No! It is not okay to politicize a tragedy.
You know... I can't even believe I have to post this. That I have to create this response to those saying we should politicize and exploit peoples tragedies as if it will ever be okay. Worse are the politicians who regurgitate this brain wash to desensitize the people so they can get the laws they want. I can't believe as a society we have fallen so far that we have no decency and ability empathize with someone who has lost someone they love, because of a lunatic that wasn't stopped by the current laws. Laws aplenty meant to prevent him from doing what he did. Then we act like laws are going to help even though shootings continue to happen. Everyone probably knows what I am talking about and its the Florida shooting where 17 have died and 12 have been wounded.
First off during the shooting we saw reporters on twitter tweeting to people hiding in closets and asking for an exclusive interview. This is where the story became more important than the human being caught up in the shooting. Thankfully these people got out okay and even their twitter accounts have shown a disbelief in the lack of caring the media has shown. These kids are running out of a school in hopes they see their loved ones. Hugging them and grateful to see them again. Then they have people with cameras in their faces? Reporters sticking microphones in their faces? Asking dumb questions like. “What was it like?” What the hell is wrong with the media? Is the story more imprtant than your dignity, where ar your principles?
So lets get down to the point of my post. When someone is affected by tragedy and has lost someone. When you politicize their deaths to push laws that have never ever resulted in less violence. This is where unity and coming together is needed most. This community now has to come together while the nation sends its vultures to try and exploit their pain for a laws, story and because its great for the ratings. No other event produces more social media traffic than a shooting. We see pictures of people crying and reeling from the loss of loved ones which is projected into the national spotlight. Seeing it you then look at your own families and think about what you would do if you ever lost them. How do you protect them? The nation needs to stop politicizing these deaths. The media needs keep their distance. We then get medical examiners who should be doing their jobs, not talking about the wounds these people died from. What is the point of that other than for politicians and anti-gun lobby's to exploit? Someone else to put on the news to really drive home what the shooter has done. We get it. Or perhaps its just something to keep people tuned in because how else do you keep a story like that going on the national stage? How else do you keep people riled up for as long as possible?
Furthermore why is it when we see the full failure of the government in not just gun free zones. But the fact the FBI had all the tools at their disposal to not only intercept and stop this. To arrest and mentally adjudicate the person. Not only did we see that local law enforcement got tips as well. That they recommended he be committed and did nothing. Then we have law enforcement on site hiding and failing to confront the shooter? Yet the media is going to focus on another assault weapons ban? The same bans that did not stop Columbine or Virginia tech and had no statistical significance? The government fails to protect us time and time again and their solution is always taking more and more civil liberties. No matter how noble the government is today. The chains on them they break and liberties they take today will always be abused tomorrow. We have seen it in all the post 9-11 laws. That have paved the way for mass surveillance and even using that surveillance to spy on Americans. Its always abused folks. ALWAYS!
If the media is not willing to address the governments failures. If the media is going to call this a terrorist attack when it happens in France and call it a mass shooting here to push laws that don't work. They're not here to help folks. They're trying to get the peoples permission to kill their civil liberties. The current rights that are problems? Due process and the second amendment. The promises of safety never have worked. But we always call for the government to do something. Because we are lazy. We don't want to take responsibility and we always have someone to blame if its the government that is responsible. We can point the finger and say do more. While doing nothing ourselves.
So what is the effect of politicizing these deaths.? First of all it separates us at a time that people should be coming together and being the most empathetic. But the left is relentless and seems to ha e no honor or dignity here. It’s simply a great opportunity to push lawmaking. They know a majority of the country is deadset against the lws. The government and globalists alike are hell bent on banning them. They are bickering over what might have stopped it is a law, but never an ability to fight back. How ridiculous is that? Then we constantly we hear the problem is the people who own guns and the NRA. The NRA which finds these things just as terrible as the left and has never ever called for the slaughtering of innocent people. EVER! The left wants the tool banned and are only focused on that tool because they don't like them.
So let's take any other tool this sicko could have used. If the kid had used bombs, a homemade nerve agent, if he had used knives, anything else. No one would care like they do with a shooting. It would show up once as a blip, maybe, in the national medias coverage and would not garner too much attention of the news media. Jimmy Kimmel wouldn’t fake some crying to boost his ratings when someone was stabbed, beaten or blown up. Funny he only seems to care when it's something that happens to be trending. It's truly sick. When tragedies like this happen with any other tool. The thoughts and prayers crowd gets a pass. Because honestly what else can anyone do? If they're in any other state. What can they really do except let people know they are in their thoughts and prayers. That they empathize with their situation and feel their pain. I'm not a very religious person either. What else are they going to do? Is politicizing it and calling for laws any better? That is the biggest insult of all! It’s bad enough that certain people in a political ideology have convinced themselves of this. But to use someones tragedy to say. "See guns are bad!" This so called sentiment? If you are on the left and hate thoughts and prayers. Think about how angry you get when you hear it. Well your call for laws and exploiting tragedy to push them is just its equivalent.
Recently you might have heard that Every-town was denied to participate in a suicide prevention rally. They wanted to spread the message of "common sense" gun reform. Now this hits close to home, because I have had three of my friends take their lives who I served with. None of them used a firearm. Can you imagine if a politician or these groups only went to spread the message of preventing these self inflicted deaths by removing a tool? What about the people who didn't use that tool? They're just not as important as the people who used a gun? Is it really about saving them at that point? Or exploiting the death and using peoples pain and suffering and grief to get some laws passed. The left, by politicizing these things shows they don't care about people and families involved at all. They care about enforcing their ideas on people through government. By using other peoples tragedy to get those ideas pushed when everyone else knows it won't solve for violence. Self inflicted or otherwise.
In most of the countries they claim are examples. The instances of violence have gone up. Rape, burglaries, hot break ins etc... Oh and defending yourself at all has been seen as a criminal act in these countries. The left seems to have a some great ideas about pacifism. But what it really is about is that only the people they deem to be in control have the ability to act with violence to defend you.
The bottom line here is. You will always be the first responder to these situations. Look at Maryland as a school resource officer confronted and took out the shooter. The person there and own is the only one who can respond. You will always be the one who can fight back long enough until authorities can get there. Because all the government can really do is get there late. The sentiment of gun free zones didn't work. The promise of those laws making them safer didn't and they bear no burden of the law failing. Despite being proven wrong time and time again they propose more of these useless laws with the promise of protection. If a criminal can be charged for murder when his buddy is killed while committing a crime. A politician should be charged for the murders of mass killers for promising safety and it failing. If you claim a gun free zone will make them safer and a majority of mass killings happen. The politician goes to jail for failing to protect them.
Government always promises they can protect us, but when has it ever been true? Post 9-11 we still have people blowing things up. We still have people shooting places up. We still have the same amount of violence. The governments and lobbies pushing gun control always showing countries that banned firearms. Look we lowered death by firearm. But never ever show that they have lowered the murder and violence rate. If you pass gun control and the rate of violence stays the same or goes up. You haven't solved for anything. In Criminology we have a saying when there is a crackdown on crime in one area. We watch surrounding areas for an increase. known as Diffusion. The same phenomenon happens with gun control. People don't stop what's in their nature because they have been deprived of a tool. They simply get the tool anyways by breaking the law or they use something else.
Moving forward there needs to be restraint by the media. moving forward congress needs to pass an act that says no tragedy will be discussed until 90 days have passed. Any law that is passed by the government will have a politicians accountability clause where if the proposed safety is not achieved. That they become personally liable for taking a decision or ability to defend one self away from a citizen while promising to protect them. If they fail to protect them with sentiment type laws like a gun free zone. They will be responsible for failing to do so. Maybe by doing that we can bring back our principles and humanity and actually come together in a tragedy as opposed to being divided by them.