The head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says he fears that a drumbeat of mass shootings and other gun violence across the United States could make Americans numb to the bloodshed, fostering apathy to finding solutions rather than galvanizing communities to act.
Director Steve Dettelbach’s comments to The Associated Press came after he met this past week with family members of some of the 18 people killed in October at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine by a U.S. Army reservist who later took his own life.
He said people must not accept that gun violence is a prevalent part of American life.
It’s chilling talking to Americans about gun violence.
They are well past any early desensitization.
And they definitely accept gun violence as a prevalent part of their lives.
Citizens from other countries are truly horrified if you posit the idea if a mass shooting to them, especially involving children.
American responses range from “look, the thing is…bullshit false rationalization they don’t understand” to “I know, it’s fucking bullshit!” followed by a shake of their head and a shrug of their shoulders.
Those are the extremes. Usually it’s just an exasperated sigh.
That’s because we know our leaders don’t give a fuck about the will of the people, and they’ve stacked the deck so voting really doesn’t matter anymore.
Not true, that’s a lazy conservative talking point.
It isn’t “the leaders” and it isn’t both sides, conservatives have led a successful concerted effort to shackle the effects and rights of voters for decades precisely because of how important voting was and still is.
You throwing up your hands and falsely implying there’s no point in voting is dancing to the tune of those who want voting not to matter.
People voted out trump, for example.
Skin of their teeth, but voting got it done.
It’s been 25 years since Columbine and I’ve been voting the whole time. When will it start to work?
You notice trump not being elected president in 2024?
The keystone xl pipeline being canceled.
Transgender ban in the military being reversed, funding for LGBTQ civil rights groups.
Student debt relief in the tens of billions.
Rejoining Paris climate agreement.
Hundreds of thousands of government buildings and vehicles being renovated or replaced to follow sustainable guidelines.
The largest American infrastructure update and development in history.
These changes and many, many more happened in three years because trump was voted out.
Voting matters.
I am not convinced that if I hadn’t voted those things wouldn’t have happened anyway.
Also: Still guns.
I mean that’s just the paradox of voting. One vote doesn’t “matter”, in the sense that elections with thousands to millions of voters are almost never decided by a minute number of votes, but the impact of contributing to a culture of “my vote doesn’t matter” is that people just don’t vote, enough to change the outcome of an election.
I vote and just assume in won’t do anything. That keeps my expectations low so I’m not disappointed and stop voting.
Good point about guns, Biden created the first ever white house gun violence prevention office, provided funding to focus on gun violence prevention, passed the most significant gun reform legislation in decades, launched new strike forces to combat illegal arms trafficking, begin an interagency cooperation program to combat suicide rates, and tons more for gun violence prevention.
Dumps: “I was proud to be the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president you’ve ever had in the White House” before promising to expand gun rights.
Voting matters
Ooo yeah, hit me with that “If you’re disappointed then you want Trump” shit. That’s my fucking kink.
I’m not sure what that means.