Parkland

Scott Hardie | February 16, 2018
I'm so angry, and so fed up with inaction. I'm sick and tired of seeing things like "thoughts" and "prayers" and "condolences," and flags at half-mast and soothing posts on Facebook. DO SOMETHING. I don't know what's more troubling about the American psyche: Our willingness to commit violence so readily, or our unwillingness to take reasonable measures to save lives when it might inconvenience us. I'm sick of us.

What feelings does the latest mass shooting produce in you?

Scott Hardie | February 17, 2018
Now people are arguing about the reported number of school shootings this year. If you're mad about an inaccurate number being reported, instead of being mad about dead children anywhere in any school shooting, take a long look in the mirror. And listen to every word of this list while you do it.

Samir Mehta | February 17, 2018
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Scott Hardie | February 17, 2018
Those suggestions are not bad. Elsewhere, most of the changes that I've heard people propose are either banning things that are already largely illegal (assault rifles, sometimes bump stocks), or are not relevant to most of the mass shootings that we hear about. Really, what kind of "better mental health treatment" would have stopped Nikolas Cruz, or Stephen Paddock, or Omar Mateen, or most of these other bastards? It's like when people say that cops who shoot unarmed civilians need "better training" -- no, they already receive extensive training not to do that; promising to give them "better training" is just a way to pretend like something is being done while avoiding the real problem.

I am really, really sick of hearing pro-gun people explain the difference between "automatic" and "semi-automatic," and between "assault rifles" and "assault weapons." You're arguing semantics while people are dying, and worse, you're implying that you alone are qualified to hold a position on the matter because you have technical expertise on guns. One does not need to be an oncologist to see that cancer is killing people and we should collectively take steps to avoid it.

I'm also really sick of hearing Republicans in Congress say that "existing laws should be enforced," because first of all that would not have stopped Cruz or Paddock or Mateen, and second of all, they're the ones sabotaging enforcement of the laws.

Samir Mehta | February 17, 2018
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Scott Hardie | February 21, 2018
I like Dan Savage's idea.

Samir Mehta | February 23, 2018
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