There was a time, long ago before my eyes starting going bad and when foolishness was that bit of mischief all of us get into whether someone is there to see it or not, and that our parents secretly laugh about because it was the same stuff they did.
I was Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid or Wyatt Earp with my bb-gun. No, I didn’t have a Red Rider, I had a Crossman! And, I was a wiz, the terror of chipmunks everywhere. And, of course, me and my friend Benny had bb-gun fights, but we had a rule: no shooting in the face.
Some of you who have read my past writings are not surprised by this, but some of you may for the first time realize that yes, the boy is that dumb. And you have also recognized that this is, yes, another post on the demise of Charlie Kirk by someone who mistakenly believed a gun would solve his problems.
As I grew older I advanced my gun ownership advanced to a Marlin 22, then later to an older 30-06. I liked guns – until one day I realized that gun could solve all my problems, all my days of hatred, loneliness, my want to be different than what I was. One simple pull of one simple finger…
Dad talks of a time when he was in school and was part of an after-school gun club. He would get on the school bus with his gun and take it to school for his after hours activities. I remember when I took my hunter safety courses as a kid. Guns then were a tool; it was how we went hunting, sport targets, and in extreme moments perhaps, personal safety. Somehow they have gone beyond this. Now there are magazines by the truck-load telling us how we need a personal protection weapon as they peddle fear. Our politicians aren’t talking about how we need to deal with the issues that people think they need a gun to help them, but how they have the right to guns and how great and cool guns are.
I guess I’m a horrible person, because I just couldn’t really care less that Kirk is gone. He wasn’t an innocent by any stretch of the word. He advocated hate, he advocated second-class citizenry for those he didn’t like, he advocated for the right of the government to limit the rights of others that he didn’t like, and he even advocated for the loss of life so the importance of keeping his gun rights could be underscored. He advocated for the very scenerio that took his life, in a crushing bit of sad irony.
Who I do care about are those small children in that Catholic School who were shot while praying. No one flew them home on Air Force 2. I didn’t see Cenk Uygur crying for them! I didn’t the sitting republican party politicians calling out in outrage. I didn’t see fucking drumpf demanding retribution for the victims of the Colorado High School that happened that very same day! Somehow seeing one of their own shot was a bridge too far and little innocent children was not. And now, seeing that the shooter was a cis white male maga son of a cop, there went their favorite scape-goat that he was a plant of the Democrats.
But, evidently the nra checks cleared because I’m not seeing any hopeful measures to limit guns to ANYONE! Oh, let me take that back – drumpf wants to limit guns to the Trans community. Haven’t heard from the nra about the atrocity of such a statement yet…?
I once asked myself just what it would take before our children and young people became more important than our guns. I wondered what would it finally be to get people to demand that there be no more. Then I realized that the fear, the anger, the hatred that has been generated has just made us all tense and numb to it all; we are forlorn to the realization that it will never change because those in power are all too willing to sacrifice everything we care deeply about and even one of their corrupt mouthpieces to the money and power that death brings them.
Scottie's Playtime 
Charlie Kirk got what so many unpleasant people get, only much more effectively. I’m sorry when anyone gets shot that way, but many times they really set themselves up for it.
As long as there are going to be people (good bad or ugly) speechifying in public, there are going to be people with guns trying to shut them up. It works that way.
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I am afraid so. He wasn’t the first. He will not be the last. Despite the Conspiracy fans’ notions the killers will follow the same pattern, alienated individuals with a grudge or fear that overrides all balance.
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Hi Determined- I was thinking on that a while ago talking with a coworker who advocated civil war. I laughed and told him that wars rarely go the way the people think they will. Reigns change, people get ousted with lead, it’s rarely a simple change of ways. And yet, hate and fear and every negativity seems to poor out of this guy’s face. Makes me wonder what drives these people.
Thanks!
Randy
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Hi Randy
Regrading your co-worker I’m with you there. A case of ‘Careful what you wish for’.
I fear there are some in the USA have a delusion that it would be a sort of repeat of the ‘The’ Civil War, everyone sings their favourite old songs and go marching off….
No,
Think Northern Ireland 1967-1999, long drawn out ugly urban warfare when in-fighting was a bloody feature, triple cross a common tactic, IED being finessed, civilians a target as well as anyone in a uniform or politics.
Or considering the size and variety of races, cultures and outlooks, think Lebanon 1975-90
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_armed_groups_in_the_Lebanese_Civil_War
What drives people on?
That’s worth a post or two.
It’s been around for thousands of years and we still have not learnt that in the long run- just doesn’t make for stability.
Take Care
Roger
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“It works that way.” I think you will find that it really only works that way in the USA. Sure we have people (good bad or ugly) speechifying in public (some even like Charlie Kirk), and no doubt there’s some people who might like to shut them up. Notice what’s missing from the recipe? Guns.
It doesn’t have to be that way. But America’s collective choice is to value guns above all else – even free speech.
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Hi Barry. You are right. People like to comment that other parts of the world are violent. You can get punched, even stabbed… but rarely do we see multiple people shot. And, like you say – we somehow have managed to put a high value on a low value object.
Thanks!
Randy
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Hi Judy; I was thinking about that. The number of famous people shot – some who were trying their best to make a better world and others, well, who were trying their best to make THEIR world better. It is so rare that the hate mongers reap the hate. Still, I can’t help but to wonder if the issue for us is less reap what you sow than the attitude Americans have about guns. But, like you said… here, it just does seem to work that way.
Thanks
Randy
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This is well written, and well said. I didn’t push the Like button only because I’m anti-gun, avowed non-violent, blahblahblah. But this is well written and well said, blundersonword.
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Now that is balance Ali. Well written.
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Hi Ali. Thank you. I sometimes find myself confused – how do I show appreciation for something that shouldn’t be “liked” because while the person touched my heart, it was about something that should just not be like-able.
I’m heading out of town in the next few minutes… but I can read any comments posted, just can’t reply.
Thank you for yours!
Randy
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🌞
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Not a horrible person at all. Simply one human being with human reactions. The bottom line is to you embrace those reactions or do you seek to control them?
This post indicates control, while still addressing the basic issue. Too many guns in a nation too ‘hepped’ up too many extremists.
Take care you folk.
Roger (UK)
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Hi Roger (determined-); I never knew your given name, so thank you. Yeah, we are struggling with the cult of idiocracy here, and damned if I can understand how we are in this particular position. I’m angry seeing the freedom and other values I hold dear abused by a shallow, short-sighted voter base that thinks “doing nothing” is the same as actually doing nothing, so they opted for flash and chaos? Yeah, this populace is like dealing with middle-schoolers. I find myself unable to render real concern for those who beg for the problems to occur.
Thanks!
Randy
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Hi Again Randy.
Somewhere along the line this was ever a possibility. Most nations’ histories indicate they will go through this tension and disruption at least once.
In this the USA is not unique. Aside from it being very big and five time zones, the factors are common enough. Unresolved ethnic and social divides, religions and politics blurred, the gilded age never going away.
Of course there were always choices which could have led to a healthier, more tolerant and progressive society. The underlying fault line being that Intolerance and Hate never sleep while Progress and Tolerance need constant attention. not Complacency and ‘Oh it will sort itself out’ while indulging in issues that are not basic to the solidarity of the nation.
Not that this is currently unique to the USA. Today maybe 100,000 people attended a rally in London organised by the Far Right; The UK activist Left and Liberals mostly stayed away.
France, Germany, Italy and smaller European nations have swathes of the population which have forgotten the lessons of WWII.
The only thing going for us is we don’t have as many private firearms (Switzerland doesn’t count because of strict regulation and a very low crime rate) .
No one seems to get the lesson that violence does not make for a stable society, the prevalent lines of thought being ‘Yeah, well we have to get them before they get us’ and ‘This time we’ll do it right,’
Terminal Stupidity a disease that as been around Humanity for thousands of years. How we got to a population of 8 billions, I just can’t figure.
Take care
Roger
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