the stronger the outrage after bloodshed, the greater the gun surge

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http://www.nationofchange.org/stronger-outrage-after-bloodshed-greater-gun-surge-1360771641

And the envelope, please. Winner of the elbows down, muzzle up award for the Most Predatory, Most Immunized American Industry . . . yes, consumer firearms. After all, corporate raiders like Romney limit plundering to jobs, tax loopholes, pensions, and businesses with credit lines. Most kindergarteners need not fear them, unless parents were outsourced or pensions stripped. Not so the firearms industry, playing both ends against the middle by leveraging mass shootings into paranoia about dire, looming reforms, spurring a sale surge unanticipated before the calamity.

Hats off to any business model that capitalizes on the direct, if criminal execution of products they tout for immense power and range. Some sharpshooting devices use computer-guided scopes that turn amateurs into top snipers, firing off armor-piecing ammo dangerous a mile away. Unlike corporate predators, arms makers boast blanket immunity against all consequences, whether from their choice of retailers, how its shadiest operators do business, the destination (say, Mexican drug lords), or all subsequent domestic carnage. No doubt, they deserve special treatment for doing a public service, as their PR proclaims: “guns make us safe.” Of course we’d have more than anecdotal assertions were Congress to reverse its NRA-driven prohibition against federal agencies distributing the annual mounds of key gun/crime statistics dutifully amassed.

Tragic Opera in Full Sway

And the cycle of violence is in full sway, as Sandy Hook terror hangs in the air, inciting both sustained revulsion and chatter by Democrats on nominal “gun control” for years they avoided like the plague. Curiously, however, the louder the reform demands, the more overwrought lobbyist-gun propaganda. It's almost like NRA gun owners become the victims. God-given rights for ideologues are not open to debate, whether obvious background checks (the NRA once supported) or armed school guards (which was once fiercely opposed). In no time, gun advocates clamor that all checks and registration mandate government control, presaging punitive taxation, outright bans, even the horror of confiscation. This commotion from dog whistles and blatant sirens drive the now inadequately-armed NRA members rushing to clear shelves of any weapon in the media bullseye.

Until we appreciate the dynamic circle of violence here, plus move beyond demonizing clearly self-interest parties, don't expect more than marginal change. Until we widen the scope beyond the virtually impossible task of “gun control” (boasting already 300 million firearms), what are the chances to balance the rights of a vociferous, gun-toting minority against the human rights of a majority, especially innocent children? No doubt, we must dislodge mythology along the way, for were it true that more guns made us safer, America armed would be a nearly violence-free mecca.