Again?!?!

 

It has happened again. 

 

Last night, another incident of the insanity of gun violence gripped this nation.

 

This time, the attack occurred at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills. At this writing, two are reported dead. One has been seriously injured. 

 

Today is the seventh anniversary of the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

There was a deadly mass shooting last month at a Taiwanese church service in Southern California -- along with mass shootings at an elementary school in Texas and a New York supermarket.

 

The shooter is in custody and it is reported that he is described as being a "lone suspect" so the rest of the community is, as the police are reporting, "safe." 

 

"Lone shooter" of course, is code for a Caucasian male who - we have absolutely no doubt - suffers from mental illness.

 

In the infamous words of Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears of Virginia, in her speech at last month's NRA Convention, there is a range of social factors to explain why young white men are mass murderers, from lack of prayer in schools to “emasculated” men and pandemic safety protocols.

 

Anything but guns. Because, you know, guns don't kill people, people kill people. 

 

At that same convention, before speaking to the N.R.A., Ted Cruz said schools should have only one entry point, with an armed guard. 

 

Guns don’t kill people. Doors do. 

 

Want to know why this keeps happening? That's why. It's the If/then of the "transitive law of logic". “If a is equal to b and b is equal to c, then a is equal to c.” 

 

Which works in some relationships but not all, because if Mary is the daughter of Jane and Jane is the daughter of Alice, Mary cannot be the daughter of Alice. 

 

But, that kind of logic escapes those who, when challenged, will just smile and say, "Second amendment, baby!'

 

Well, FFS, the founders were talking about musket balls while Ben Franklin was just "discovering" electricity and no one had indoor plumbing. They were not talking about 13.3 damn bullets per second or AR-15s that are capable of decapitating a 10-year-old body being shot by an 18-year-old boy. 

 

It also keeps happening because we have elected jellyfish to represent us in Congress - on both sides of the aisle. 

 

Maureen Dowd recently wrote: "The political debates here are empty and soulless, with Democrats dodging the issue and Republicans hardening even on mild proposals like requiring universal background checks, which has overwhelming public approval."

 

She also wrote: "The Republicans are doing everything they can to stop women from having control over their own bodies and doing nothing to stop the carnage against kids; they may as well change the party symbol from an elephant to an AR-15".

 

It breaks every law of logic because it's not about reason or public safety. It's about greed and power. 

 

When this nation is determined to become 'pro life' instead of 'pro fetus' and 'pro guns' we may be able to stop the carnage.

 

As for me and my house of worship, we are hosting an Active Shooter Session right after church on Sunday, June 26th. 

 

Officer Tyndale of the Georgetown Police Department is coming to help us understand what we can do to protect ourselves and each other should anything like that happen in our church. Or a local supermarket. 

 

Or in a parking lot. 

 

 

Or any place else a "lone shooter" might decide to unleash the insanity caused by his emasculation which had been driven to the breaking point by COVID protocols. 

 

Or, doors. 

 

Let us pray for our brothers and sisters at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Pray for those who have died and pray for all those who grieve. 

 

And then, let us pray for the spirit of Mother Jones to infect our hearts with her words, "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."

 

It's the only logic that makes sense to me.