SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
When will America hit rock bottom on gun addiction?
Nov 8, 2018, 1:19 PM
People comfort each other as they stand near the scene Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where a gunman opened fire Wednesday inside a country dance bar crowded with hundreds of people on "college night," wounding multiple people including a deputy who rushed to the scene. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
I’m sad and frustrated.
I barely even read past the headline “12 Killed in California Shooting” before I just looked away. It happened last night. It’s not that I don’t care because I do. It’s just that I feel helpless to change anything.
Normally, here’s where someone like myself would launch into some statistics about the unbelievably high rate of shootings like this compared with the rest of the western world or make some kind of plea for change based on emotion.
I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. Because as Don always says, we can all lip sync with the pundits on this issue. Everyone already knows what the talking points are on both sides. It seems like the only thing that dramatically changes a person’s viewpoint is if you or someone you love is among the people shot.
This issue has been hijacked by the most extreme 10-15 percent of people, even though the vast majority of Americans support common sense proposals about guns.
I try to think about those folks that wanted to blow off a little steam after a stressful week and go listen to some country music and dance on a Wednesday night. We’ve all been in that mode.
Does it matter what weapon he used and what the magazine capacity is? Does it matter that a law enforcement officer was killed as he entered the building trying to help? Does it matter that this is the third major incident like this in a little over a week?
They say that people in addiction typically won’t make a change until they reach rock bottom. I wonder if a country that seems addicted to firepower will ever reach rock bottom? Is there anything that could happen to finally persuade us that we can do better than this?
The optimist in me would like to believe that it’s possible, but the realist in me knows that’s probably not true. I think I’m a lot like the majority of you. I have to ignore most of this story just to protect my own psyche.
I wish there was something I could do.
“What Are We Talking About Here” can be heard every weekday at 4:50 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. on the Ron & Don Show on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM.
