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Two gunmen, two days, two places, 14 dead: Fort Hood and Orlando
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Swat-mobile - One on every corner.
Thursday, weekend-eve, and Friday, the weekend begins, two better than average days of the week. This week, two bloodier than average days, with two bloody workplace shootings. On Thursday, 39-year-old, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at the base where he was stationed, at Fort Hood, Texas. He killed 13, and wounded dozens. Hasan is reported to be in custody, in the hospital, in stable condition, and in a coma after being shot four times by first responders.
Then on Friday, 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez, went to Reynolds Smith & Hills, an architectural and engineering firm in Orlando, Florida, and killed one person and wounded several others. Rodriguez was a former employee who had been fired two years ago for “performance issues.” Rodriguez fled the scene, and surrendered to authorities when they came to his home. As he was taken into custody, Rodriguez allegedly told police, "I'm just going through a tough time right now, I'm sorry." As he was escorted by police taking him into custody, a reporter asked why he had allegedly done it, Rodriguez simply said, “They left me to rot.” Tough times indeed.
Two bloody days, and two bloodied men who aren’t dealing with the stress of living in this trying period of monumental change in the 21st century. Two men who in their moments of mental breakdown, chose to do what modern society and some politicians tell them is okay to do, they got mad, really mad. They got so mad, it made them crazy. It made them go to their nearest neighborhood discount store, or pawn shop, or wherever they got them, it made them buy their weapons, buy their ammo, and form their plan in anger. And then one day, they went and maybe they did and maybe they didn't reap the rewards of sweet revenge on everybody. They went out and they collected the paybacks on the bill for the hell they called life, and the innocent who got in the way become the sacrificial lambs.
Some who kill innocent people, in their violent fury and twisted extremist thought processes, actually believe in their hearts that they are doing society a favor, rendering a service that mankind should thank them for, watering the tree of liberty as it were. Some think their God wants them to kill innocent people, others kill as a form of protest, these two men were two angry men, angry for complexly different reasons, but no matter how it breaks down, none of these reasons come close to justifying the killing of innocent people, ever.
Gun rights advocates believe they have the right to bear arms of all sorts, and all levels of killing capabilities, to protect themselves from the bad guys who are similarly armed. Maybe they’re right. It's plausible to think that we’ll see the President of the United States smoking marijuana in the Oval Office before we’ll ever see the 2nd Amendment repealed or even watered down, so maybe, if we hope to save our cities, maybe we have to level the playing field and rethink how we conceive law and order.
If guns are going to be everywhere, then it makes sense to properly arm all of the citizenry with the finest weaponry our tax dollars can buy. We need to properly educate the people, and train them to use their weapon(s) of choice safely and efficiently to the point of deadly. We need to train the children on gun safety as soon as they’re able to walk, and most importantly we need to grant all citizens the right to enforce, investigate, and prosecute the law. Then we will truly have the citizen-led, grassroots, 2nd and 10th Amendment America so many Texas Tea-Partiers and secessionists really want, an anarchist, vigilante-run, militia-protected union of sovereign capitallist and Christian states.
The multi-trillion dollar question is, will we really be safer?
Photo credit: An Orlando Police Department SWAT armored vehicle leaves the Hollowbrook Apartments, where shooting suspect Jason Rodriguez, 40, was apprehended, on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, authorities said, killing one person and injuring five others. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda)
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