It has been only three weeks since 14-year old Colt Gray, whose irresponsible father gifted him an AR-15 assault rifle, walked into Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and took the lives and futures of two students and two teachers while also injuring nine others.
Ho hum.
Consumed with the presidential election and the misplaced importance of headlining every Trump lunacy and lie, the media has quickly forgotten the unbearable human tragedy of the Georgia massacre and the larger national malignancy it represents. Instead, we get 24/7 coverage of Trump’s and JD Vance’s venomous falsehoods about pet-devouring legal immigrants and all the other insane clown shows and conspiracies these two dictatorial wannabes spew forth every time they open their mouths.
Enough already. We know who these spiteful villains are. We do not have to be reminded daily about their vulgarity and vileness. Similarly, we do not need to be retold incessantly that Kamala Harris needs to be more specific about her policy proposals (the mother of all false equivalencies given Trump’s lack of any coherent policies whatsoever…aside from the nefarious Project 2025).
At least some ink and broadcast language ought to address the escalating national crisis exemplified by what happened in Georgia. The media should focus some attention on why this latest slaughter happened and how it could have been avoided:
Also, at the national level:
Republicans freak out whenever sane gun laws are under consideration. They much prefer banning books to guns. Trump, Vance, Georgia lawmakers, congressional Republicans and Supreme Court extremists: you have blood on your hands.
Dick Hermann
September 29, 2024
Ho hum.
Consumed with the presidential election and the misplaced importance of headlining every Trump lunacy and lie, the media has quickly forgotten the unbearable human tragedy of the Georgia massacre and the larger national malignancy it represents. Instead, we get 24/7 coverage of Trump’s and JD Vance’s venomous falsehoods about pet-devouring legal immigrants and all the other insane clown shows and conspiracies these two dictatorial wannabes spew forth every time they open their mouths.
Enough already. We know who these spiteful villains are. We do not have to be reminded daily about their vulgarity and vileness. Similarly, we do not need to be retold incessantly that Kamala Harris needs to be more specific about her policy proposals (the mother of all false equivalencies given Trump’s lack of any coherent policies whatsoever…aside from the nefarious Project 2025).
At least some ink and broadcast language ought to address the escalating national crisis exemplified by what happened in Georgia. The media should focus some attention on why this latest slaughter happened and how it could have been avoided:
- Georgia does not have a safe storage law. Just weeks before the shooting, Republican state legislators rejected a bill that would have given a $300 tax credit to gun owners who purchase safes.
- The sale of assault-style rifles is legal in Georgia. Buyers don’t need a permit, nor do they have to take a gun safety course.
- Georgia does not require universal background checks.
- Georgia lacks a red flag law. About half the states authorize a judge to order the temporary confiscation of a firearm if law enforcement or, in some cases, a family member, warns about a person’s credible risk to do harm. Red flag laws have reduced intimate partner violence, suicide attempts and plans for mass shootings.
- Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a 2022 law that allows most Georgians to carry a firearm without a concealed carry permit.
- Republicans in control of Georgia’s state government have steadily loosened restrictions on firearm ownership in recent years.
Also, at the national level:
- Congressional Republicans oppose a national red flag law.
- House Republicans recently voted down increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives to more aggressively go after gun violence.
- The Supreme Court’s extreme right-wing ideologues contort themselves into murderous pretzels in order to interpret the Second Amendment in denial of its plain English text. The Court ignored the dependent clause that begins the Second Amendment in order to proclaim that it means that any individual has a right to tote a weapon that can kill people.
Republicans freak out whenever sane gun laws are under consideration. They much prefer banning books to guns. Trump, Vance, Georgia lawmakers, congressional Republicans and Supreme Court extremists: you have blood on your hands.
Dick Hermann
September 29, 2024
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