Merchants Of Death

I don't know if this most recent mass shooter (the one in Roseburg, Oregon October 1, 2015 in case you're reading this several mass shootings later in the year) was mentally ill. There's a strong argument that he was just an asshole. You can argue that anybody who kills so many people, so casually is mentally ill but, quite a bit of planning goes into an act like this and I question how crazy he was. Mentally ill people can certainly be violent but I rather doubt they are very detail orientated, given to plotting and writing or typing out manifestos. You know who does that? Assholes do that.

After every mass shooting in America- after the ones that really grab the headlines and the cable news attention- the guns and ammo fans in politics always say we need to talk about mental illness rather than gun control. They represent the gun manufacturers and/or the NRA that represents the gun manufacturers and they are financially bound to not say bad things about the folks who make the product that pays for the safe private schooling of their kids. In 21st century conservative parlance, these congress persons and politicians have an obligation to their shareholders...

We're maybe one republican president away from that being an accepted fact in American politics, that the Koch's and corporations are the ones that spend their own money electing these people so, they have a right to tell them what to do. That is what Citizen's United was all about.

But, I digress. Enacting laws to make it easier to kill people and to kill as many people as possible is not crazy but, actually killing people is? One is lazy and the other is messy but both are equally evil. You could argue that both are crazy. I'll argue that the true mental illness is in the politicians and pundits who, with straight faces, defend the inanimate objects that are guns rather than the living, breathing Americans they allegedly represent. A Trump, a Huckabee or a Hannity are all legitimately fucked in the head when they blanketly defend guns or the archaic, poorly interpreted Second Amendment. But, is that mental illness or are they just assholes? They all profit from guns so you could say that they'd be crazy to not blindly support all things gun. Even if a republican congress person doesn't directly receive money from the NRA, he or she better love guns if they want to remain a congress person. A republican congressman may not be on the NRA payroll but if he comes out in favor of gun legislation then he's quickly on their shit list. So, crazy or just practical? Or, assholes?

When politicians are publicly talking about "second amendment remedies" and saying "don't retreat- RELOAD!", they are sending a violent message to the assholes out there. The message sure seems to be: "Go for it, asshole!" If that's not the intent, they've certainly cheapened life enough when they say that or come out in favor of Stand Your Ground laws that encourage people to kill when afraid. When politicians and Lou Costello- looking pundits encourage militia's standing against the Federal government and for a deadbeat like Cliven Bundy- willing to kill American law officers, then we've got assholes trying to run the asylum, not inmates. These pundits and politicians are crazy like a FOX, and laughing maniacally all the way to the bank. Remember when GW Bush was the Federal government? FOX and Hannity liked gubmint then. That might seem like cognitive dissonance but it's really just assholery. The cognitive dissonance is when they practice this assholery- passive aggressively encouraging Americans to arm themselves against government and neighbors- while thinking that there would be no blood on their hands.

Crazy would be Sean Hannity or Ted Cruz shooting their child in honor of the Second Amendment they hold entirely too dear. Nope, they're assholes who don't care about YOUR kids or that your kids might be sacrificed for the Second Amendment that they hold entirely too dear. They are the assholes who trigger the other assholes to kill. And that is just crazy.