Thoughts and Prayers — An Exhausted Euphemism

LOOK AROUND FOLKS, THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS JUST DON’T CUT IT ANYMORE!

At best, the term is a generic attempt to show some empathy toward those suffering from tragedy, loss, and grief. At worst, it is a useless euphemism to avoid facing the harsh reality of horrific events that demand systemic societal change.

November 22, 2022 — another mass shooting at a Walmart in Virginia left 5 dead. This, and the recent mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado, which killed 5 and wounded 17, have become pulpit opportunities for partisan politicians and their crazed disciples to speak in platitudes and continue to do nothing other than pander to those with a grievously skewed notion of gun ownership and responsibility (having already forgotten, UVA, Buffalo, Uvalde, Parkland, Sandy Hook, et cetera, et cetera).

There have been over 600 mass shootings in the US this past year, 20 or more leaving 5 or more dead bodies in their wake.

I’m sorry, but thoughts and prayers, combined with ulterior motives to shift accountability and blame somebody, to make us feel better about our chronic indecisiveness, are worn-out, condescending, thoughtless, and pathetic excuses to justify an incredibly biased status quo.

In the eyes of both the free and not-so-free world, we are viewed as a society of dangerous malcontents.

Hey everybody, look at those Americans killing each other at the speed of light over ideas, human rights, race, religion, cultures, lifestyles, and identity. They are a bunch of angry motherfuckers! said a Sudanese protester demanding water, food, and democracy in his Fourth World country.

I thought it was “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” said Ahmad, the American asset in Afghanistan, who didn’t make it on the plane, but is still less likely to be shot by some whacked out Afghani than by some American extremist.

Thoughts and prayers are ridiculously ineffective deterrents to the en masse killing of innocents.

ARE THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS CODE WORDS for “guns don’t kill people, people kill people?”

IS “THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS” A POLITICAL SHELL GAME WHERE ONE CAN NEVER PICK THE PEA FROM UNDER THE WALNUT? WHY DON’T WE JUST TOSS SOME THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ON THE BARBIE, CONSOLE OUR IGNORANCE OVER A FEW BEERS, CONTINUE TO ELECT INCOMPETENTS, AND CALL IT A SUNDAY AFTERNOON?

C’MON MAN!

Let’s make some quick comparisons between thoughts and prayers and reality. In 2019, the US death rate from gun violence was more than eight times as high as the rate in Canada, 3.96 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 0.47 deaths per 100,000 people.

In 2021, Americans were killed by guns at the highest rate in 30 years, according to an analysis of federal data that U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System and the U.S. Census Bureau, researchers found that the U.S. firearm homicide rate rose from 6.12 people per 100,000 in 2020 to 6.63 in 2021 — the highest rate in the U.S. since 1993.

In 2021, suicide by firearms rose to 8.75 per 100,000, the highest rate since 1990. See, Americans Killed by Guns 2021.

I pity the fools who try to invade the USA from foreign lands.

More imminently, I pity us fools who face down the barrel of a gun at our schools, malls, grocery stores, workplaces, bars, movie theaters, parades, mosques, temples, churches, and city streets. They hide in plain sight and our toolbox is empty.

We want to believe we are a unique and special people having been endowed with the inalienable right to blast the fuck out of anyone who gets in our way.

Well, a fork with a bent tine is unique and special — but otherwise utterly useless.

Here are a few countries with significantly lower death rates associated with gun violence than the US: Thailand, wore torn Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan, India, China, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Mali, and Namibia, to name a few. See, Gun Violence Rates. To be fair, several of these countries are rife with corruption and violent oppression. Others, not so much.

Let’s move on. What about Australia, all of Europe, South Korea, and Japan — all lower than the US? I don’t know about you, but these are a bunch of repressive regimes!

I GUESS THEM AMERICANS BE WAY SMARTER THAN WE ARE IN FIGURING OUT HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MASS SHOOTINGS.

There are 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the US. Nowhere else on the planet is there a higher ratio. Canada comes closest with an estimated 35 guns per 100 residents and, as noted below, a significantly reduced rate of death by gun violence. According to an article by Josh Campbell and Jason Kravarik of CNN:

· Canadian law requires citizens to undergo robust background checks and mandatory training before obtaining a gun license.

· Gun instructors serve as a first line of defense, observing and making note of any students they determine should not own a gun.

If the instructors see a student that comes in who they feel just is not doing well at life in general, and perhaps should not have a firearm, we’ll give that student a full refund, we’ll create a complete written report for our records, and we’ll supply a copy of that report to the (government) firearms center as well,” said Travis Bader, owner of Silvercore Advanced Training in Canada.

According to the Canadian Commissioner of Firearms, the number of people denied a license or had theirs revoked has been climbing, to more than 4,000 in 2019.

Reasons for license denials or revocations have included mental health concerns, potentially being a threat to oneself or others, court orders, and lying on license applications.

· Another difference between the US and Canada: waiting periods before one can obtain a gun.

In Canada, residents seeking to purchase a firearm must wait 28 days before taking possession. By contrast, in the United States, there is no federal waiting period if an applicant passes a government criminal database check.

· Unlike in the United States, mass gun violence has led to swift legislative change in Canada. After the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, which left 22 people dead, officials passed an assault weapons ban, which enjoyed broad popular support.

· Despite the constitutional differences between the two nations when it comes to the right to own a gun, one thing is clear: the Canadian government engages in a much more robust effort than the United States to identify potential sources of gun violence.

According to training expert Travis Bader, the Canadian government does “criminal record checks, background checks, reference checks,” and interviews spouses and family members of gun license applicants.

See, Campbell, Kravarik Article.

Given our inalienable right to possess guns, the question remains as to whether we are batshit crazier, angrier, more hostile, more hateful, more trigger-happy, more violent, more racist, more afraid, more oppressed, more deprived, more disenfranchised, and more self-righteous than the folks in Canada, and fifty other countries?

LOOK AROUND FOLKS, THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS JUST DON’T CUT IT ANYMORE!

Our country is at an inflection point where policy inaction and non-intervention have become the operational government norm. It doesn’t matter whether the inaction is calculated, ideological, imposed or inadvertent. To be part of the solution, we must become the change agents and hold our leaders accountable. We must civilly pressure our representatives to enact sensible gun control laws, ensure our schools are secure, broaden access to mental health care, strengthen networks of support for victims of crimes, and create functional mechanisms to address systemic emotional, physical, and domestic abuse. Organizations you may wish to contact include: Everytown, The Prevention Institute, and Moms Demand Action.