The attempt at rational gun control failed to get over the filibuster of the Senate Republicans. Anyone who thought any other outcome was likely is clearly living in the delusion that the United States of America is a functioning democracy. There will be much hue and cry, the right wing, NRA, and gun manufactures will gloat, and Obama looks like the weak excuse for a President that he has always been. The government has been owned by corporate interests for a long time now, particularly weapons manufacturers, and nothing has changed.
The people who have lost loved ones to gun violence and who were hoping for even a hint of understanding and justice must be deeply hurt. My heart goes out to them as they have been wounded with a callous disregard bread by corruption that is as evil as anything I have ever seen. They are on the front line of a people betrayed and many of them will never be whole again. Their tragedy is a microcosm of a failed society.
Any of us can be the victims of gun insanity at any time, the only bright spot in this dim reality is that the odds are still in favor of not being on the wrong end of a gun. One is much more likely to die of health complications resulting from obesity or smoking (1 & 2 on the list of killers), heart disease (3), cancer (4), respiratory disease (5), or stroke (6). Getting killed by a gun falls into category 7, "accidental", where it lies behind poisoning and car accidents.
The facts also show that one is even less likely to be the victim of gun violence if, a) one lives in a state where gun ownership is less prevalent and, b) one lives in a house that has no guns. (The NRA / gun lover arguments for a society awash in guns is pure bullshit, but you knew that already.) A lot of us live in the state we grew up in or the state where we could find a job, so "a" isn't always something we have much control over. "B" however, I kind of like. If there is a gun in your home and someone you love is killed or wounded by that gun (which is the most likely scenario if the thing is actually fired) well ... fuck you. Sad? Sure. Just like its sad when someone who has smoked their entire life is felled by lung cancer. Sad, but they have no bitch coming.
Of course most of the time those who actually die from a gun are more like the person who got cancer from second hand smoke or their work environment. Being victimized by other people's choices is a strange kind of "freedom", one I doubt the Founding Fathers were trying to protect. But then I doubt they imagined a government owned by multi-national corporations, or that those corporation would be judged by the Supreme Court as being "people" either. I suspect they would be surprised that, in a body made up of 100 people (101 if you count the VP) it takes 60 votes to get a majority. And I suspect gerrymandering would be a puzzle to them.
Of course women and blacks voting would be a surprise to them as well, but at least they set up a system for amending the Constitution that allowed for such progress to happen. No, I doubt they would count the government we currently endure as being remotely related to what they tried to create.
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