Shootings

A list was recently published of shootings at American schools. I have come to call it a List of Anguish. Each mass shooting is followed by an outpouring of anguish, grief and anger, a call to disarm (sic) - and then everybody goes back to the way things were.

Through my social media contacts, I discern a sharp division of opinion regarding the issue of guns in American society. Some feel more controls are necessary. Others hold the opposing view. It's not the guns, or their availability, that's at fault. There should be MORE guns, so you can all defend yourselves against the nutcases.

As long as that dichotomy, that delusional paranoia, exists in American society, this List of Anguish will only continue to grow. I cannot think of a way to resolve this. It's something that American society as a whole will have to address.

However, with institutions like the NRA in existence and people like Trump and Cruz taking its endorsements, I see no hope for the future.

Uvalde TX

Another shooting. Nineteen children are killed, as well as two teachers. An outpouring of grief and outrage in the US and around the world. Which will peter out in due course and nothing will change. What is required to make a change? Not another shooting. Not another election. Hearts and minds need changing in America. Move from the 18th into the 21st century. It is the people using guns that kill. The fact is that guns are too readily available to everybody, including those that are unfit to hold a firearm. Speak to us in Europe, where the ownership and sales of guns &c is heavily regulated. Use us as a template for legislation, and ditch the gun lobby. But I've written this all before, and nothing will change.