Surely no one is surprised anymore.
The decades are littered with the mangled bodies of innocent people dining, dancing, worshipping and sitting in a classroom—victims of mass shootings.
Clearly we’ve experienced events like these so often that, collectively, we can no longer consider it traumatic, can we?
A Republican congressman from Tennessee appears to think so.
Earlier this week three children and three adults were mercilessly killed at a school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sadly, and predictably, there is nothing new about someone bursting onto a school campus or any other public venue and gunning down people going about their mundane routine.
While conservatives were quick to point out that in this particular instance the shooter was transgender, the rest of us were noting that yet another person had unfettered access to guns.
In Tennessee the public does not require background checks, training or permits to carry a firearm. And Joan Q. Public is allowed by law to walk around with the handgun of his or her choice concealed on their person at all times.
Of course, there have been shootings in states where gun laws are slightly stricter than Tennessee’s, and perhaps that’s the knowledge Rep. Tim Burchett was referencing when asked about his response, as a congressman from that state, to the shooting and the ability of Congress to help end these attacks, especially by people who use assault weapons.
“We’re not gonna fix it,” he said. “Criminals are going to be criminals. ”At one point he also stated: “We need a real revival in this country. Let’s call on our Christian ministers and our people of faith.”
I’ve got news for Burchett. His God appears to be just as ineffectual as his congressional counterparts, given that in all these years the thoughts and prayers and hoped for divine intervention has done nothing to prevent a criminal from getting their hands on a gun that will mow down dozens in seconds flat.
“Criminals are going to be criminals.”
Let that be your mantra as you send your child off to class or your spouse off to work. Maybe that will console you when tragedy comes knocking.
