The Business of Carnage

I've been seeing some reports of people calling the FBI inept, corrupt and other names for failing to connect the dots in the recent Florida school shooting. Personally, I think it is just an attempt to deflect growing criticism of gun laws that do nothing to ameliorate gun attacks in schools and elsewhere and may actually provide greater opportunity for those attacks. Upon consideration of the criticism of the FBI it seems that perhaps the expectation is too great. Consider, in a nation that has some 300 million weapons that are only limited by the ban on automatic weapons we ask a law enforcement agency to sift through the thousands of tips they receive and determine which ones are likely to proceed to attacks. This without doing the kind of surveillance that the FBI is accused of doing right now for political purposes. How would you feel if out of the blue the FBI came knocking at your door asking questions about your weapons, political leanings and governmental philosophy? Given the spate of “swatting” in which someone calls in on 911 and says there is gunfire at a residence and the SWAT team shows up and knocks your door in just think how mere accusation could lead to remonstrance and demonstration against you.

Yes, it does seem that the FBI missed the boat on this one but can we really expect them to do that job well in a populace that effectively has no gun prohibitions or is that just a way to shift blame from ourselves to a faceless governmental agency? I suggest the latter.  

Polling shows that a majority of Americans realize that some form of gun regulation is necessary but there is still a large segment that is unnaturally attached to their guns without logical reason. Nobody is suggesting that we make private possession of weapons illegal. What we are suggesting is that there is no reasonable civilian reason to possess some types of firearms. In reality those that are referred to as assault weapons are

little different from other semi-automatic weapons. What makes them different is their capability of firing dozens of rounds before reloading. Some hunting rifles do this. Most semi-automatic handguns have a 9 shot magazine which may be too large. I suggest limiting rifle magazines to 5 rounds. My 30/30 rifle holds 5 rounds and each round must be individually loaded into an interior magazine. I can't do that in less that a couple of minutes which is an eternity in a school shooting. Even at that this is the type of weapon that was used in the Texas Tower Shooting 50 or so years ago. Some Glocks have extended magazines that hold 22 rounds. This is the weapon that was used to shoot Congressman Giffords and kill several in Arizona. That's just crazy. There is no rational reason for that kind of murderous capacity. These kinds of things can be limited and still allow people to own their precious weapons.

The only thing that is really going to do the trick is to decrease the number of available weapons. “If we prohibit guns then only the bad guys will have guns!” Even this is not a perfect solution. To decrease the number of weapons we are going to have to realize that it is not going to happen overnight. It will take years for weapons laws to have the desired effect of reducing guns but it is a beginning. Gun laws can immediately reduce the number of weapons being bought and, over time, remove them from the clutches of the bad guys. Look at this for a minute. It is not criminals that are perpetrating the carnage. It is the people that we encounter at Kroger or the mall. It is the kid that your kid knows. Who knows what goes on the mind of the mass murderer? They look like us.  The shooter and attorney.

Be sensible! We are going to have to have a multi-pronged approach. Limits on magazines, tracking ammunition the way we would track guns, better insight into the mind of a mass murderer and better regulation of gun purchases. The gun manufacturers will howl but this is about their business model.

They have to sell guns to make money and therein lies one of the problems. The gun manufacturers are the chief source of funding for the NRA which is a major donor to political campaigns. It is a death lobby and our representatives are complicit in perpetrating the carnage. Eventually it is us. Can we be trusted to put the welfare of our country and our children ahead of our own passions and desires? Can we be rational and accept that there are some weapons that we just don't need? For the sake of our country and our sanity.

My Take is that a lot of people are delusional and will not do the serious thinking about this issue. They will prefer to allow their infatuation with tools of death to sway their intellect.

Willie Nelson: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize

Willie Nelson: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize: Rosanne Cash, Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, Alison Krauss, Raul Malo, Neil Young, and more pay tribute to singer and songwriter Willie Nelson, the 2015 recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.



Well, I have to admit that Willie has lived long enough and written so many winners that he deserved this award.  The various stars that sang his classics was pretty good too.  And Don Was thumped along on his bass and the McCrory Sisters did their usual tremendous job at harmonies and backup.  I did wonder where Buddy Miller and Ry Cooder were.

 I realize that the Gershwin Award is not some rock 'n' roll type thing but I thought it might be something like the Kennedy Center Honors or maybe one of those invites to the White House like they had for Led Zeppelin and The Eagles but this was a more sedate bunch.  Some of them knew the songs and a few sang with Pancho and Lefty but I think I know what the problem was.  They were Republicans.



Before you go off on me just watch the thing and look at the crowd.  I spotted Rand Paul and there was another guy who is (was) one of those White House people.  Maybe Papadopolous.  But you could just tell.  They all sat there very politely and I didn't see a one who looked like he might have toked up one before coming in.  A crowd of Democrats will jump up and clap and shout but Republicans are afraid someone might see them having a good time although I did see some of the ladies get almost tearful to "Night Life" and a couple of those other Willie songs that he wrote for Ray Price or someone. To be truthful, Willie looked a little out of place.  I'm thinking they might not have even let him burn one before the show.  Even Neil Young was strangely reserved.



I knew that once President Obama was gone that we wouldn't see any more good music from DC.  Elvis has left the building.  But don't get too down.  Just vote, remember the music.