5 dozen
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Egg Crisis is Over
Saturday, October 28, 2023
I have had a lot of thoughts about the gunman in Lewiston, Maine and the process we as a society go through to protect, prevent, and identify these kind of potential problems. I don’t want to call them threats, though I almost did, because – well, I hope you’ll understand why by the end of this piece.
First off, I was surprised by the fact that much attention was paid after the shooting to the wide range of resources being called up and people being notified, but nowhere in all those announcements was there any mention to the shooter of a number to call or means to get in contact with someone or some agency if he or she wished to surrender.
I heard that typically in such a case either it ends quickly in death via suicide or shootout, or the individual “goes to the ground” and hides out until they feel it safe to reappear and either try to escape detection or to kill again.
There are two statistics I wish to mention. Well, actually one and one speculative percentage. I heard that the number of AR-15 style weapons now in this country is 400,000. Up from 200,000 a short time ago. The other tidbit I heard was the comment “95% of gun owners are responsible…”
Okay, let’s breakdown what that means potentially for this country and law enforcement. If 95% of gun owners are responsible that would mean 5% are not. We can argue percentages later, but let’s go with that for the moment. If we accept the number of 400,000 AR-15s as being the total number of those weapons in the hands of the citizenry, then that means there are 20,000 potential maniacs with this weapon.
I would like to point out, once again, that the first piece of legislation passed by the Trump administration was to allow mentally impaired people to buy and own guns.
Depending on which news report I listened to, there have been either 566 mass shooting this year in this country or 36. Is either number acceptable? Is this what gun advocates claim is the price of freedom?
Several other interesting facts emerged from this incident. One, the person was known to have mental issues. Yet, he was legally allowed to have weapons. What’s the rationale here? That he could protect himself from the nonexistent demons that he saw? That he had a right to take vengeance on people he thought had wronged him?
The other interesting tidbit was that uniformed police officers responded to the first shooting location within four minutes of the 911 call and that detectives (ie not uniformed officers) were at a nearby shooting range. They heard the call on the radio and were at the scene within 90 seconds with guns drawn – and they were too late. The shooter had gone.
So to sum up and conclude to this point:
1. There are more AR-15s in circulation now than there were ten years ago. If the percentage of violent assaults per number of guns in circulation stays constant then we should expect more shootings like this and the statistics bear this out. Some are saying it is no longer that there is a mass shooting here or there but that it is now a constant, a way of life, never ending.
I will ask, “Is this what we want?” The overwhelming statistic says, “No.” There are statistics which point to overwhelming percentages of folks that want better gun laws. Those efforts keep getting stymied and defeated in legislatures. I wonder how many Congressional people are walking into Congress today with that AR-15 pin on their lapel?
One person has changed their mind. That’s Jared Golden, He’s the congressman from Lewiston where the shooting took place and the district he represents. I am familiar with Representative Golden as I have a home in Maine and have received mailers and appeals from him and heard his ads on local Maine TV. He’s a democrat, but you’d be hard pressed to know it from his ads. He always supported gun ownership or danced around the idea of infringing on the rights of gun owners. That is to say he was for “responsible gun ownership and protecting the second amendment right to bear arms.” I am loosely quoting the usual line used by politicians who don’t want to do anything in this regard and their justification for inaction.
Not anymore, Golden now says we need to ban AR-15 style weapons.
That’s one vote that has changed. I wonder if anymore have decided that enough is enough? Does every no vote need a mass shooting in their district to persuade them?
When I first went to work it was 1973. I was at a factory in Baltimore. There were a handful of programmers there. It was all COBOL and IBM. Some of these folks had worked at the biggest and most respected computer installation in the country – Social Security. At that time, Social Security was the gold standard for accuracy and the use of big data. I remember one of those folks saying, time ad time again, “You know what it means when your test data went through without an error? It means your test data went through without an error.” The point being that just because you had no errors in your test case did not mean you wouldn’t have trouble with the real stuff.
I think it’s time to realize that some make an argument for rights of people to possess firearms, but at the number of people and firearms has increased so will the incidents of tragedy. Is this acceptable?
There’s something about this incident that feels different. Maybe, it’s a turning point. Maybe, I’ve thought that before. Maybe, it’s time for our politicians to stand up and say that they’ve actually read the whole second amendment and surprise, surprise, it doesn’t mean any idiot can own a machine gun style weapon.
Maybe, it’s time for someone to say, “You know what? Maybe, we should get rid of the stuff that was put in the Constitution for slave owners to be able to harass and kill runaway slaves?” (Too much? History. Yeah. I know.)
Then there is the mental illness argument and how that’s the problem. Huh? Well, okay. Just remember that he was seen to be a mental problem by his family and fellow workers and it was reported! But then again with a law saying mentally challenged people can own guns I’m not sure what could have been done. Oh that’s right, Maine has a “yellow flag” law. That means you’ve got to get some psychiatrist or some such to sign off before any action will be taken. I wonder if folks are thinking. “Maybe, that doesn’t work so well?”
On a lighter note – the woman doing the signing at the Lewiston press conferences – OMG! While everyone else was being somber and grim she’s up there making faces and gesticulating like crazy. Was she signing? I don’t know. At time she seemed to be talking with her face, sorry “gesticulating”? “signing?” whatever, about penis size.
That and she kept making the capital “L” sign. “L” as in “Loser.”
I am, of course, wondering what Saturday Night Live will do with this. I think they will lead off the show with Sarah Silverman as the gesticulator (that’s a word? Huh, who knew? I thought I had made it up.) Who will play the governor? It’s got to be one of the two blonds. I’m betting on Heidi Gardiner.
Okay, this is the way I see the skit.
Cold open to the press room.
Mikey Day plays the news man reporting from the scene.
Mikey: (in a hushed tone) We are awaiting the press conference to begin.
Announcer (off camera): “And now ladies and gentlemen the Governor of Maine.”
Governor files in, stands behind podium. Sign person beside them.
Governor: “The shooter has been found.”
Gesticulator makes signs including the Hawaiian “hang loose” sign given horizontally and the Kiwi rugby tongue out of mouth sign.
Governor: “And I’d like to report that the shooter is no longer a threat to the community.”
Gesticulator gives “L” loser sign with Kiwi tongue out sign and makes a horizontal sweeping motion with the “hang-loose” sign and her horizontal sweep ends with her pinkie in the governor’s eye. The governor grabs her face and falls down. The gesticulator signs what happened by poking herself in the eye and she goes down as well.
Mikey Day comes back with “Well as you can see …”
All three crowd the screen with “Live from New York. It’s Saturday Night!”
Watch for it. And remember.
You heard it here first.
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