That one line sums up better than anything else I have seen both why gun control is necessary and why it will not happen.
The line comes from a Guardian piece, the Guardian being the one news outlet that seems to be covering the US guncopolypse better than anyone else ... which I guess makes sense because to an American what looks logical, to any rational outsider looks bat shit crazy.
The horror that unfolded in the next few minutes has become so mundane, so everyday, that it no longer makes national news. Terhune was marching headlong into the 1,000th mass shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre almost three years ago.
Which brings us back to the quotation that serves as the title of this diary - two conflicting paths that will never be able to cross, and the fundamental rot at the heart of American society.
1. Where lots of folks have guns, one needs a gun to protect against anyone that might have a gun. (I need to have one, because they might have one)..
2. Violence (as opposed to deescalation)is the answer to solving problems.
It starts with a government with the world's largest military, a government that sees no problem torturing, no problem assassinating with drones, no problem with collateral damage.
I continues with a series of police forces that might as well be armies, armed to the teeth, marching into even routine drug arrests with overwhelming force. When you have this much firepower, the temptation is always to use it and ask questions later.
It continues with a media focused on fear 24/7. A friend of mine came back from the US saying even the weather forecasts seemed designed to instill fear at very turn. (Try watching a BBC forecast and compare it to a fox news forecast.).
It continues with an individualistic society where you are responsible for your own actions (it is never the environment that does it). So schools are not properly funded in poorer areas, leading to a lifetime of underperformance (to potential) for millions of citizens, which leads to more and more social problems, which leads to almost 1% of the population in jail at any time.
So any rational person would say ... heck it is scary as shit out there. I may not like it, but I need some way to protect myself from danger (real or imagined).
So ... although I can say I don't want a gun, I can not stop my neighbor from having one, and until someone steps in and acts like the adult in the room, there will be no change.
The problem of course is that even if an adult does step in, there are so many guns in circulation, and the police are so militarized, and the government still sees force as the solution .... that change is all but impossible.
I live in a place where guns are rare, where I can walk down the street and know that my chances of anyone pulling a gun on me are next to nil (and the chance of seeing a gun under open carry is non existent). It is nice. I feel safe. Yes, I feel safer when the other people do not have guns. Unfortunately across the border ... “I felt like I needed it. It’s crazy. People will shoot you for anything, these days.”
As much as I wish it were not so, gun control will not work in the US. What is required is change at the top, a move away from a "bomb everything" solution to solving world problems, a move to shrink the military, a move to focus on existing veterans and on creating fewer new veterans, a fundamental change in culture ... and that ain't easy.