Sailing To Oblivium: October 3, 2017

They say insanity consists of performing the same act over and over again, hoping for different results. It is happening now, after Las Vegas.

Some folks are screaming for some official policies relating to a citizen’s right under the Second Amendment. That is not going to happen. They’ve performed this act so many times before and it hasn’t worked, not for any discernible length of time. It certainly won’t work now, a time in our nation's history when the firearms lobby owns all three branches of government.

Some folks will say “Don’t worry. The next attempt at mass murder will be miraculously prevented by well-armed citizen-militia groups roaming the streets, colleges, nurseries, churches, theaters, schools, restaurants, and marketplaces of America. Give them even more guns this time and you'll be even safer. We see how well that has been working.”

Those speaking for the elected officials will, while the bodies are still bleeding, echo the words of Bob Dylan, “Now’s not the time for your tears.”

The politicians will give the next one the ubiquitous "moment of silence" and go back to what they were doing.

We'll all, to a man or woman, offer our "thoughts and prayers," as if that has worked in the past.

And we’ll go on, numbed and waiting for the next time, doing nothing, while our terrified citizens distrust anyone they see. Parents will learn to dread a phone call from their child’s school. Public gatherings will take place under a cloud of dread. Our brave police officers, firefighters, and medical professionals will wonder if they are the ones who must charge into the melee, or extract the bullets next time.

The ammunition factory near where I live will put the “help wanted” banner on its fence the way it always does after a mass killing. That’s when sales are at their most brisk, after all.

Then we are left alone to face the most terrifying part: the knowledge that next year’s Stephen Paddock will be able to accomplish the task with silencers, on even more advance killing machines.

Now is the time for our tears.