So, here we are again, picking through the rubble of another school shooting, one that took 17 lives at the hands of a 19-year-old so pathetic, I’m not even going to name him. We’re familiar with how the cycle goes.
Shooting happens. Thoughts and prayers. Screw your thoughts and prayers. Please ban assault weapons. This is not the time to politicize. Mental health. We move on. Shooting happens again. Except, it doesn’t feel the same as before, because the survivors decided enough was enough. Granted, it didn’t exactly help the Republicans’ case this time when their beloved Trump tried to use the shooting to evade the Russia probe, digging another sub-basement in the barrel.
Granted, he seems to have been making noises in the direction of banning bump stocks and beefing background checks up, but similar noises happened after the Vegas shooting, and they’re still not reality. The thinking seems to be to use the idea of doing something to run out the clock until people move on to avoid doing something. That way, they can keep “the base” from choosing unfeasible candidates over the incumbents during primary races and still have the National Rifle Association’s money during the rough-and-tumble midterm elections. Indeed, his administration’s most recent budget threatens to cut mental health funding even after using it as a shield for the NRA.
The spanner in those works, as mentioned before, are the Parkland survivors, who have opted to point their grief at the system and demand to know why they have to be concerned about their safety and not the politicians, more specifically NRA-backed Republicans. The inhuman creatures who inhabit Trumpland did not take kindly to this development.
Alex Jones took the time to posit the idea that the globalists ordered the shooting to punish Republicans for releasing the Nunes memo. Remember that? The thing that literally undercuts its own point by acknowledging that a drunk Trump aide is what kicked off the memo instead of The Deep State?
This story is about both the worst and the best America has to offer, reacting to tragedy with grief, anger, activism in the face of callousness and cruelty. We don’t really need AR-15s in America, and I suspect people are starting to recognize that. Too many innocent people have died in vain for that not to be the case.
Logan Graham is a senior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Let Logan know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
