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Phew! And it applies to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, titling his January 12 op-ed "Obama: consoler in chief" at a time we need hard truths, not soothing. Yet Robinson praised a speech "from the heart" by a president exposed as soulless who never grieves for imperial victims - tortured, murdered or exploited for profit and global dominance.
In fact, Tucson's Wednesday night atmosphere was surreal, including remarks by Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, also invoking scripture, not truth, leaving root causes unexplained, notably America's culture of violence. Why it's called a "rape culture."
Why killing is as commonplace at home as abroad. Why young children are conditioned by television, films, video games, music, online material, and real time violence at home, at school, and at play.
Why one estimate puts annual gun related deaths at 30,000, (82 on average daily) plus 70,000 injuries, including 3,000 children and teens. Why Chicago alone had 509 homicides in 2008, mostly gun related. Why most go unreported because largely they affect people of color, not prominent residents.
Why America is the only industrialized country that hasn't responsibly addressed gun violence, causing, on average, eight times more fatalities than in other developed nations. For children under age 15, it's 12 times higher. Yet despite the current uproar, no congressional measures will restrict accessibility, including for semi-automatic assault weapons. When used as intended, they fire off multiple rounds in seconds.
It's why homicide-free days in many US communities are exceptions, not the rule, and why dissidents are attacked. Why students and others at Virginia Tech in April 2007, and high schoolers in Columbine, CO in April 1999.
Columbine, in fact, culminated an 18 month shooting spree in Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas and Oregon, causing 15 deaths and scores of injuries. Yet the National Rifle Association wields inordinate power over Congress to assure continued proliferation and accessibility of assault weapons that should be banned.
Why Florida criminologist Gary Kleck estimates between 16,000 and 17,000 children carry guns to school daily, usually for protection from others there with them. Of those who do, 10% commit handgun related crimes. Recently, seventh grader Seth Trickey used one to injure five children. Kip Kinkel, aged 15, fired 51 shots from a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic rifle in his Springfield, OR school cafeteria, killing two and injuring 22 others.
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