Apologists blame the shootings on mental health issues - the whole ‘guns don’t kill people’ claim.
Not being in the US makes it hard to know, but I hear, or read, nothing about dealing with mental health issues. The likes of Johnson and Trump say they are sick people. Yet I see no grand Executive Orders on improving the mental health system. No doubt DOGE probably cut it.
Having a private health system such as theirs, would make it difficult to handle such programs. No profit in making people healthier.
I can’t see the Repubs wanting to spend billions in areas like mental health. I guess there are programs in Vet hospitals.
Easier to stick with ‘thoughts and prayers’ I guess.
Spent some time with a couple of surgeons over there.
One of them had over 600 guns. He told us one of the most rewarding things he had done was to stocktake all his guns. Meticulously cleaning and recording all the serial numbers.
The whole fetish is heavily driven by US movies and TV shows.
As I have written here many times, all Hollywood movies except for rom-coms and some kid’s shows have to have at least one scene where someone is shooting or at least threatening someone with a gun. Even “art house” movies like Being John Malkovitch have to do this.
They are not only reinforcing the US culture in the US, but worse are imposing it on the rest of the world. Look at any of our TV shows or UK shows - they are very different in terms of displaying guns from those made back in the days when Essendon was winning finals.
