In the Republican imagination, shared most notoriously by Trump, video games have somehow come to surpass killer-diller automatic weapons as the instrumental cause in the American sport of Gun Massacre. Let studies and experts show that video games produce violence at about the same rate as brushing your teeth, the right-wing (Trump plus the entire Republican party) covets this ridiculous whipping boy. Not out of righteous indignation but because of intellectual and moral degeneracy (and also money from the NRA).<\/p>\n
Another familiar love-the-gun sidestep is to call virtuously for better mental health treatment. This one really taxes my memory, as I go in search of a time when Republicans have issued a clarion call for better and more widely accessible public mental health clinics. Even now, under the pressure of El Paso and Dayton, I\u2019m sure Republicans would say to themselves, \u201cYes, but not publicly-supported; let\u2019s keep it in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another warmed-up chestnut is background checks. Strengthen these and you are supposed to detect and reject those who are insane or have a criminal record. But although these shooters are surely some species of \u201ccrazy,\u201d you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find them clinically insane. As for criminal records, El Paso Gunner and Dayton Gunner don\u2019t seem to have them; what they have is guns and manifestos. And what about those guns \u2014 those endlessly repeating, high-volume killing automatics? It\u2019s a deadly absurdity that any American civilian should possess one.<\/p>\n
In the ugliest possible response, Trump is visiting El Paso. This is not a trip of commiseration; it\u2019s indecent piece of effrontery, a twisting of the knife.<\/p>\n
P.S. Aspenites, as I\u2019m sure they know, are going to wait in vain for those for four figures Trump stable boy Pence owes you. Chief mount Trump owes El Paso in the six figures.<\/p>\n
By the way, Aspenites, as I\u2019m sure they know, are going wait in vain.<\/p>\n
David Chamberlain<\/p>\n
Denver<\/p>\n