Not a Gun Problem?

"Truly heartbreaking news in #Sutherland Springs. Please say a prayer for First Baptist congregation, first responders & the community there"

         This is Texas senator John Coryn's (R-TX) response tweet to the horrible shootings yesterday. "heartbreaking news?" - absolutely, but if Coryn really cared about his constituents' safety from lunatics such as Devin Kelly, he'd push for a firearms sales waiting period in his state (there is none) and support federal background checks (there is no requirement) in TX.

       I hate (sort of, anyway)  to pander to the obvious, but if prayers really had value, one would at least have to consider  that there might have been far fewer deaths in the first place. I get the same reflexive response every time I hear either the "Why do bad things happen to Good people?" sermon or the parson's exhortations to pray  "Because God answers prayers for people of faith." Why? Because 6 million "people of faith" died in the Holocaust. Either they didn't pray hard enough or the sky magus was too busy hurling fireballs around the cosmos  to give a shit. )Or maybe he was watching Tim Tebow  trying to be a pro football player and laughing his arse off.

        All the prayers in the universe apparently  wouldn't be as effective as if someone with a shred of concern and/or common sense  had  looked  at this asshole's Facebook page featuring his auto-loading Ruger AR-566 in the profile photo, compared that fact with his Bad Conduct Discharge (which was for disciplinary and/or emotional issues)  and  said, "Hey! Just maybe  this guy shouldn't be allowed to have a firearm of any sort, never mind an automatic assault weapon"

        Of course the Great Cheetoh immediately pronounced this "not a gun issue,"  as he essentially also did in the recent horrific Las Vegas massacre. If this guy (the shooter) had been even a third generation legal immigrant or a Muslim, instead of a white, native born lunatic, it would have been branded an act of  terrorism, but instead, the Whore of Washington rolled over and assumed the submissive position to the NRA immediately. He called it a "mental illness"  issue.

         So? So any responsible system of background checks would have revealed the shooters' distinctly checkered past and raised the question of his suitability to own  a "banana clip ready" (you know, in case the deer and his closest friends are also armed?)  automatic assault weapon or, in this psychotic's case, even a slingshot. The vast majority of Americans, in poll after poll, favor background checks, not as a way to limit firearms access to responsible gun owners, but as a means to keep assault weapons from seriously disturbed persons such as  the late Devin Kelly.
       

        How did he get the gun? He openly purchased it over the counter at a sporting goods store in Texas, falsely (and unnecessarily)  claiming Colorado residency. Of course,  he lied about having no criminal record, and in the absence of a federal database, waiting period, or federal background check, the merchant, ever eager to sell, did so. No one knew any different. In fact, Kelly had been incarcerated, while in the Air Force, for one year, then awarded a Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) for assaulting both his wife and child ! As an aside, he was also tried for cruelty to animals, a huge red flag re: impaired mental status.

         Unfortunately, a BCD isn't considered a felony unless incarceration is for more than 1 year. Additionally, the Air Force (not atypically of all the uniformed services) did not render any mental assessment, (although in retrospect.....!) choosing instead to discharge him and put the civilian populace at his mercy. Oddly and disturbingly enough, he could have purchased the firearm in Texas even with a felony conviction if five years had elapsed since the act. Meanwhile the Grand Cheetoh plays golf and eats sushi, undoubtedly with ketchup.