Another damn mass shooting. This time grade school kids. Nineteen little kids dead at the hands of a madman with a gun. My wife told me about it and my heart sank into my stomach.
I can hear the talking heads in the other room. Blah blah, something must be done. Blah blah, we mourn with Texas. Blah blah, there are too many guns. Blah blah, thoughts and freaking prayers.
I’m disgusted with this shit. I even said to myself something has to be done!! But what? Too many guns in the street now to make it go away. Too many “sign here Bubba” laws allowing beer swilling idiots, with little idiot kids (who may steal daddy’s gun and go to school,) to buy all the semi auto rifles and handguns they can get with their child tax credit refunds.
Fact: Guns used in crimes, are the vast majority, stolen guns from lawful owners.
Fact: We Americans own 46% of the guns in the entire world!
Fact: There are literally millions of guns here, in the wrong hands.
I was thinking, what the heck can be done? How the hell do you put this cat back in a bag? Then it hit me. The only way you will ever get Bubba to willingly let his guns go is this:
Pay Bubba 2x what the gun is worth! No questions asked.* Bubbas all over the country will line up and willingly sell off their guns. Maybe not all of the guns they have, but that guy with 50 guns might well sell of 30 or 40 of them. That guy who had car repairs last week and can’t make the rent might damn well sell off a few.
The only way to fix the issue of way too many guns, is get the guns off the streets, out of the hands of those that might use them. That’s on one end. The other end is the gov’t stepping in and restricting the amount of guns a person might own, the type of gun we can own (we don’t all need assault rifles ok?) And making it at least as difficult to get a gun as it is to vote in R strongholds.
Now we need the money. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big anybody! Here you go, an actual worthy cause to invest in. Can you say tax write off? Start lining up and putting some of that insane wealth to good use.
Of course the gov’t should also be a part of the system, monetarily, oversight, and operations.
You want to fix the problem? Get the guns. You want to get the guns willingly? Pay 2x what they are worth. I guarantee you people will line up to sell them off. Everybody needs money sooner or later. Everybody loves a good deal. Most of us want to see this issue addressed. Buy them up, melt them down, do something useful with the steel.
I know there have been gun buy backs in cities here and there. But I’m talking Country Wide. Going Big! I don’t see any other way short of jackboots hitting every county to attempt to root out the weapons. That would be disastrous on may levels. I’m telling you, pay Bubba for the gun, he will bring it willingly. Like I said, sooner or later, most of us need a little quick cash. Sure a few of those guys will sell some guns for the sole purpose of getting another one, but surely some of those guys have wives and children that matter more to them. Or a truck, a side by side, a four wheeler, or a boat they need to fix…
The only bad side effect I could foresee from something like this, is people all of a sudden stealing more guns to sell. But even that, as bad as it may be, would still be working toward the end goal. Making guns harder to come by.
*Up to a certain amount max.
**Well I went and did a search on the idea, it certainly isn’t new. But it does have serious potential. I did not know there were already gun buyback proposals among our more good sensed politicians. The fly in the ointment is the same old stick in the mud Congress critters who strive for $ they get from the status quo. We all know how that goes…
Even if such an endeavor could be undertaken, it would likely take years to see a drastic improvement, but slow progress is still progress. Right now, we need some progress. 19 families in Texas would no doubt agree. As well as hundreds more families, grieving from the already committed murders of their children, and the cold blooded murders that haven’t happened yet. The way things are going, give it a week or two. We will see more… And more. And more.
We need something done. Thoughts and prayers don’t cut it anymore. We can’t let let that B.S. stand!
One more thing, this goes beyond guns. Let’s address the kind of person that could sink so low as to gun down defenseless little children. Now I understand “normal” is a difficult standard in human beings, but the “abnormal” tend to stick out like a sore thumb. You can’t tell me someone didn’t know this person was a little off in some way. A little strange, a little odd, a little concerning. I can’t believe for a moment, anyone capable of such senseless murderous brutality hasn’t been recognized as having psycopathic or sociopathic behaviors. We need a better mental health safety net. I know from experience with family members both now and in the past how difficult is to get good help. If a person doesn’t have a public breakdown that leads to a court order to get help, they, once turned 18 years of age, have to be convinced to get help they they don’t think they need. It’s a goddamn nightmare. You cannot convince someone who needs help to get it, because they don’t see themselves as having issues. You wind up beating your head against the wall, trying to get loved ones the help they truly need. It is my opinion, that from this group of people, many of our mass shooters origininate. As truly, anyone “normal” would never see this type of behavior as acceptable in our society. We have to find these people. We have to get them help. The system needs fixing. Yesterday.
I don’t know the reputation of the site I found this, but it was an enlightening read:
The time to do something is long since past. Better late than never.
Evidence Based Reality 