It took less than a year for the election of Donald Trump to lead to some of the most grim, horrifying results imaginable. He is a master at sewing discord, division, and hatred-inflaming rhetoric, and leaving a trail of chaos and violence in his wake. From his early campaign rallies in 2016, when he encouraged his supporters to "slug" those raising their voices in opposition to him "for him", and he would pay any resulting legal fines for them, he has, and is continuing to, demonstrate that he is the worst possible role model the nation could possibly have, certainly by far the worst that has ever occupied the White House. He intentionally baits his opposition, insults allied nations while at the same time having no compunctions against praising the most dictatorial of world leaders, whether they are friend or foe. Trump's political agenda is one thing, as confusing, convoluted, and self-serving as it seems to be. His personal style, breeding division, animosity, and violence among those observing his actions, may be even more insidious in its effects on the nation.
Its dangerous enough having such a man in the nation's top leadership role, appointing like-minded people to sensitive governmental positions. Our nation does have some controls on presidential powers by our system of checks and balances, including the legislatures, the judiciary, the upcoming elections, and powers reserved for the individual states. These, however, have yet to exert significant influence, if any at all, on Trump. He seemingly has no internal system of checks and balances on his own dynamics and behavior, and the Republicans who control power in Congress act like his willing servants, beholden to his desires and whims, regardless of whatever personal sense of morality and ethics they may otherwise claim. The resulting picture creates a virtual "perfect storm" in the White House, spreading its ripples throughout the nation and into the rest of the world. We are all intensely watching the drama play out, and love it or hate it, we are all under its influence, and effected by it, in negative, divisive, potentially violence-prone ways.
It is impossible not to be aware of the dramatic increase in irrational, unprovoked outbursts of violence and assaultive behavior in our society. The school shootings are one especially tragic and heart-breaking example of the deplorable uptick in violence, and one that everyone is rightly raising their cries demanding something be done to prevent. Yet, we have heard these cries before, and little to nothing has changed to offset the tragic occurrences. In fact, they have become more frequent, some school-related gun incidence reported on an average of one every 2 to 3 days so far this year. Students themselves are now raising their voices, louder than any others this time. Maybe that will make a difference, get their parents and other responsible adults behind them, and shame the politicians, the established powers, and the gun lobby into allowing some vitally needed changes.
While the gun issue is the key stumbling block preventing effective action being taken to reduce and ultimately eliminate the occurrence of mass shootings, those defending gun possession, like the NRA, do have some arguments in their favor. Mental health is a major issue, our system of preventing mentally disturbed individuals from being able to buy guns needs to be massively improved, and some ways of converting weapons into rapid-firing guns should be banned, and has NRA approval. Their position fails to resolve the problem, though. Mental health problems will always exist, and trying to squeeze money out of Congress to create any mental health detection and prevention program that would be even partially more effective than what now exists is virtually impossible. The NRA also consistently fights against waiting periods for purchases, so that effective background checks can be accomplished. It also allows all kinds of private sales and gun show loopholes to occur, so that control of who has weapons can never really take place.
Trump's proposal to arm school teachers, paying them a bonus for carrying a weapon and being trained to use it, is, of course, no solution at all. The public is against it, school administrators and teachers are against it, and students are against it. It would only be a step towards accepting being in a society which has adapted to violence occurring at any moment, and a step towards an open-carry society which in reality makes none of us more safe. The only people favoring such a proposal are those who for their own reasons believe that there should be no limitations placed on the right of citizens to buy and possess armed weapons, including even AR-15's and other types of rapid-firing assault weapons.
The kicker, of course, is that the NRA, and the politicians who court its favor, fully support military-style, assault weapons being legitimately sold, no registration, no control, apparently believing it's a basic right granted by the Constitution several centuries ago. The types of guns then existing were allowed to be in the hands of regulated civilian militias in those days. This is a far cry from the types of guns now readily available to be in the hands of civilians and the bands of unregulated militias currently active in many states. The NRA and its supporters fail to make a distinction between guns for use in hunting, marksmanship practice, and domestic self-defense, and those that are for use in the military at times of war, otherwise their only use is for wanton random killing of numerous people at once. In defending assault rifles and other rapid-firing weapons being in civilian hands, the NRA and the politicians who support them are complicit in every mass shooting involving such weapons since the ban on them was overturned, and are further complicit in every subsequent attempt to reinstitute the ban which has failed to be approved by Congress.
Two major thrusts are necessary. The first, focusing opposition to the NRA, and the backing of anti-gun legislation, should be limited to the immediate need to restrict assault-style weapon availability to the public, and branding a "badge of shame" characterization on those who resist these obvious efforts to allow our school children, and the rest of the civilian population as well, to live more freely from the danger of assault weapons being in the wrong hands. The second thrust of the drive for a much safer, more civil society for all of us, is to label the role model that enters our living rooms daily, emanating from Donald Trump himself, needs to be clearly labeled for what it is, a highly divisive, destructive, and dangerous model for our society, adding to the conflict and violence that is becoming all too prevalent in our nation. When Trump rants, insults, and threatens "fire and fury", is that the model we want our children, ourselves, and other people to follow. If not, we need to speak up loudly and clearly, and vote with real conviction. Our values, and our nation's future, is at stake. We could go in either direction, Trump's, or those deserving of much more respect. The direction we take is up to us. It could not be more important!
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