Americans Need to see Graphic Mass Shooting Images

Posted on by under education, Election 2022, Free Press Issues, guns, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

My friend and sometimes writing partner (we’re working on it!) has written about what it just might take to wake up this nation to the horrific scenes we are enabling when we cast a vote for a politician who cares more about his own bank account than our children’s lives. And Jeff has a suggestion that I think is spot on! Thank you, Jeff!

On The Fence Voters

As the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Two more mass shootings within days of each other present an opportunity to finally do something – anything, for crying out loud about the pathetic and useless gun laws that make the United States a laughingstock in the civilized world.

The anger we’re seeing right now, from politicians to sports celebrities and most of our fellow American citizens, is palpable. It’s not as if we haven’t seen this level of anger before. We certainly have. But this time feels different. I hope it’s different.

Time will tell, of course, because the attention span of folks in this country continues to get shorter and shorter. And that is why we must go where we have not gone before. It’s time for the American people to see the vile and horrific photos from mass shootings like the one experienced at Robb…

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42 thoughts on “Americans Need to see Graphic Mass Shooting Images”

  1. [Over the last 30 years, whenever I would hear of parents mourning their child’s untimely and needless violent death, I would add some element to the fictional account below, which was originally penned in the early 1990s. I would find bewildering then inconceivable the commonly held theistic notion that God would/will enable one praying couple’s child to be spared a brutal death while allowing another praying couple’s child to painfully perish.]
    ___________

    LISTENING to her teenaged daughter’s recorded screams, the distraught mother could not contain her grief. With heaving sobs, she stood to leave the courtroom, only to have her weakened knees buckle and collapse onto the courtroom floor. Gasps came from many spectators (some others she’d suspected to be but voyeurs), as the bailiff, district attorney, and even defense council, rushing to assist the bereaved woman. Slowly, gently facilitating the trembling frail woman to her feet, the three courtroom officials somehow misperceived stability in her pale expression and gradually pulled away their hands. But she was so shaken by the prosecution’s key evidence — that of the accused’s own trophy audio-video of her only child’s last tortured hours alive — she fell hard, flat unconscious.

    The night she was kidnapped, the desperate mother had locked her daughter out of the house in an attempt to correct the otherwise average girl’s increasing tendency to breach curfew. It was the first (and tragically final) time the mother had, still with much reluctance, attempted such a tough-love measure. Only it had gone the most horribly wrong.

    By all accounts, the mother had been a fine parent, as was the girl’s father; although he, until then healthy, had died suddenly of a massive coronary less than a month after his “little princess” had been prolongedly tortured, then murdered in the worst way. The girl’s assailant had caused her all the real hell any parent wishes against their child ever having to nightmare about, let alone actually instinctively enduring for the sake of surviving the atrocity, only to be snuffed out at day’s end anyway.

    And that appeared to have been the last straw. …

    Suddenly everyone on Earth was aware of an unprecedentedly profound Great Change, and one that would become a far better existence than just moments before. The planet-wide awakening was a massive shift that would finally find favor for the most materially, physically, mentally and spiritually poor people of all.

    For starters, every fortunate person was forced, as though by true magic, to empathically share in the anguish suffered by the greatest life-sentence affliction that Fate can cruelly, yet with cold apathy, reserve for a parent — a child lost to a torturous death. Now all bore a tiny portion — thus one sometimes imperceivable — of that enormous emotional turmoil otherwise suffered solely by those individuals who’d received the lottery-jackpot-odds lousiest of parental luck.

    In rehabilitative return, those most unfortunate parents who’d suffered such unjust extreme loss, inexplicably felt very great relief from their overwhelming affliction. Their trembling hands slowly left their tear-streaked faces, for their heavy hearts no longer suffered the agony alone.
    With the supernatural change, however involuntary, when all shared in such a terrible personal toll, it became a literal — rather than just the common figurative — sharing of grief. It was analogous to a fiscally imprudent national government that had invested a large sum of treasury funds into an eventually losing deal; but with the shortfall shouldered by the large collective citizenry, the burden on the individual taxpayer was so much greatly lessened, if not unnoticeable.

    Rather than being specific thought invasively transmitted and received, it was loosely comparable to an expecting husband’s sympathy pains suffered for his greatly laboring pregnant wife. Even academics agreed it was akin to everyone having been spontaneously cerebrally re-hardwired to literally share in others’ dreadful suffering, like so many undisturbed antennas suddenly receiving the immensely distressed signals from a few isolated agonized antennas.

    Most assumed the change was implemented by a kindly sentient omnipotent source. This was defined by monotheists as God, and by polytheists as multiple powerful spirits; while others believed greatly advanced caring alien-race monitors were responsible. Many secular humanists theorized it was simply the good within humankind itself psychically coming to long-overdue overpowering conscience terms with the disproportionate injustices suffered by some but not by most others.

    Of course the change was also well received by many other worldwide examples of disproportionate suffering, notably that of desperately poor citizens of developing nations wanting for the most basic of life’s necessities. Indeed, great empathic relief was felt long before the arrival of overflowing shipments of water purification devices, as well as the exponentially larger quantities of food and medicine than ever before — all gratefully given by the prosperous nations because the planet’s privileged people were abruptly enduring what had consumed the world’s most needy for far too long. And in return, the fortunate givers felt physically and mentally so much better.

    Although initially the otherwise fortunate felt indignant by the change, that they’d done nothing personally wrong to justify the unfavorable empathy they’d have to endure, soon it no longer felt like an imposition but rather a universal effect in which all were naturally wanting to treat all affliction, just as though it was in fact one’s very own turmoil. And contrary to the usual human-history pendulum swing of ideological and political mood, the Great Change was a permanently solidified authentic sense of others’ upheaval, therefore no chance would remain of all reverting to the unjust existential norm of yore. …

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Heartbreaking update: Due to miscommunication, Uvalde police assumed the situation was a barricaded intruder instead of an active shooter, that’s why they waited over an hour before entering the school. The mayor is livid! Latest coverage from Good Morning America:

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Thank you for sharing!!.. as I have said before, it is the people that one needs to work with and hopefully with technology folks can make a difference, communicate with each other and make changes… in order to pursue their own agenda, the politicians, leadership, etc have teams at their home base monitoring the thinking of the people and are simply telling the people what they wish to hear, whether it is guns, religion, climate, etc… until the people get motivated and make a difference, the leadership will just “kick the can down the road” and nothing will change… 🙂

    Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend and until we meet again….
    May the road rise to meet you
    May the wind be always at your back
    May the sun shine warm upon your face
    The rains fall soft upon your fields
    May green be the grass you walk on
    May blue be the skies above you
    May pure be the joys that surround you
    May true be the hearts that love you.
    (Irish Saying)

    Liked by 1 person

    • So true, and if the people don’t wake up soon and realize what needs to be done, vote out the corruption that is allowing these things to keep happening, then one day the people will look around and realize that they no longer have the rights and freedoms they once had, that there is a dictatorship and they are being herded like sheep. Sigh. Thanks, Dutch, for your words and the beautiful Irish Saying! Have a great weekend!

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    • I dunno, my friend … I think maybe at least those of us who have children or grandchildren of our own would be sickened by the photos and more determined than ever to DO SOMETHING! But, perhaps I’m giving humans more credit than they deserve. Sigh.

      Meanwhile, it’s the weekend, so get out there and do something fun!!! xx

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  6. Something very strange is going on. As we gather more information about this case, news report reveals that the Uvalde police were ordered to stand down for 45 minutes before they entered the school! The Uvalde police dept are now being investigated and held to account.

    “Go in there! Go in there!” Women shouted at officers as the officers stood there and did not go into the school to intervene and prevent the carnage.

    https://thepostmillennial.com/uvalde-police-stood-outside-school-while-parents-urged-them-to-go-inside-during-shooting

    Liked by 1 person

  7. What is more important children or the freedom to carry guns. Sadly to too many, the answer will be guns. Arm the police, then it’s arm the parents, then it’s arm the teachers. Madness which is killing innocent children. The argument will continue until the NRA is banned from bankrolling those in power.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Well, I know what you and I would answer, but you can find how the rest of the nation feels by the simple fact that there are nearly 1/3 more guns in this nation than there are people. At one point, there was talk of trying to make it mandatory that every household have at least one gun! This country has a serious problem when the majority seem to care more about their right to own guns than they care about their own children. The argument will continue … for a long time … longer than I will be on this earth … and I suspect it will only end when a dictator takes over and bans guns for his own purposes.

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  8. Schools are made safe by:

    1. Restricting entry to one place and by requiring photo ID for non-students. That’s right. Even parents must show picture ID to get on campus. All other doors are locked against outside entry.

    2. Camera security systems are working 24/7 during the school year. This system is accessible remotely by law enforcement and first responders. And it activates in each room when the campus goes on lock down.

    3. One on-campus, armed security officer per 800 students.

    4. Dedicated telecommunication system that allows direct communication between law enforcement and staff.

    5. Nearly all young gunmen demonstrate severe mental illness days, weeks and even years before they go nova. Authorities must make sure psychotic young men receive treatment and that it is recorded on the legal record. Such a record will pop up during a background check and prohibit the psychotic men from purchasing weapons.

    These corrective actions have already been put in place all over the country. They were not in place in Uvalde Elementary School
    Thus, the gunman entered unimpeded and law enforcement stood around sucking its thumb for nearly an hour.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Why, though, should we commit our children to spending 8 hours a day basically in a military compound when it’s so much simpler and less costly to simply ban guns? Your suggestions are at one extreme of the spectrum, while mine are at the other extreme: repeal the 2nd Amendment.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jill, The elementary school in my small, rural town is hardened much like I described in my comment. So are a great many schools throughout the US. These schools are hardly military compounds. You can literally drive through my town in less than 10 seconds. It has a post office, a convenience store, a gas station, an auto repair shop and a mafia law firm. Fat chance of taking people’s guns away from them around here. Schools in Democrat Party-run urban centers have been authentic military compounds for decades. Students must even pass through metal detectors. The mass shootings take place in small towns that are easy pickings. Uvalde, Texas is a sleepy little town. Apparently the police are a bunch of donut eaters who soiled their pants the day evil came to their town.

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        • I’m happy if things are working so well for the school in your small, rural town. But the reality is that it is not a solution that works in large, metropolitan areas, nor will it ever. There are a dozen reasons I could give you, but I’m tired and I’ve said it all before. All of this … all the expense and the cloistered feeling the children must have, is detritus to keep from actually doing something like making guns a hell of a lot harder to get. That, to me, is the only long-term viable solution.

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    • 1. Why stop at schools? Most mass shootings don’t occur in schools. Why not require photo IDs for entry into churches, mosques, tabernacles, shopping malls, night clubs, convenience stores, theatres, Music festivals. Have all entries locked until proof of identity is given.

      2. Likewise for security cameras. Ensure no publicly accessible space in not monitored 24/7. We know active monitoring of video by people is unreliable – no one can concentrate on a monitor screen for extended periods, so ensure there is automation software to detect suspicious behaviour and alert law enforcement agencies the moment it is detected The technology already exists.

      3. Again why stop at schools? Why not ensure there’s at least one armed security officer per 800 people no matter where. Last year, one music event on NZ attracted 60,000 fans. That would have necessitated 75 armed security offices instead of the actual none I’m sure that would have made us more safe. And if more is better why not up it to 1 per 500, or 200?

      4. Why stop at schools? Ensure every organisation has direct access with law enforcement.

      5. Hindsight is 20/20 vision. Very seldom do the intentions of deranged or radicalised individuals come to the notice of the authorities, yet so often the the signs had been there all along. The solution is mandatory reporting with stiff penalties for anyone who fails to report suspicious activity. That applies to teachers, social workers, clergy, the medical profession, counselors, but most importantly it applies to you and me – members of the public, family, friends, fellow worshippers, work colleagues etc as we are more likely to have more contact with deranged/radicalised individuals than anyone else. But, don’t many/most pro gun supporters oppose background checks?

      I think I’m carrying your recommendations to their logical conclusions. What you recommend is not a free society. Think of George Orwell’s 1984 or even today’s China.

      The NRA have claimed that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, yet in the case of the most recent US school shooting, law enforcement personnel more heavily armed and armoured than my country’s infantry waited almost an hour while the shootings were being carried out before acting.

      Compare that to NZ where police who are not routinely armed were able to detain a mass shooter armed with semi-automatics within 15 minutes of the the event being reported. Before you make the claim that we have had our guns taken away, we haven’t. By world standards, NZ has a high rate of gun ownership. But no one is permitted to carry weapons for the purpose of self defence. And “weapon” doesn’t apply only to guns. Carrying knives, screwdrivers, baseball bats – anything where the intent is to use it for offensive or defensive purposes is illegal. We’re much safer for it, and what’s more, much more free.

      Liked by 3 people

        • Because that’s like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound to the chest caused by an AR-15.

          Let me ask you this. How does locking doors improve freedom/liberty?

          Liked by 1 person

          • Barry, Actually it is the solution that is working all over the United States and would have worked in Uvalde had a teacher not left a door propped open. Simple is best, most efficient and most efficacious.

            Liked by 1 person

            • Actually, it is a costly and ultimately unworkable solution that leaves the poor kids feeling like prisoners in their schools. Get rid of the damn guns and then there will be no need for locks, armed guards, and more draconian solutions.

              Liked by 1 person

            • Working well all over the US? Who are you kidding? The states with the lowest gun death rates are those with the lowest rate of gun ownership. Tell my why it is necessary for ordinary citizens to have access to military style weapons at all? The second amendment was created in a time when the US didn’t have a standing military force, and a militia might well have been a practical solution at that time. Now the US has the most powerful military in the world – more powerful that the next 10 most powerful forces combined. No militia, no matter how “well regulated” it is could stand against it.

              What you’re advocating is a society where everyone is perpetually looking over their shoulder, or double and triple checking every door just in case there’s a bad guy with a gun lurking nearby. Everyone needs to be on a high level of alert all the time. You may not be able to rid of the bad guy (we haven’t) but a bad guy without a gun is much less dangerous and causes much less harm than a bad guy with a gun.

              Liked by 1 person

              • I’ve asked that question — why does any civilian need military-style weaponry — many a time and never yet gotten a coherent answer, leading me to believe what I thought all along: it’s to make weak men look tough, it’s an ego trip, it’s rather the same as “look here, mine’s bigger than yours is”. These once were banned, but Congress refuses to renew the ban, so now any jerk with an axe to grind can buy one just like buying a pack of chewing gum. Sigh.

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          • Well said, Barry. There are those who would turn our schools into armed prison camps. I did a post a few years ago about an armed teacher who left a loaded gun in the desk drawer while he stepped out to chat with another teacher. Guess what happened? Yep, a kid got the gun and … BANG!

            Liked by 1 person

        • Because it DOESN’T stop there!!! Remember Buffalo two weeks ago … a grocery store??? We are not safe ANYWHERE as long as every loon in the country has a right to not only own a gun, but carry it around with him in public!

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      • Good points all, my friend! I no longer feel comfortable even walking into my local grocery store or bookstore, about the only two places I ever go anyway. I don’t feel comfortable walking in my own neighborhood, as there have been two shootings here in recent years. We cannot turn every public venue into a prison camp … it’s much easier, safer, saner, and effective to make it nearly impossible to buy a gun!

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  9. In case any of your readers do not go to Jeff’s blog, here is the comment I left there:
    Good post, Jeff. No, great post! But the Repugs, and their owners, the NRA and the Gun Manufactuers and Sellers, won’t let it happen. It is like when they say “Now is not the time to talk about gun control!” If not now, WHEN?/i> If we cannot be grossed out by the real pictures of the real stupidity of gun violence, then HOW CAN WE KNOW THE TRUTH?
    The Repuglycans cannot abide truth, or realism. As long as they can hide what they do to     We the People, they can hide their guilt! It is time to confront them, make them face the Court of Public Opinion, and see how they fare. You are right, the time is now! The difference between this and the pictures of aborted fetuses, is we Know these photos are real whereas we pretty much can be sure the pictures of the fetuses are doctored.

    Liked by 2 people

    • “If not now, WHEN?” Exactly. Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and so many more, yet the assholes continue to fight to increase the number of guns in the hands of civilians. It’s madness, it’s Einstein’s definition of insanity!

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  10. As ALWAYS he SPEAKS sENSE.Done properly this could revolt people enough to make a genuine call for change instead of just tolerating it because some two-bit politician tells him there’s no place to go but more guns in more hands.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Agreed. Maybe it’s time to shock people out of their stupour, their complacency, time to say “Look, this is a direct result of the policies of the people YOU voted for!!!” It’s past time for guns to be highly regulated in this nation, but instead we keep making them easier and easier to get, even for an 18-year-old kid. 😔
      Cwtch

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