Shootings and prayer

Every time a shooting happens, articles on gun violence are spread far and wide across the web and traditional media, always with titles like "The gun problem is bigger than people realize". This is incorrect, at this point in history, there is no way to avoid knowing that our problem with gun violence is endemic to our current culture, the only debate is on what to do about it.

Well, I say that but obviously I am wrong, that should be the only debate, but it isn't is it? Virtually no one in politics is arguing about what to do, rather they are arguing over whether or not to do anything at all!

Gun control is an issue where the controversy is almost entirely artificially generated by special interests, it's hard to research, by design, because those same interests managed to ban federal funding for it, but from what we can tell, public support for additional gun control regulations is actually pretty high, including from the vast majority of current gun owners, but, since we allowed the NRA and weapons manufacturers so much influence, they get to set the terms of the debate, not the people.

It's been easy for them, because only the most motivated go to the polls, an the gun rights supporters also by and large support a number of other extreme right issues that mean their small, but rabid, base is all but guaranteed to come out for them.

Of course, there is also the fact that the right to bear arms is a Constitutional right, and by now the Bill of Rights may as well be a holy document for all the odds of getting any change to it, never mind that it was written over two hundred years ago by people who mostly still thought it was cool to own other people, never mind the fact that the country has changed more dramatically than our founders ever thought, even never mind the fact that the Constitution was, by the writers own admission, intended to be a living document, any time gun control comes up, shouts of "shall not be infringed!" come out of the woodwork, and that is basically the end of that.

No, what we get is the usual, "our prayers are with the victims" platitudes, followed by calls to not politicize the tragedy.

Let's talk about prayer for a minute, prayer doesn't do crap for the victims of an attack, it does even less than my stupid blog posts do. And for most people, that is the only thing they can do to help so go nuts.
You know who isn't most people? Our elected representatives. When you see someone you voted for, or who wants your vote in the future, say "My prayers are with the victims", understand that means "I am going to do nothing to stop this from happening again". They are literally telling you they want to be elected to some of the most powerful positions in the country, or the world, but that they are incapable of putting even the tiniest bit of effort into finding solutions for something that kills thousands a year and is entirely preventable.
They are saying your life is worth less than an NRA endorsement, they are saying "My A rating from a special interest group is a higher priority than the lives of my constituents".
They are also telling you that while they think they are capable of leading the country against any enemy or through any trouble, they are incapable of even thinking of ways to keep firearms out of the hands of madmen.
So they pray, put it in Gods hands they say, because that has worked out so well before.

You may have noticed I haven't talked about the shooters that much, this is by intent, and because it no longer matter who, what, or why they do the shooting. It doesn't matter if they are white terrorists, black activists, militant feminist, Iranian spies, or Syrian refugees planted here by ISIS, the fact is they are here, and they got their gun here, and they didn't have to try all that hard to get them. And that stopping them is not a high priority for the powers that be, and really why should it?

Their base is rabid, as I mentioned before, it doesn't matter who commits a shooting or why, so yet another shooting doesn't hurt their support at all even if it is a conservative white guy with and NRA membership and a history of violence. However, when, as it appears to be in this case, the shooting is committed by someone with a foreign sounding name, it allows them to create an enemy to unite behind, which draws people to their banner as it is easier to unite against, than it is to unite for something.
It's a policy which relies on their ever dwindling base for its main support, but that doesn't mean it can't swell temporarily, and that is all they want, and the only thing they will fight for.