Tony Bouza
BY TONY BOUZA
We are the only Western country that regularly awakens to news of slaughters of our children by idiots with ridiculously easy access to all forms of firearms. In the aftermath of these awful and preventable events (we do regulate and license vehicles and a lot of other things), the leaders emerge, shed crocodile tears and remain firmly wedded to the National Rifle Association, which has never paid much attention to its middle name.
And, oh yes, there is the Second Amendment, and its universal permission to bear arms. Only it ain’t so.
The Second Amendment refers to “a well regulated militia” and allows it the right. It is a stretch characteristic of the whole debate that Americans have been persuaded the law applies to them rather than a militia. We pay a fearsome price for indulging such fantasies.
I came from a state with tough gun control laws but lots of shootings—with guns bought, stolen or put together from elsewhere. Only national legislation and controls can work. Tough regional laws enable the NRA to argue they don’t work.
If you want to murder a clutch of babies in China—or practically anywhere else on the planet—you’ve got to get an ax.
I was once president of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence (1997), and, predictably, got fired after three months for something I said on the Today Show—but not about guns (rather, it was about George H.W. Bush and Colin Powell).
In 1994 I ran for statewide office. Overnight, literally, my campaign crashed and vanished because I said we “needed to confiscate unlicensed handguns.” Yes, I was that stupid—but my hands were unstained by kids’ deaths. Quite frankly, I’d unhesitatingly do it all over again.
Those sanctimoniously appearing before the klieg lights, wringing agonized hands, will be complicit in any tragedy they’re deploring. The only newly recruited advocates for gun controls will be the parents of the dead kids.
The nation pays a terrible price for indulging its myths, lies, conspiracies and racist fantasies. The German people paid a ghastly price for embracing (yes, figuratively, hugging) Adolf Hitler. Such fantasies don’t come cheap.
Our babies are murdered because we love our guns. We are as much to blame as those adoring flag-wavers cheering The Fuhrer. In the end they harvested an awful crop—sowed by adoring fans and reaped by an avenging Russian army.
The NRA celebrated its conclave only days and a few miles away from the recent Texas tragedy. The leaders usually lavishing praise and love had to be damned circumspect. Hypocrisy comes easily to these folks.
In the end, truth and justice prevail, and lies and conspiracies exact their tolls. How those Nazis loved it all, and how passionately do we cling to similar fantasies.
“There’s a roar ahead,” said the person paddling on the Niagara River. “I wonder what it is.”
