Columbine came and went. We mourned, we vowed never again, we resolved to be a better nation. But it wasn’t enough.
Ft. Hood came and went. We mourned, we vowed “Terror won’t win”, we resolved to learn the lessons imparted. But it wasn’t enough.
Gabby Giffords will never be the same, and members from both sides of the aisle heaped praise on her. It wasn’t enough.
Newtown scarred us as nothing had before. Twenty innocent children mowed down in a mix of easy access to weapons of war, mental illness, and a society at war with itself. We wept, we beat our chests, we vowed to honor their memories. It, too, wasn’t enough, the words of resolve as evaporating steam.
Eight thousand have died at the end of a bullet since Newtown. All of them loved by someone, all of them precious to someone’s heart. Their deaths weren’t enough.
And now, another shooting, this time on a military base. And I will say it right here: it won’t be enough.
It won’t be enough that people serving the nation were picked off as if their lives were worthless. So were the children of Newtown.
It won’t be enough that the shooter had a history of violence and should have never been allowed near a personal firearm. The laws won’t be changed.
It won’t be enough when “leaders” go in front of the cameras and intone platitudes. They’ve been well-practiced, and only serve to salve the pain without committing to action.
When will it be enough?
When every street in these United States is a version of Mogadishu?
When will it be enough?
When a libertarian paradise of self-defense is the only solution, because it’s the one which doesn’t upset entrenched interests which hold more sway over our elected leaders than the health and safety and lives of their constituents?
When will it be enough?
When we come to a point when the dysfunction is too great, when the idea of pulling out a gun to settle a grievance comes as second nature?
When will it be enough?
Will it be enough when a Senator’s daughter is killed? When a Representative’s husband is slain in a mass shooting? Will it be enough when those who decide the laws by which we live feel the full impact of their inaction, become one of the nameless statistics over which they tut-tut but do nothing?
The answer to a bad guy with a gun isn’t a good guy with a gun. There were lots of good guys on duty at Navy Yard. That didn’t help. The answer to a bad guy with a gun is to make sure that bad guy doesn’t get anywhere near a gun in the first place.
It can’t be that difficult. Our freedom can’t depend on an armed nation. This is the 21st century; the frontier is closed; the natives have been subdued. Someone needs to explain to me why my freedom depends on my neighbor being allowed to amass an arsenal. Someone needs to explain to me why my freedom depends on an absolutist interpretation of the “right to bear arms”, an absolutism which doesn’t extend even to the amendment which precedes it.
I didn’t have answers after Newtown. I didn’t have answers after Gabby Giffords was shot. I never have an answer after the reporting of another death on our streets. And I don’t have an answer today.
But if we don’t start talking, seriously talking, and relegate the fringe to the fringe where it belongs, we’ll soon have a nation not worthy of the name.
When will it be enough? When we say that it is, and not a minute before.
The Obama Diary 
Hi!
It’s already more than enough! 😦
I hear your frustration LL. It’s hard to know what to say when this keeps happening over and over as you have documented and those with the ‘power’ refuse to budge. I thought many (80%? 90%?) said it was enough after Newtown and Congress still didn’t listen.
It’s morning in America; so here’s another shooting.
The afternoon brings shock, brings tears;
The pain it brings needs muting.
Evening talk, sage-heads put forth more plans for
executing,
the evil that outguns our wits
and
stymies our rerouting.
It’s morning in America, and yet another shooting.
To mute the brute in us we must be willing to do the muting.
Coop, I honestly think that a majority is more than ready AND willing to mute the gun brute. The problem is those who represent the majority aren’t getting the message.
Sadly, until truly responsible gun owners leave the NRA and start a counter group, there is little chance. When it comes to sensible gun control regulations, the inmates really do run the asylum.
Well, we do have Gabby Giffords’ group (along with her husband). I think it’ll be up to all of us to make that as strong as it needs to be to overcome the NRA’s supposed power… It’s more of a fiction, than anything else.
Congrats VC. Thanks LL for writing what I know will be a great essay.
The sad fact is that until few in Congress can stand up to the NRA and pass laws or sadly, maybe until it really come to the door step of some of those who adamantly oppose any kind of legislation.
“The answer to a bad guy with a gun is to make sure that bad guy doesn’t get anywhere near a gun in the first place.”
And there you have it.
Thank you for this LL, so much.
Remember when LaPue said people needed guns when a disaster occurred? Haven’t heard of anyone using or needing a gun in CO and I’ve been watching that closely for personal reasons. It’s the manufacturers, greedy bunch. How much money can you spend in your lifetime? We don’t have Royalty in America. Grrr
What will it take?
Love your thoughts LL. The answer is to follow the money. A gun culture is big business.
The truth is, going forward, gun registration will weed out many who shouldn’t have firearms, but the horse is already out of the barn. With 300 million guns already in circulation and the runs-on-gun and ammo purchases that have already taken place, unless “all” gun ownership is registered, I’m not convinced that legislation will do anything more than make us feel better. Don’t go crazy on me 🙂 …I still think it should be done, but it’s far from the problem-solving answer. When even blind folks can have guns…well.
Hence my frustration. If we did try to register existing guns, you’d have lone wolves pop up all over the place protecting their phallic objects. It wouldn’t be pretty. Such a thing could only be done if we as a society do say “enough”.
So right LL. It would be ugly, but the truth is…it’s the only thing that makes sense. There are just too many damned guns!
Come to think about it, we need to go further than guns. Remember that fool in Ohio who had a napalm bomb in his garage? What about the guy who had several pounds of cyanide and the makings for cyanide bombs? How did the guy in California buy 6 – 50 gallon drums of jet fuel, or 500,000 rounds of ammunition? It seems “free enterprise” is hazardous to our health.
Guns have become so fetishized by RWNJ Libertarians I don’t see how this horrific state of affairs gets dialed back without some sort of ultra insane response.
Faypax, that is why I’ve been promoting a core principle that pragmatically recognizes the ‘horse is way out of the barn’ and that leverages market forces. We need a 21st Century, enforceable mechanism of ‘well regulated’ for the 2nd Amendment. And, having the greedy bastards that are the insurance industry salivating over a 300+ million person market is just the leverage we need to put in play against the gun and ammo manufacturers and sellers.
Here’s the link to the letter in the previous thread that defines the model:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/09/16/we-will-honor-their-service-to-the-nation/#comment-830023
Yes We Can
I read your excellent letter and as usual, you are right on point. We need to stop pussyfooting around and call for regulation that has some teeth.
Thank you FayPax and I agree.
This is the kind of depravity we’re dealing with:
Meta, at the bottom of it all is the sad fact that we are represented by idiots who do not have one single thought for the good of the people they represent–not one. They are in it for their own aggrandizement and THIS particular group of dimwits is what happens when people reflexively vote for a party without thinking. I am sorry to say that one of these is my congressman (God help me). We had a wonderful, intelligent, hard working Democrat running against him who would have run circles around this guy and supported legislation that would have made our district and our country a better place to live. But our guy had the wrong letter after his name and the dummy won by 14 points!!!! This is the insanity we live with.–an unthinking, passive electorate who may or may not even bother to show up and thoughtlessly presses buttons when they do.
OMG, I’m so sorry to hear that one of these morons is your rep. UGH. They are all despicable hypocrites who have the nerve to call themselves patriots.
Some good news. FLOTUS’s Let’s Move program is making a difference.
Teenagers are exercising more, consuming less sugar, eating more fruits and vegetables, all teens but the right wing conservatives ones. Hopefully soon teens will drink more water, “Drink Up”.
What’s amazing to me is that I didn’t see the event that I was *certain* to spur action — the Aurora movie theatre massacre.
I really believed that virtually all Americans could relate to being in a dark movie theatre, could imagine something like this for themselves or their family members.
But of course, how could the shock of what happened to one of the most accomplished women of her generation, Gabby Giffords, in a supermarket parking lot have not influenced Americans?
Or the unimaginable slaughter that took place at Virginia Tech?
And all these events happened within the past 7 years.
Just cannot understand Americans and their complacent attitude toward guns, and cause-and-effect.
Why doesn’t this influence the pro-gun crowd?
Slightly off-topic. FayPax responded to me on the previous thread and said that SYG laws went into effect 2 years after lynching was outlawed! Really? It was legal to lynch someone up until 10 years ago???? How can lynching be legal????
ICYMI on previous thread:
Here’s what FayPax responded to:
If I said 2 years…my mistake. The Congress that takes forever to do everything passed Stand Your Ground 2 MONTHS after passing a resolution outlawing lynching. As I’ve pointed out before, 19 Senators voted against the Resolution.
Sorry, FayPax, but a Congressional resolution is not law. I wish you would cite a specific law, enacted by Congress and signed by a President, that specifically outlawed lynching. I may be misinformed, but I don’t think Congress has ever enacted such a law. Now there are laws, such as the Byrd-Sheppard hate crime act, that indirectly out law lynching. But I am absolutely certain that the United States Congress has never enacted a specific Federal law outlawing Lynching. There were attempts to pass such legislation in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, but they all failed. incidentally, the progressive liberal icon, FDR, refused to back the Congressional efforts to enact a Federal Anti-Lynching Law. His successor, Harry Truman, didn’t support the legislation either. The 1964 Civil Rights Act does include prosecution for those who violate the Civil Rights of Citizens. Technically people can be prosecuted for lynching because they violated some ones civil rights. But the Civil Rights Act does not explicitly designate lynching as a federal crime. Some of us wish Congress had passed a specific Federal Anti-lynching law; just as it did with bank robbery, car jacking, drug dealing, illegal transport of guns across state lines, etc.
Since that seems to stun you Arapaho, you probably didn’t know that the Supreme Court refused to rule against the KKK because they said it was a “private club”. Keep that in mind as you watch the Republicans try to smother government in favor of private corporations.
No doubt my mistake, FayPax.
Obviously this is news to me.
I had NO idea that these laws were on the books so recently, which makes the SCOTUS anti-VRA ruling even more appalling and despicable.
I learn something from everyone here at TOD; everyone is much appreciated!
And we all learn a great deal from you!
Yep, the case is “U.S. v. Cruikshank” handed down in 1876! Actually the Supreme Court’s ruling was in response to the 1871 Congressional Act that tried to outlaw the KKK and other white supremacist terrorist organizations.
Changing the subject back to our favorite topic, Schadenfreude.
I really liked this photo from someone-who-shall-not be-named (see today’s “Chat Away” thread), and wanted to share it with TOD.
So I attached the pic to a poll taken after last week’s speech by our President on America’s stance on Syria. Much to my surprise, I think this is the most RT’s I’ve ever gotten, so it’s a pleasure to share with everyone here.
Right after I posted this tweet, Greg Sargent sent out results from a new poll.
As McDonalds would say, “I’m lovin’ it.”
Here’s what Greg Sargent was referring to.
But of course, the media’s behavior will not change. Their lives are too easy (their job descriptions are to speculate and report gossip) and they suffer exactly ZERO consequences for being consistently, relentless WRONG.
Seems to me, if we parse this out, what these lawmakers are saying is that THESE DEAD PEOPLE aren’t important to me…wasn’t MY family! The money that flows into the coffers of lawmakers from the NRA and ammo makers and Koch libertarians…..needs to be taken out of the equation. Hell, even Scalia said that gun ownership wasn’t an absolute right for crap sakes! When people are lead to believe they shouldn’t, can’t, won’t trust their govt….. Lucy, we have a problem!
I have said this before and I’ll say it again. We can NEVER be an exceptional nation until the will of the people is respected and adhered to. Until money is out of politics. Until the values that formed this nation are enforced and abided by….and until, as LL so aptly stated, the fringe is relegated to their rightful place. The FRINGE! This disgusts me. I’m sick of the empty words to the people of this country and the families that have been forever effected by these senseless, needless tragedies. ENOUGH!
And, Df, I’d like to add ..until we hold our lawmakers accountable and don’t just re-elect them because they’re incumbents or spend a lot of money on expensive mailings and tv ads.
Won’t get an argument out of me:)
Last month, American car companies had their best month August since 2007. That’s good news for their balance sheets. It’s also good news for the environment….. The increase (and general upward trend) reflects a series of powerful megatrends: changing consumer needs as gas prices rise, people moving to urban areas, and the success of hybrid cars……
What’s more, with each passing month there are an increasing number of cars on the road that don’t use gas at all. Plugins like the Nissan Leaf saw record sales in August. And Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, has been doing well. About 11,000 electric cars were sold in the U.S. in August.
listened keenly – many are working hard to ensure that neither putin nor assad can back out of their public promises on CW
this needs to be heard and shared.
Yes We Can
More rope-a-dope brilliance from our POTUS.
This article says that it’s in Boehner’s best interest to not allow a government shutdown because… drumroll… sooner or later it will end.
And then the rabid RWNJ will be looked for blood from Boehner.
Karma. What McCain unleashed onto the American landscape with the tundra twit is biting back hard. LOL.
Arapaho, this article makes the absolutely astonishing statement that “Boehner has been a good speaker.” In what universe? How can the worst Speaker in the history of the US be termed “good.” I like Greg, but I think this time he’s lost his ever loving mind.
Hi Jackie, Jonathan Bernstein pinned the post, not Greg. And, I read that sentence as an artful bit of ‘faint praise’ given that all he’s saying is that Boehner has prevented the nuts from completely wrecking the place. We do have to face the reality that Cantor & Ryan have been trying to do just that and the only person standing in the way has been Boehner. I detest all of them, but if our President continues to try to enable Boehner to do the right thing, it doesn’t really matter how Jonathan Bernstein characterizes him 🙂
#FORWARD Together
When will it be enough? When we say that it is, and not a minute before..
**********************************
WE are the change we seek!
Amen, Pf.
Having a back and forth with someone on twitter who is against expanded background checks. They will lead to gun registries (despite law forbidding that). Then they will lead to confiscation. When asked for evidence he had a right wing video talking about what has happened in Canada. When I pointed out this isn’t Canada and Canada doesn’t have a 2nd amendment he complained I was calling him names because I said he sounded paranoid. On the whole, he is being civil, which is better than most I get into these conversations with, but about time for me to end it.
In my world, we got rid of the guns. We recognized that most people did not want their neighbors armed – as did Canada. Whether someone is civil or not, wanting to be armed to the teeth because the other guy is out to get you – is seen as paranoid and crazy in my world where the only people with guns are law enforcement, criminals, farmers and a spattering of those who think that great sporting events involve guns. The criminals mainly shoot each other with their guns, sane people do not try to be heroes, nor do they “stand their ground”.
The sooner any sort of shooting is removed from the Olympics, removed from all sport, the sooner people may accept that they are weapons of war – designed to kill.
Automobile registration has not led to the confiscation of automobiles….
So yet again – a day that the media should have reported on
– how the GOP wants to ruin the economic recovery of the US
– the UN report on Syria
– the 67% who agree with the President’s approach re Syria
– how to help the people of Colorado recover from the floods
and many more international and local events
100% of the media is consumed by one disgruntled ex navy man hired by a military contractor – despite his record indicating that this was not a very good idea. The flags will fly at half mast, the pundits will tell you the administration could have stopped this happening, the GOP will say it’s because of Benghazi, the families of those who were killed will join with the families of other shooting victims to demand action – and in a month it will be life and usual and congress saying it is the price of a true democracy.
AND The House will vote to repeal Obamacare for the 41st time.
And they seem to have no idea how dumb and stupid it makes them look – each time with less and less support from anyone
True 99ts. And if it weren’t the Navy shooter, it would have been PBO’s “womanless” golf games.
I thought of that when I saw the picture of PBO being briefed on the shooting – by a woman.
Hang in there, Linda. We feel it, too.
thanks!
I am just reading & listening to lots of stuff today – and gathering my thoughts.
between the UN report on Syria CW, the CO floods, the stupidity of the gop (defund ACA, shut down gov’t ….. etec) …… so many things out of synch in the world….. and then this gun violence, I have little to say today
I had to just move away from it all for a bit, late afternoon/early evening. That helped somewhat!
Very well done by the DoD. Thanks for posting it, LP.
My pleasure, Bobfr.
when the people of Colorado won’t get off their buts and vote against the NRA there is no hope in this country. From now on our elected officials are afraid to do the right thing or they face a special election. How can anyone waste their time on changing the madness in this country when the entire country has lost their ever loving minds. Until each and every one us loses a loved one to a mass murder nothing will change.
I was surprise what happen in Colorado. People didn’t get off their butts and vote in 2010, that is the reason we have Boehner as speaker, and those crazy ass Tea party folks.
Annie..although we can blame the electorate…one of the things that we should have learned from PBOs campaign…is that it takes organization to get folks to the polls…we have got to remember this…that we have to Motivate and then Organize the GOTV or it will not happen…only 17% of the electorate voted in Colorado…17% decided their fate…
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – there is debate about who said this first – but such debate is irrelevant to the truth of the words.
#EnoughAlready …. covers many topics and I’m glad @OFA is pushing it ….
Yes We Can
The NRA continues to demand a blood sacrifice.
I don’t know how these people in Congress can sleep at night. The NRA leaders have no heart, no soul, so it doesn’t concern them one bit when people are gun down.
Annie, they sleep the same as every barbarian since the beginning of time because they have absolutely no concern for anything or anyone except themselves.
#EnoughAlready
#RestoreWellRegulatedToThe2nd
How much is enough?? The worship of guns and gun violence is deeply embedded in our culture. When the public come to understand that their children, their families, their workplaces are never going to be safe until they vote the GOP out of office and the NRA is totally discredited and loses its funding and power. That is when things will change.
There aren’t enough adjectives for me to describe these hateful people.
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/09/most-awful-farm-bill-ever-moving-forward-2.html
The House leadership proposal would allow states to cut off SNAP benefits to most adults who are receiving or applying for SNAP, including parents with children as young as 1 year old, if they are not working or participating in a work or training program for at least 20 hours a week. This provision, based on an amendment to the original House farm bill offered by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL), authorizes states to cut off an entire family’s food assistance benefits, including their children’s — and for an unlimited time — if the parents do not find a job or job training slot.
The provision gives states a strong financial incentive to take up this option.
Oh yeah…it gets worse…..read the link
df, fortunately it will never become law because President Obama won’t sign it and the votes to override his veto don’t exist.
That said, I agree completely with you that no lexicon contains enough words to describe how despicable these people are.
these are some of the priorities we ought to be mobilizing around & hitting the street with righteous outrage – yet somehow the extreme left is putting its energy in choice of Fed Chair ( something they can’t influence )
Pick on the poor. It’s as if these Republicans hate the poor. They are evil. The poor didn’t cause the economy crisis, it was the rich. If they cut off food stamps, kids could go hungry, you know the kids they say have a right to be born. I guess once they are born to hell with them.
Do they ever wonder why violence and hate are spreading across the country – if you had nothing and no way to feed your family – what would you do to avoid them dying of starvation? In my world there are no limits on how long people can claim unemployment benefits – there are many schemes that require people to be looking for work that have come and gone – no-one has the perfect solution to cover everyone – BUT – starving people is really not a beneficial option to anyone. Rep Southerland is looking for the votes of those who live on social security and medicare – who don’t want those “others” to get any of their taxes.
Lawrence’s Rewrite was very moving tonight … if you missed it, he showed all of the times President Obama had to address the nation since assuming the presidency, due to mass shootings around our country.
Yes, it was moving jacquelineoboomer.
2009
Jan. 8, 2011
July 20, 2012
Aug. 5, 2012
Dec. 14, 2012
Sept. 16, 2013.
Ho much can we continue to take? I tremble for myself, my brother, my nieces, my great nieces, my great nephew, my neighbors, my friends, every child in a school, every teacher in a classroom, everyone standing in line in a store , at a game, just everywhere we go these days. It makes me so painful knowing that money, greed, and power are the coward elements these vile people in Congress hide behind. It feels helpless in every sense of the word.
I am sad, but I am not going to stop going to stop helping Gabby and Mark and the others who are still fighting in some way to keep fighting for justice in this crazy world. We just can’t give in to these fools and their money. I am just so tired, yet I have a brother who is in the line of nuts and sick people like this person today everyday of his life, and it scares the hell out of me everyday of my life. It could be anyone of us any day of the week. Just think about it. We have to change this evil in our nation. We have to.
Good night Chips and all of my loving TOD family. I am in so much pain. So much. ((((( Love you all so much.)))))))HZ
I think we all need a good dose of a favorite song tonight – something soothing to calm us down. I suggest we all find one we love, close our eyes, and listen to it.
Be well and sleep well, HZ! Hugs from me to you!
David Frum has his moments. This series of tweets
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/09/16/2625881/conservatives-surprising-rules-covering-mass-shootings/
resulted in this one
davidfrum @davidfrum
Hundreds of people are tweeting at me that they don’t care what I think. I sense a philosophical conundrum embedded there.
11:23 AM – 16 Sep 13
which helped me smile today
Crazies run wild … this guy’s in custody, but we might want to light candles and/or pray for our President again tonight, as I know many of us would do anyway!
‘Antichrist Hunter’ Found With Rifle and 11K Rounds Charged For Threatening to Kill Obama
http://aattp.org/anti-christ-hunter-found-with-rifle-and-11k-rounds-charged-for-threatening-to-kill-obama/
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=PBO
Thank you, darlin’!
I find it a lovely way to show one cares – before the days of MightyPamela an internet friend from Colorado sent me there when things became somewhat overwhelming in my life.
I find it like sitting on the bank of a stream or wading in the shallows of the sea – an internet world of calm.
Lovely thought. Music will often do that for me, as well.
I just read the article in detail – highlights a comment from Bobfr today – this person is called crazy, on the blog, in the comments. No-one has yet suggested that the Washington shooter today was crazy. Why would that be?
I think there have been things mentioned about today’s shooter that suggested he had PTSD from 9-11 because he lived in the Bronx at the time and was traumatized (his father said that, and I heard he also had told the police in another state that he had suffered from it, which I guess may have meant he’s been diagnosed) … and he also had been to anger management classes or something, and I believe had received treatment at a VA clinic.
Not everyone receiving treatment for mental issues can be considered “crazy” (and, of course, we shouldn’t use that word for mental disabilities).
The guy in this article, however, who thinks President Obama is the anti-Christ personifies the very definition of “crazy,” in my book, and I don’t mind admitting it or using that term in his case.
Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert 16m
———————————————-
Pew: 67% (!!) support Obama on Syria. so the @politico headline for story? Poll: Syria Won’t Give up Weapons http://politi.co/16eN4aa #classic
——————————————————————
When will it be enough? When the American people say it is enough. Apathy is high and most Americans just let it “go”. I remember when the tide turned during the civil rights struggles. The images Americans saw was too much……..finally (seeing black men hanging in the trees wasn’t enough), The collective consciousness must be woken up, I thought Sandy Hook would of done it…….if the killing of innocence wasn’t enough I don’t know what it will take.
Sadly, it will take something even more horrible than Sandy Hook. In numbers and circumstances. And with more than one shooter.
I too thought that Sandy Hook would be the turning point. It wasn’t. Unbelievably sad isn’t it ?
We’re due a smile or two especially after today.
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/09/16/a-smile-or-two/