Stunningly Insensitive

So it's been a week.  A week of tears, funerals, agonizing over cause and effect.  A week in which it seems that people are at least starting to think about the culture.  Most responsible voices are talking about cause and effect.  About why we've come to a place where we increasingly experience the heartbreak of mass murders, of gun violence, of senseless killings.  The call for sensible gun regulations is heartening, at least to me.  The awareness of the need for increased attention and funding for mental health seems like a good and positive step.  Of course, there is plenty of evidence that many don't agree.  The stories of increased gun sales, of people demanding unlimited gun rights are still there.  But at least there is dialog.

And then the NRA comes out with their statement yesterday.  I guess advocacy organizations have to take an extreme stand.  They have to stake out a position that will allow a retreat to a position they can accept.  At least I hope that is the case here.  But...more guns are the solution?

One week after the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the National Rifle Association’s  Wayne LaPierre took to a microphone to deliver a defensive, crackpot speech that didn’t fully grasp the impact of the murder of 20 first-graders at the hands of a madman with an assault rifle.  Everyone was to blame. The media and their corporate owners. The political class in Washington. Video games. Violent movies. The mentally ill. But at no point did he point his finger back at the NRA, the one institution that has made it difficult, if not impossible, to bring about common-sense firearms legislation in the country.

I believe a national effort to improve the culture is needed.   We clearly don't have the leadership to do that.  But some are trying.   It's also tough to do in a nation of 300 million and an environment where anything goes.  I believe in all the rights we are afforded under our unique and beloved Constitution.  But to keep those rights and to maintain our society requires fundamental personal responsibility.  That is woefully absent.  LaPierre's speech is a good example of that absence.