In times of tragedy, it can be all too easy to look around for something to blame. Imposing any sort of pattern on top of seemingly random violence and tragedy can help us feel that it’s easier to understand, and even to accept. But, sometimes, the fact is that the world is random and cruel, and the only thing to blame is lax gun laws.
But it seems that no one has explained this to Donald Trump. In the grand tradition of misassigning blame, he’s gone for an absolute classic in terms of scapegoat: violent video games. And, after receiving immense backlash for such a comment, he is now trying to pry the pressure off himself by dragging Barack Obama’s name into the mess, claiming that he got a “pass” on the mass shootings during his reign.
Want to know more about his bizarre blame game? Read on.
Mass shootings have always been a worry in the U.S, but, so far, in 2019, there have been a horrific 251 shootings in just 217 days. The numbers truly speak for themselves.
There was another mass shooting in the Texas city, which ended up costing at least twenty people their lives – and with far more injured.
And what makes the incident all the more tragic is that fact that the store was filled with families undertaking the classic task of the back-to-school shop.
Crusius is a white supremacist, and it’s believed that he chose the location of his attack due to the high percentage of Hispanic population. He surrendered to the police and remains in custody.
Just twelve hours later, in Dayton, Ohio, another mass shooting took place in a popular nightlife district.
This is in spite of the police managing to intervene under thirty seconds after the gunman fired his first shot. One of the victims was the gunman’s own sister.
His motive currently remains unclear.
While these two attacks were among the closest together in U.S history, there have actually been an unbelievable four mass shooting crimes in the past seven days, with an incident in Mississipi on Tuesday, and in California on July 28th.
To any rational mind, it seems clear that extreme legal reform is required to ensure the safety of civilians in America. And yet those in positions of power continue to shuffle their feet.
Instead, he’s relying on paltry words of blessing and encouragement – without ever taking steps to ensure that this can’t happen again.
Instead of offering any practical solution or helpful suggestions, he merely makes vague claims about his hopes for the future. But that’s not all of the poor advice that he’s offered …
In it, he attempted to address the shootings and come up with some causes – and, therefore, some solutions. But what he said has made some on the internet even more frustrated.
Not the terrifying availability of guns. Nope, Trump thinks that the reason behind these attacks is the “glorification of violence.”
In fact, he’s got more of an offbeat (or, as some might say, useless) plan.
While a culture of violence may not be the best thing for troubled people to experience, the fact is, if they couldn’t acquire a deadly weapon, they could never inflict such horrific terrorist acts.
He tweeted a quote from Brian Kilmeade from Fox & Friends, which only enraged the American people further.
This is what the former president had to say:
“We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people.”
Can you blame him?
The bottom line is that Obama tried to ban assault weapons during his reign, but his idea was rejected by the majority of Congress, so that immediately fell through.
And yet it seems as if Trump isn’t even willing to consider tightening laws any further.
We can only say how sorry we are to anyone who’s been affected by this sort of vile action – and hope that, in the future, these attacks start to be taken more seriously.