By SJ Otto
After 11 people were shot at the Tree of Life synagogue, in Pittsburgh , this nation then goes through the usual pattern of hand ringing and other predictable routines. There is a call by various politicians and citizens for new gun laws. Every politicians in the nation calls out for a discussion on the various gun laws and possible changes to the gun laws.[1] As can be predicted, these calls fall short of any action and they go silent shortly after the passion of the event (usually a shooting at a church or school) cools down. By now, no one has followed through on any kind of change. It’s a pattern and it has persisted now for years with absolutely no variations. No new gun laws have been enacted and we can expect nothing to change.
Here in Wichita there are groups of people who want to roll back the Kansas gun laws that allow people to carry guns without a permit. A lot of people want to require permits before a person can carry a gun. I oppose that because changing it would allow those who have the money for permits to carry a gun while poor people could not carry a gun. The permits are expensive. That means only wealthy people can carry guns if those changes are made. I would rather see the efforts made to roll back the “stand your ground” laws. Those laws seem to shield a reckless person so they can carry a gun. As it stands, a person can shoot the wrong person or kill them over a frivolous reason. Just recently a white man shot an unarmed black man in a fight over a parking space.
Another problem that may contribute to these church and school shootings is the division and politically charged attitudes that politicians are creating. People are getting fire up from the political rhetoric from speeches and written opinions.
Consider President Donald Trump’s tweets and speeches at his rallies. At first Trump agreed to “ratchet down” the rhetoric that has enflamed people across the country. The nation is deeply divided and people are passionate about their political points of view. Some say that such divisions are responsible for those who have acted out violence, such as Cesar Sayoc who allegedly mailed out all those pipe bombs to Democrats and supporters of Democrats. Then there is the Robert Bowers, who allegedly shot up the Tree of Life synagogue. Acts of hate against Jews and other minorities seem to be way up over the last few years.
At first Trump said he would “ratchet down” his rhetoric against the Democrats and minorities. Some folks are blaming Trump for the rise in hate crimes and verbal attacks by far-right hate groups who feel at ease to attack minorities, such as gays, blacks and foreigners. As Trump crosses this country trying to rally his supporters to support Republicans who are running election campaigns this season, his rhetoric has gotten nasty. For example Trump tweeted:
“There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...”
Trump just can’t seem to shut his big fat mouth or his thumbs as he tweets his angry and hateful messages. It is not surprising he has made a cluster f**k out of trashing foreigners and aliens who want to come here, such as that big caravan that is coming from Central America, but he has also attacked the news media, calling them “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”
There are legitimate reasons to want to put the brakes on people who want to come here illegally and join our nation. Trump goes way overboard. He accused George Soros and other Democrats of paying people to come here from Central America . Such an accusation is totally false and completely absurd. He is trying to use these baseless accusations to motivate his base of support to get out and vote. He is trying to create an atmosphere of fear and hate. It is working.
We all have problems with the mainstream news media from time to time. But to insist that they are “fake news” and “true enemy of the people” is a ridiculous accusation. These are obviously made because Trump has thin skin. He can’t handle criticism. The news media may make mistakes, but they have reported on his idiot actions and his downright stupidity and there is nothing fake about that. We can be thankful that the news media is watching Trump and reporting on his mistakes. If any institution is an “true enemy of the people” it is him. We would all be better off if Trump just kept his big mouth shut about a lot of the things he talks about.
We all know Trump is not going to do that. He will keep on tweeting and mouthing off on things he either knows nothing about or he just makes things up. As long as he is president we can count on Trump to fan the passions of hateful people who take their politics just too passionately.
