It's like our nation is a grown child clinging to his blanky just because he's only ever grown up with it in his grip, even though he's well past blankie-bearing age and all our decent playpals in the global schoolground haven't used blankies in forever, don't miss them, and face vastly less blankie-related injuries as a result.
Fun Facts: I learned of this story little by little on Twitter, but had no idea what was going on until Saturday night, Japan time, once more less-cryptic Twitter posts emerged. When it became clear what happened, I could most succinctly describe it as unreal.
This comic came about from listening to the President's subsequent Unity speech and feeling anger that this could have been prevented if not been greatly lessened in severity had he actually meant that he had interest in doing all he could "to ensure the safety of all of our people." There was already a high-profile shooting he had to deal with before, and here we are again with another one. What gun laws have been changed in the interim?
Baa: I am incredulous and humbled that I haven't felt sad in a long, long time, and in fact, since moving to Japan I am the happiest I've ever been in my life, but I felt tears well up as I heard President Obama indicate that even children were entangled in the Colorado theater shooting.
I also felt anger towards the US, my homeland, for permitting this event to occur with its insane sanctity of guns. People act as if modifying the second amendment will somehow plunge us into some 1984 world, when there is clear, undeniable evidence across multiple countries with varied cultural fabrics--including famously the very country I am living in right now--that stricter gun laws means greater peace. Slaves were 3/5 a person until we decided that part of the Constitution was wrong, so we changed it. How blind or stubborn or idiotic are we that we can't come together as a country and agree that widespread gun legality is bad? I don't understand: there is no mystery, we can study these post-gun countries for concrete evidence, and then make an informed decision. Yes, there are unique cultural influences that also play into it--for instance Japan's culture runs on the idea that "we're all on the same team, don't be jerks to each other," whereas the US's culture is more based on the individual--but that doesn't mean it's a discriminating case. Pursuing stricter gun laws in the US should not be an impossibility or in any way an alien idea.
It is beyond me how we can still justify or succumb to those who justify widespread legal gun ownership in the US. I currently live in Japan where it is ridiculously safe. You can purchase guns here, but everything--guns and ammo--is registered with the police and you need a hunting license, the whole deal. I would say even that is too much, but at least it beats this absurd naivete we have in the US. Even if we simply must have guns, why can we not limit the kinds of guns that one person can purchase? The amount of ammunition? If we can limit the amount of alcohol one can have in his system, or limit the kinds of things one can ingest that affect only the user, why can we not limit the kinds of machinery that serves only to harm? How many guns does one person really need? How much ammo? It's like talking to a spoiled child. Guns are horrific and you should be ashamed of yourself for defending them.
I hope whoever sold the shooter his guns and ammunition bought something nice and shiny with the money from those sales. And I hope that if the thoughts of the people who died because of your life choices don't keep you up at night, then I hope that at least the glare off your shiny trinkets makes it just a little harder for you to find rest.
Reuxben
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