Biden the new Gun Czar

This last week has been simply terrible for far too many Americans with the shock of the killings in Connecticut.  When things like this, this magnitude, happens, my mind will take me to a "stand off" mental location to watch the events to see how the pieces begin to come to together.  My high school basketball coach taught me to look "off the ball" meaning to watch the flow of the whole game. Nobody is better at that than LeBron James if you stay with the basketball analogy.

We all watched with horror as this unfolded and listened to the media piecing together bits of information in trying to knit a picture which, with facts, proved to be mostly wrong.  I can assume we now have the story of what actually happened in this disaster of mega proportion.  The thing I have watched in my "looking off the ball" approach to understanding is how the population of our nation has split into camps on how to "fix" this awful thing.

The two camps, basically, are those that want to focus on the guns and the other camp is the need to focus on the mental health issues.  I know in an initial FB post which I posted to stick my toe in the water to test the push back from the then silent NRA to see how strong their conviction on taking no responsibility nor position on this debacle would be triggered, as expected, rather caustic responses by NRA members.  Images of Moses (Charlton Heston) and this grip on the rifle where his hands have to be pull off at his death floated through my head.

The capper for me was the POTUS comments Sunday evening at the Newtown meeting.  In watching our Leader articulate calmly, and I want to believe sincerely, the role of Chief Soother becomes yet another lightning rod was evidence of the state of poison that exists in our political nation.  As I stated, I did not nor would I vote for him but his role is crucial in times of disaster and I thought his words at the time were sincere and soothing to a nation hurting.  Then the media triggered, of course, much like the piecing together, wrongly, of the bigger story as the shootings unfolded, around POTUS real meeting in his comments Sunday night on doing something to make this go away. The NRA, at that time, is still in silence.  You know, perhaps silence might have been the right elixir but time will tell!

But the real capper for me was when I learned POTUS had placed Biden, as the leader of the changes to be made whatever they may be so from that moment, any modicum of credibility POTUS had established in me, which is not easy to do, were dashed on the rocks of politics.  Biden has less credibility than anyone in Washington. For me, if POTUS was really serious, he could have and perhaps should have selected the president of the NRA to take on this role.  Remember what we learned from the Godfather; "keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer?" 

I hate to even hint that the gun lobby is the "enemy" but I think it obvious just from my own personal toe testing of the water that gun owners feel it is fine to have high calibre, military-style weaponry to shoot squirrels and rabbits supposedly. Just don't understand that!  Then very quickly defense of the "right to bear arms" is tossed up as the real defense by the Second Amendment.  I will write more on that one later.

Then the camp of dealing with mental illness reared its head as the real culprit. I certainly cannot discount that for that is an area I know nothing about but see the affects of it in many ways in my work in jails and prisons. It is horrific and I fully agree more time and money must be invested. But the issue is the combining to the two camps meaning arming up of mentally deranged people; a true disaster looking to happen!  But one thing I know .. Biden is absolutely incapable of leading anything but then, what do presidents do in times of turmoil? They appoint a commission or issue a proclamation which usually leads to more staff, more paper destruction and more nothing in action which is very sad.

So I will close this for now with a sense of trying to "look off the ball" to understand what is really happening. I am not sure any of us know for the hurt is still so real and near.  Here is what I know ... this is an American matter and we have some very bright people in this nation.  I also know government does not fix anything well or quickly but patience and leadership is needed now and not kneejerk reaction to this terrible disaster. My greater concern, frankly, is a copycat nutjob will see the need to pull another one of these disasters before schools are out for Christmas.  So I will close now with that last sentence ... we need Christ in this nation more than ever before!