A Self-Harming Society

The media are going to concentrate on the intentions of the shooter. They will make sure the story is all about ISIS, but it so isn’t. They are so wrong. The issue is how many atrocities does it take to realise your ‪#‎gunculture‬ is broken? If you were a self-harming teen, we’d take the knife away, but you’re allegedly the world’s biggest and best democracy. Really?

I don’t believe you understand the strength of a democratic society. If you did, your majority would have overturned your archaic gun laws already. Your majority would have, long ago, put a stop to the manipulation, hounding and dictatorial outpourings of a minority of lobbyists and extremists who have maintained a false fear in you. When will you realise that you can change things? I suppose probably never, for you have had it in your power for so long and yet you fail at every turn.

I grieve for the loss of so many, but I can’t sympathise with the USA anymore. As a nation you are failing in your number one requirement, to protect your citizens. Well done. I am sure the founding fathers would be impressed. I see no life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness in ‪#‎orlando‬ or the other 14 places where more than 4 have been injured or killed by guns in the USA, THIS MONTH alone (and we’re not even halfway through).

I have no doubt the media will underplay, if even mention at all, the fact that this guy bought an ASSAULT RIFLE from a shop in ‘Main Street’ America. I have no doubt, that if this post gets shared, commentators will remark on the intentions of the shooter, not the means. But the means is the issue. If he was a crazed, zealot homophobe with a knife, then we wouldn’t be looking at 50 dead. And yes, sadly, scale is meaningful. It is a tragedy when one life is lost, how much more so when it is 50? Why do you need the right to buy an ASSAULT RIFLE anyway? Really, why?????

The red coat militia are not coming over the hill and even when they did the majority of you didn’t bear arms to fight. The rest of the great democracies are looking at you now and shaking their heads. You, the USA, are meant to be the World Leader. World leadership? Really? You can’t be trusted to lead. You can’t be trusted with sharp implements let alone ASSAULT RIFLES. At some point the sympathy stops because there is only so much that can be explained away by a piece of legislation drafted in 1791. You don’t think times have changed? You don’t think some laws are worthy of re-examination? Obviously you don’t. So all we can do is wait for the next mass shooting. In a day. Or maybe two. When you can blame the intentions of the crazy man, or the sad man, or the lone teen and forget entirely that in other societies, where you can’t get your hands on that type of weaponry, the bodies do not pile up. ‪#‎RIP50 

Dear America…

I did think about putting quite a lot of well thought out, carefully considered, politically measured, balanced and rational argument into this post. I crafted, edited and reworked it, so as to make it accesible to all levels of the socio-economic spectrum. But then I realised, if your Presidential campaign is indicative of the sane, decision making, level of civic minded citizens, then my work was to be wasted. All I really needed to write was this; Dear America, you’re fucked… Imagine Donald with his finger on the button… Go on… Push it…

Ian Andrew

Ian Andrew is the author of the alternative history novel A Time To Every Purpose and the detective thriller Face Value. Both are available on Amazon. Follow him on social media: