Mass Shootings: Twelve Social Media Rounds
Round One
We have to do something about mass shootings.
Too soon.
Huh?
You’re being insensitive.
But wouldn’t it also be insensitive to call for action in the immediate aftermath of an incident based solely on speculation that the attacker might be Muslim, especially when such an attack occurs in another country?
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Round Two
We have to do something about mass shootings.
Too soon.
It happened last week.
Too soon.
Can we start talking about it next month?
Nope. Talk about it never. There is nothing we can do except pray.
So, “too soon” actually means “never?”
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Round Three
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
There is nothing we can do.
Really? We’ve spent over $4 trillion dollars fighting terrorism perpetrated by extremist Muslims, despite the fact that gun violence kills way more Americans than terrorism.
And your point is?
Well, terrorism perpetrated by extremist Muslims is still happening, yet very few say there is nothing we can do. In fact, many say “do more.”
They are at war against us. What we do with our military abroad is completely different from what we can do domestically.
Ok, but what if an extremist Muslim is an American citizen who is born and raised here? Do you think we should go as far as rounding up Muslim American citizens? Or should we just pray?
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Round Four
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
There is nothing we can do, except pray.
What would we be praying for?
Pray that deranged people allow God into their hearts.
What if God actually wants us to make it harder for deranged people to get guns?
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Round Five
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
There is nothing we can do, except pray.
Name other crime-related issues that you’ve given up on so easily?
What do you mean?
How about the “War on Drugs?” “Black on black” crime? Breakdown of the family? Welfare? Mass incarceration? MS-13? Illegal border crossings? Transferring out of failing schools? The “schools to prison pipeline” Instead of intervening, can we just pray those (often racially-charged) concerns away as well?
Yeah, but we have to eradicate the liberal culture of dependency that has especially harmed black men.
Ok. So, perhaps it’s similarly beyond prayer that white American men commit the most mass shootings worldwide regardless of their income levels? And since we’re otherwise talking about the needs of the “forgotten white working class” and such, perhaps we can explore the racial intersections of mass shootings and white men just like how we thoroughly analyze race and religion when it comes to terrorism and other crimes?
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Round Six
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
We have the right to bear arms.
Fair enough. So you do think we should review the Constitution in the context of the time in which it was written, like muskets and stuff?
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Round Seven
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
We have a right to bear arms to be able to stand up against tyranny!
Fair enough. What if we organized “well [self] regulated” (per the Second Amendment) private community gun clubs where arms can be safely stockpiled and secured. Every member gets to take home a reasonably sufficient amount of weapons for personal protection, and — instead of individuals stockpiling dozens of guns that no one in their right mind would ever keep for hunting, personal protection, or collecting — the gun club would ensure that weapons would still be readily accessible to the people if we ever need to raise a “militia” to fight tyranny. The gun club could also be the first line of defense to detect someone who might be stockpiling, radicalizing, or struggling mentally, and it could even facilitate hobbyists’ desires to occasionally shoot big powerful weapons.
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Round Eight
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
But Americans already have more guns per capita than any other country (more than twice than the next country on the list), and gun ownership is skyrocketing. Yet we still aren’t safe. Could it be that more guns are making us less safe?
But if Americans carried their guns in more places, there would be more good guys around to kill bad guys.
But how do you reconcile that with the fact that in recent years more Americans are carrying more guns, and are increasingly allowed to do so in more places, yet gun violence and mass shooting incidents have increased, not decreased.
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Round Nine
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
Ok, ok. If you must, let’s look into banning bump stocks.
That’s a good start. But is that enough?
President Obama failed to regulate bump stocks.
Really? Are you saying Las Vegas is yet another “thanks, Obama?”
Obama’s ATF missed a chance to regulate bump stocks.
But I thought regulations were inherently bad. Why didn’t the Republican Congress pass a law back then?
You hate Trump and want to take away my guns and Obama and Hillary and Antifa and shit.
OMG.
Round Ten
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
FALSE FLAG!
Huh?
Oh, so you’re saying a rich millionaire somehow got all those guns up into a hotel room, broke big windows, and “killed himself” afterwards, for no apparent reason?
I think when an apparently disgruntled white man does what a lot of other disgruntled white men have been doing for a while, it is more likely that something is going on with disgruntled white men than some grandiose government conspiracy theory of a “false flag” to force gun control or some other nefarious agenda, especially when Trump currently leads a government that doesn’t keep secrets very well. So, what’s stopping us from speculating that a sickness in our culture — one that could be impacting white men uniquely — might be a possible “apparent reason?”
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Round Eleven
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
The last shooting happened eons ago! It’s very hurtful to the victims’ families to re-hash old traumas for political reasons.
So we can’t talk about it right after it happens, and we can’t talk about it weeks or months after it happens, and then we end up doing nothing, and so we can’t talk about it ever again?
Bingo.
BREAKING NEWS: Another mass shooting has occurred.
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Round Twelve
There has to be something we can do about mass shootings.
Shit happens. We live in a sick sad evil world. Get used to it.
Am I allowed to say that when we’re talking about something important to you, like how terrorism is a tactic and wars against tactics are rarely won?
Errrrrrr….
Or am I allowed to say “it’s a sick sad evil world, get over it” if someone you loved got massacred?
(Long pause…)
DING DING DING, match over. EVERYONE LOSES.
