Tucson Aftermath, or: Nothing New Under the Sun

I've been paying minimal attention to the fallout of the Tucson shootings, because the whole thing is frankly too depressing. First and foremost is the heinous nature of the act itself - another lunatic with a grudge decides to lash out against the world with a violent shooting rampage that kills many innocents, including a 9-year-old girl. Obviously the crime and the victims should be our main focus. But the reaction of the American media, political hacks and assorted interest groups has been as predictable as you might think - all but ensuring that a similar massacre happens again a few years down the road.

Immediately after the shooting we witnessed an orgy of reflexive ass-covering by pundits and politicians, all of whom vehemently denied the idea that the increasingly violent imagery of right-wing American political culture - suffused as it is with talk of "Second Amendment solutions", or Sarah Palin's admonishment, "don't retreat - RELOAD!" (coupled with a map featuring gun crosshairs over Democratic congressional districts), or the shot Democratic Congresswoman's opponent staging an M16 shooting event in January 2010 to "help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office" - could have anything whatsoever to do with the shooting. Ridiculous, I know.

Essentially, the most depressing thing about this whole affair, other than the tragic deaths of Jared Lee Loughner's victims, is the steadfast refusal of the entire media-political establishment to learn anything from it. The bomb-throwers of the right-wing noise machine blamed liberals, as they always do and must do if they're going to follow their established business model. President Obama, typically, gave an intellectually bankrupt speech absolving the right of any responsibility for the massacre and taking pot shots at the left for "pointing fingers and assigning blame". The NRA and its minions in Congress maintained that the tragedy would in no way alter its refusal to consider even the most minimal gun control legislation. In short, everyone in any position of power or influence acted exactly as they always do, as they're paid to do - and as a result, nothing will change. Sooner or later, another massacre will occur and the same process will repeat itself all over again. The only way to stop gun violence, according to the right, is to make sure more people have access to guns.

Fun fact: had Congress not allowed the Clinton-era ban on assault weapons to expire in 2004, Loughner would only have been able to carry a 10-round clip. Instead, he was able to rattle off at least 20 rounds from a 30-round clip before someone managed to stop him, thereby killing more people than he otherwise might have. As always, political cowardice within the halls of power costs real human lives outside.