Guns and nonsense

Once again, headlines about shootings appear in the paper. It is a daily occurrence but who's paying attention? Maybe I do because I know how it feels to see the name of a loved one plastered all over the headlines and on every T.V. station. Why aren't we paying more attention? We are desensitized because of the enormous number of shootings every day. What kind of world do we live in when the reporter of this article in the Star Tribune can say this: " Despite a sobering night on the North Side, the number of shootings hasn't risen dramatically this year". This led off an article that chronicled a night when seven shootings took place in the same number of hours!

There are days when I despair at our lack of concern over headlines such as these. And I despair over politicians posturing and actually believing in their own nonsense. That is what our love affair with guns has done to us. A friend calls this "gundamentalism". She's right. What else to call it when United States Senator Charles Grassley ( R-Iowa) appeared to be wanting Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to admit that the rights "guaranteed" in the Second Amendment was written before the Constitution. How is this possible? What Senator Grassley seemed to believe, and wanted Kagan and the rest of us to believe, was that the right to bear arms was actually created by God. No kidding. Here is a video of the Kagan hearings yesterday featuring Grassley's questioning. Nonsense. Who called Grassley out for saying this? No one on the Judiciary Committee. But Elena Kagan looked confused and had a hard time even answering this question. One could tell that she would have liked to challenge the Senator but, given that we must defer to the powerful and "knowledgable" honorable U.S. Senators, that was not possible.

So this is just one of the ridiculous statements made at the hearings. Along with the Supreme Court's ruling in the Heller and McDonald cases and the response from the NRA whose leadership believes they can now challenge even sensible state gun laws, nonsense prevails. Why does the country allow this to continue? For the most part, the media gives these people a pass. As long as they do, nonsense will prevail. I could go on and on but enough said for now.