20 june 2015, shoot first, ask questions never

Saturday 20th June 2015

Once the immediate horror of the charleston shootings moved to consideration, the next thought was torn between the fork of race or guns. The latter won a moment later, when the news reported that the murderer received a gun for his 21st birthday present. Typically, jonathan freedland managed both. He points to the excellent jon stewart commentary. Somehow america, such a leading global light in so many ways, is unable to wrestle with its twin race and gun pathologies. This time, it's not different. Last year there were 283 mass shootings in america. 283. Here’s another much-commented on string of thought: 525 people have been shot in america by police so far this year, probably more by the time you check the record. Every day in america 7 children are shot. Yet even when the american president puts the full weight of his office behind it, attempts at gun control are crushed. The people’s rights as set out in constitution, or more accurately in the willfully literalist translation of it, are sacrosanct. Even though the right to bear arms makes no more sense than the right to arm bears. Sometimes, it feels good to be a european.