Tag Archives: Buffalo shooting

Is this the tipping point?

U.S. senators from both parties are actually saying something few of us thought possible, which is that there might be some legislation coming forward that could impose some limits on gun purchases.

A gunman killed 10 shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. Then just a few days later another gunman slaughtered 19 fourth-graders and two teachers.

Americans have taken to the streets in protest. They are demanding something be done. President Biden has joined the chorus for gun reform.

Republicans in the Senate aren’t budging on a couple of key points: raising the age limit to purchase a firearm and extended universal background checks.

But … there appears to be some movement. Something might come forth. There could be a “red flag law” enacted allowing states to withhold possession of a firearm if a buyer comes up suspicious.

I guess I am heartened only a little by the apparent change of heart among some lawmakers. Get a load of this: Some Republican senators, such as Mitt Romney of Utah, said he now supports raising the age limit from 18 to 21 years of age to buy a firearm.

I won’t call this a tipping point. Indeed, many of us thought that the Sandy Hook Elementary School (Conn.) tragedy a decade ago — when 20 second-graders and six teachers were massacred — would have spurred some action. It didn’t.

Some in the Senate, naturally, are blaming reformers of “politicizing” events such as Buffalo and Uvalde. What an utter crock! Their refusal to act in the wake of this senseless violence in itself is a highly political demonstration. Therefore, they can cease the “politicization” argument … OK?

A little bit of movement, though, toward a legislative remedy — no matter how timid — is far better than what we’ve had so far. It gives me a glimmer of hope.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Biden delivers comfort, resolve

Joe Biden’s job description includes far more than signing documents in the Oval Office and making decisions that involve sending young men and women into harm’s way.

The president also must serve as comforter in chief. That role isn’t written anywhere. It’s just what presidents are called upon to do when the moment presents itself.

That moment arrived the other day when a white supremacist lunatic opened fire at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket; the gunman killed 10 Black Americans and injured three others.

Buffalo is shaken to its core. Its residents are horrified at the actions of a teenager who (allegedly) drove to the community, scope out the store and then committed the dastardly act.

Joe Biden demonstrated one of the key elements he brings to the presidency. He has suffered personal grief himself. He has buried two of his children and his wife. He spoke to Buffalo as a man who — and please pardon the phrase — feels their pain.

The president showed the entire world why many of us — such as me — are glad he is in the office he occupies.

Think for a minute of the Charlottesville, Va., riot in 2017. Klansmen, Nazis and assorted white supremacist goons gathered in that city to protest the taking down of a Civil War statue. A riot ensued when these individuals engaged with counter protestors. What did Donald Trump tell us? That there were “good people, on both sides.”

No. There were not.

The Editorial Board: Biden meets with survivors of the slain and lifts up a shaken and suffering city | Editorial | buffalonews.com

The Buffalo News offered an editorial that stated, in part: But it was Biden’s words that carried weight in Buffalo on Tuesday. He offered an emotional roll call of the dead, but promised their survivors that some unexpected day, a memory of their lost loved one would bring a bittersweet surprise: “It’s going to bring a smile to your lip before it brings a tear to your eye,” the president said.

The president of the United States performed one of those unwritten tasks. The goodness of this man was evident as he sought to lend comfort to a stricken community.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Silence is instructive

A gunman opened fire in a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket, killing 10 people and injuring three others.

The condemnation of the shooter’s actions has come almost exclusively, or so it appears, from the left, from the liberal side of the political divide.

I am waiting — with decreasing patience — to hear something from the right wing, from the conservative wing of the great divide. It’s not coming. At least not within my earshot.

What the … ?

I am at this moment shuddering at the thought that thoughtful, conservative Americans have elected politicians who — for whatever reason — are afraid to speak out against the hateful actions of the individual who drove to Buffalo, staked out the supermarket and then opened fire. A white guy shot 10 Black people to death in a fit of rage over something called “replacement theory.”

Someone will have to assure me that these pols’ silence doesn’t equate tacit or even overt support of what took place.

I am waiting.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Racism shows its ugliness

Racism is an ugly and hideous condition that needs to be eradicated from civilized society. Tragically, that won’t happen.

A gunman drove three hours from his hometown in central New York to Buffalo and shot 10 Black Americans to death while they were shopping in a supermarket.

I am left to wonder: How in the name of all that is holy do you stop someone from doing what this gunman did? We cannot execute them all. We cannot round them all up and send them to prison.

Our hearts are shattered. We are left to ponder this latest spasm of gun violence that is wrapped by the specter that the shooter is a filthy white supremacist. He wrote a lengthy manifesto reportedly taken from right-wing talking points about something called “replacement theory” that laments that white people are being replaced by people of color.

So, he went to Buffalo to take matters into his own hands … I suppose.

The gun violence debate will ratchet up, as it should. So will the debate over the racial bias condition of many millions of Americans.

I am left to wish for all I can that we can find a way to end the violence we have all witnessed in Buffalo, N.Y. That’s all I have at this moment.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Don’t wait for ‘tipping point’

Bad news is tough to deliver, but I feel the need to deliver it to those who believe the Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket massacre is going to result in a “tipping point” that prompts legislation to prevent this kind of gun violence.

The nation grieves once again as it mourns the deaths of 10 innocent victims who were gunned down in a supermarket by someone who (allegedly) acted with intense racist intent. The suspect is a white teenager; virtually all of the victims are African-American. The suspect drove 200-plus miles to Buffalo to perform his dastardly act.

Tipping point? Will this event bring some Republicans in Congress to join their colleagues in seeking some sort of legislative remedy to this sort of senseless violence?

My “gold standard” for an event that would spur some action occurred in late 2012 in Newtown, Conn. A lunatic killed 20 first- and second-graders along with six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He then killed himself.

It was the darkest day of President Obama’s time in office. The president’s eyes welled up with tears as he told the nation of the slaughter that occurred. Did that event — given the context — result in any sort of legislative remedy? No. It didn’t.

Congress’s failure to act turned out to be the biggest disappointment in Barack Obama’s two terms as president.

I wish I could predict that this latest spasm of violence would prompt action from those who represent those of us who demand action. I cannot go there!

My profound fear is that we’re going to express our horror, offer our prayers to the family members of the victims and then wait for the next explosion of violence.

Sickening.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com