Grin, Aim and Bear It

The Schloss-Blog is thinking guns today. 

And lives lost. And lives threatened.

While Robert Crimo III was gunning down more than 40 people - killing 7 in Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, two police officers providing security at a July 4 parade in Philadelphia were also shot. 

And in Sacramento, that same day, one person was shot dead and four others were wounded outside Mix Nightclub

This is America.

The Chicago Bears, whose practice headquarters are nearby to Highland Park in Lake Forest, Illinois, issued a statement condemning the violence and expressing their condolences.

Thoughts and prayers, they say, thoughts and prayers. The Chicago White Sox had a moment of silence before their game in honor of the victims in the Chicago suburb.

Who cares?

Everyone expressed a statement of thoughts and prayers but who did something about it, anything about it?

No one.

Vice President Kamala Harris, in Chicago for scheduled speaking appearance at a convention of educators, among America's most vulnerable in shooting episodes, stopped by Highland Park before heading back to Washington, D.C.

Thoughts and prayers, she expressed, thoughts and prayers.

Someone tell me what good "thoughts and prayers" do. Does it keep AR-15s and other weaponry of war out of the hands of the Robert Crimos of the world?

Or the Salvador Ramoses of Uvalde infamy? 

Of course not.

I'll let Mike Florio of NBC Sports and Pro Football Talk take it from here:

Thoughts and prayers. At this point, it’s more caricature than cliche. And yet that worn out phrase has made its way into the [Bears'] statement. What else, really, can be said?

The problem is simply beyond our ability to properly diagnose and repair. We just can’t do it. We can try. We can make minor strides. But it’s never going to be conclusively solved because we lack the political will to do it. The people may want it, but the politicians we’ve elected will not do it. And those who think it’s simple to replace the politicians who resist meaningful safety laws that don’t prevent responsible gun ownership don’t understand how a toxically-flawed two-party system truly works.

Here’s the reality. If you’re going to live here, you need to accept getting shot to death in a public place as one of the daily risks of leaving your house. Go to the grocery store, parade, church, school, wherever, and you could be shot and killed. Someone who has no business having a gun possibly will have gotten a gun and possibly will show up and take aim at you or those you have a solemn duty to protect but can’t.

Thank you, Mike.

Think about his words in his commentary, sparked by the Bears issuing their "thought-and-prayers" statement:

*If you're going to live here, you need to accept getting shot to death in a public place..."

Going to the movies anytime soon? People in Aurora, Colorado, did in in 2012: 82 of them were shot; 12 never made it home.

Gong to the grocery store? Payton Gendron is charged with shooting 13 people in a Buffalo grocery store on May 14, 10 of whom never made it home. He allegedly shot Blacks, trying to prevent the elimination of whites.

On the way to church? On June 17, 2015, a white supremacist charged into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed 9 people in a Bible study group. All Black.

Thoughts and prayers, let me hear you.

Let them hear you on Capitol Hill.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mike Florio.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

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Hey Orlando, don't forget to read @RonaRecommends.

And congrats to dear friend @MeredithThompson of Wichita, Kansas, on her retirement.