter, either could be deadly. Law-abiding individuals use either millions of times a day and deserve the right to use it. That right should not be infringed upon because there are evil people in this world.
Evil people pay no attention to laws, no matter how many or how restrictive. Period. That thought may be redundant in this writing, but it is that important.
Until politicians get themselves past this narrow thinking, these shootings will unfortunately continue. The other fact to remember is we only hear about the most deadly shootings because body counts sell. There have been nearly 30 school shootings this year in America. That is in just the first half of the year. Do you now think it might be time to examine childhood drug use. You’re damn right it is.
