Parkland, FL - Just Another Massacre

Thoughts and prayers. (Photo courtesy of palmbeachpost.com)

I guess all our "thoughts and prayers" from last time weren't enough...

We don't like school shootings every 60 hours? Tough.

Can't infringe on rights the Constitution guarantees.

Think some more dead children come before that? Honey, please.

We've become like moving targets on a shooting range.

NRA has bought the Congress... Nothing's gonna change.

Maybe if we found some way to siphon off their wealth;

Taxed gun sales and used the cash for funding mental health...

But - of course - we won't do that...  Or anything at all.

Only tired "thoughts and prayers." The writing's on the wall;

This is our new normal and it's likely to persist.

Just another massacre. We'll add it to the list.

Too Soon?

 

Still too soon for talking about gun control, I guess...

Haven't finished cleaning - yet another - tragic mess.

Now is not the time to ask why 26 more died.

Maybe we're supposed to wait until the blood has dried.

At the rate that things are going though, there's one small hitch,

When we say we're too close to the situation - Which?

Were we still too close to Vegas?  When's the proper time

To discuss prevention of the next mass shooting crime?

There'll be lots of "thoughts and prayers" and silences observed

But, we future shooting victims would be better served

If, instead of waiting, in respect for all our dead,

We insist that Congress passes gun control, instead.

Universal background checks...  Is that too much to ask?

It gives us a fighting chance by helping to unmask

People who should not have guns...  Like guys who beat their wife;

If someone is dangerous they should be banned for life.

Dear Congress... Spare Us

 

Spare me the condolences and useless thoughts and prayers,

Lowered flags and silent moments...  No one really cares.

I'm so sick and tired of the empty gestures when

Nothing ever changes...  And it's happening again.

"Now is not the time to talk about it," Sanders said.

We should "come together" for the wounded and the dead.

Background checks and gun control would not have stopped this crime,

Therefore, we should just do nothing, like we did last time...

And the time before that and the all too many more

When they've offered thoughts and prayers in speeches from the floor.

Lowered flags?  I'm sure that - this time - that'll do the trick.

I think I might go and vomit now...  I'm feeling sick.

Had Enough?

Gun advocates dispute this number, saying that some shootings are "just gang violence."

In my high-school student days ('though it's been many years)

Tests and late assignments were the sum of all my fears...

Trying to be popular though, sadly, I was not

But I never worried that, one day, I might get shot.

Not like kids today, where high-school shootings are routine;

Added to the pressures that they're feeling as a teen

Is it any wonder that their tests show lower scores?

They're distracted by crazed gunmen coming through the doors.

I am not a helicopter parent, but...  Come on!

As I watch more grieving parents mourn a child who's gone

I have got to wonder why our daughters and our sons

Can't get some protection from the lunatics with guns.

Have we grown so powerless that we've just given up?

Let the NRA control the conversation?  Yup.

Time to take the power back.  We have to make a squawk.

Tell your politicians that it's time to walk the walk.

Biometrics? Not A Shot

It would be a start. (Photo/www.thefirearmblog.com)

Massachusetts' Senator Ed Markey just proposed

Making guns more safe...  Surprise!  The NRA's opposed.

Wouldn't want to make it hard for kids to shoot a gun;

NRA wants weapons free for use by anyone.

Biometrics guaranteeing only owners may

Use their guns could, possibly, get in somebody's way.

Plus, it wouldn't work at all, the NRA insists;

Suicidal teenagers would simply slit their wrists.

Wouldn't want to violate their rights; prevent mistakes.

Accidental deaths are rising?  Oh well, them's the breaks.

Can't blame Ed for trying but it is a waste of time:

NRA would fight this if it took their final dime.

Markey wants to make a point I guess, and yet, the flaw

Is he doesn't have a prayer he'll make his point a law.

NRA blocked background checks so what would make Ed think

Safety measures have a shot?  I think his chances stink.

The 113th Congress and the Newtown Parents

Newtown parents joined the President on Air Force One,

Vowing they will never rest until their battle's won;

Flying down to Washington to lobby on the Hill;

Fighting for reforms the NRA would like to kill.

Universal background checks which, most of us agree,

Make good sense and is a measure we'd all like to see

May not pass the Senate which will, seemingly, ignore

Changes that the vast majority are asking for.

How did things get so messed up that it's the NRA

With the only voice that seems to ever get a say?

Newtown parents - those who've buried daughters, wives, and sons -

Speak with more authority on legislating guns.

The 113th Congress - Who Are You Working For, Anyway?

Pistol packin' teachers stationed in the nation's schools;

That's the only change the NRA wants to the rules.

They'll agree to background checks for teachers who are armed...

After all, they wouldn't care to see more children harmed.

That is the extent of any changes that they want.

NRA has always had the influence to daunt

Any politician who attempts to compromise

'cause Wayne LaPierre, their spokesman, stoops to spreading lies.

They're opposed to background checks; they call them registries.

Say we'll come to take their guns away but, honey, please...

That is simply crazy talk. There are no men in black.

We just need a change after the Sandy Hook attack.

Most of us want background checks; that seems the place to start.

We want mental health professionals to play a part.

If the Congress represents The People's will, then they

Need to show us they're not working for the NRA.

Dear NRA... There's a New Sheriff in Town

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gabby Giffords, and Mark Kelly are gambling that they can make a change.

Looks as if the Congress won't ban instruments of war,

Which is what a semi-automatic weapon's for.

Won't restrict the magazines to 15 rounds or less.

Even background checks have caused Conservatives distress.

Claim that it's a registry so we'll know where to start

When we come to pry their guns and cold, dead hands apart.

NRA is threatening to "throw the bastards out."

In the past it's been the only group that's wielded clout.

They should know, another sheriff just rode into to town

And he's got the cash to back the bets that he lays down.

Lately, he and other groups have said they plan to spend

Money on elections and the message that they'd send:

Is that the majority, according to the polls,

Want to see those 3 reforms, want help for tortured souls,

Don't want politicians' specious arguments on rights...

Want them to address concerns that keep us up at nights.

The NRA - WTF? (Wants to Forget)

Since the Newtown massacre the NRA has tried

To deflect attention from the numbers who have died.

(Meanwhile we Americans run out and purchase guns...

Makes me want to swear but I am still afraid of nuns.)

This is what a lobbyist can do when they have cash;

Politicians are afraid the NRA will thrash

Anyone who even tries to bring the issue up.

Is the NRA creating paranoia? Yup.

Once they thought that background checks for everyone was cool;

Advocated for a weapons-free zone at a school.

Now  they say that any list allows our government

To disarm its citizens - with little effort spent.

Now  they want to arm our teachers.  My, how things have changed.

I've begun to fear Wayne LaPierre's become deranged.

Fostering conspiracies appears to be his aim.

Cash is needed if we hope to beat him at his game.

Guns, by Stephen King

Available through Amazon.

Stephen King has written a new essay titled Guns.

Bought it on my Kindle so I didn't freeze my buns.

Only cost a little bit and all the proceeds go

To a fund for gun reform (which could mean lots of dough.)

I would read a laundry list if that's what Stephen wrote.

If he ran for office in a state where I could vote,

I would send him to the Senate; quite a sacrifice...

No new books and I've already read his old ones - twice.

One of them I read before he pulled the book from print,

(Didn't like the Bachman books; they never had a hint

Of the light that's at the core of things that Stephen writes.)

Didn't have  to pull the book; his 1st Amendment rights

Offered him protections which he limited himself.

Thinks it's time we take high-powered weapons off the shelf,

Universal background checks, keep bullet counts to 10,

Funding for our mental health but says that, even then,

We can't ever stop the boys determined to succeed.

Wonder if an age limit is something that we need?

Seems to me these murderers are young and angry men.

Something must be done before it all shakes out again.

Dear Alex Jones, et al. - Really?

(Alex Jones)

Gun enthusiasts - afraid we'll take away their guns...

So far out of touch that their obtuseness simply stuns -

Threatened that they'd go to war in case Obama tries.

Why on earth would anyone sell weapons to these guys?

They're the kind of people who, I think, should be disarmed.

Add them to a registry before someone gets harmed.

Not that it would matter. They could purchase guns at shows.

They won't need a background check...  Thus, on and on it goes.

It's been said; "If everyone is armed we're more polite."

Look across the pond and you'll discover that's not right.

Too late now, that genie's out and it's not going back;

But, we must try something to prevent the next attack.

I don't want to take your guns, but - high round magazines?

They're the kind you often find at massive murder scenes.

Keep the bullet count to 15 lives some killer wrecks,

And we should require universal background checks.

Smeejie Get Your Gun?

(Photo/ REUTERS/Dave Kaup)

In the wake of Sandy Hook, where 20 children died,

Nation in a state of shock; Barack Obama cried.

(He was not the only one who's eyes had sprung a leak

I know that I wept non-stop for the entire week.)

We all swore we'd make a change to stop these killing sprees.

Think that anything will ever happen?  Honey, please.

While the Newtown parents buried daughters and their sons,

People, in the thousands, stood in line to purchase guns.

Weapons sales went through the roof and bullets sold out quick.

Proof, to me, the culture that we live in's pretty sick.

NRA sounds rational when people are afraid.

How far has my own position on this issue strayed?

I've begun to think that arming teachers makes good sense.

Maybe build a moat, or else electrify a fence.

We now have so many guns we can't uncross the line.

There's a gun for everyone...  I wonder who has mine.