This meme has done viral; one of my cousins, not a "progressive", reposted it It annoys me for a number off reasons.
First, it references "thoughts and prayers", the general tone being dismissive of the expression (one I myself have used on a number of occasions). The idea is that it is a trite expression, just a reflexive, manipulative ploy to win social approval. It's not that I'm being defensive here; I really don't give a damn what the artist thinks about me or my motives. I can't speak for other people using the phrase, but for me, as a libertarian, I believe in the Non-Aggression Principle; I'm pro-life, protective of human life, from the womb through old age. I don't know these 17 murder victims or their surviving families. To say they are in my thoughts and prayers is a way of reaching out to them, just like others I didn't know reached out too me after my Dad died. No, I don't know these people, but I know people who have suffered tragedies, like a friend who lost his dad in Vietnam, like a sister and two nieces who experienced miscarriages. I'm not trying to be "socially acceptable" or to manipulate people by reaching out to moments of unimaginable grief; I could simply walk by with indifference, pretend it was little more than a bad movie, not a real thing.
"Facebook debates"? That's a way of trivializing a decades-long debate. I don't intend to spend my limited time and energy responding to each and every repetitious copy-and-paste "progressive" troll. It's nearly impossible and/or financially impossible to prevent every tragedy--and quite often government force is part of the problem--like when a SWAT team goes to the wrong address. But it's hubris to think that government can detect and/or prevent a tragedy; if they could, they would be. I suspect future technology. This is purely speculative, but maybe some variant of a mini-drone with a disabling payload, a highly sophisticated alert system triggered by suspect objects, integrated with loud alarms and police. Voluntary armed patrols. Turnstiles and biometric IDs (and/or multi-factor authentication with pin codes). But let's note that these murderers are more likely to attack more vulnerable victim areas. To the extent protection is visibly deployed, criminals may be deterred or seek out alternative targets.
But in a nation of several million firearms, the idea that trying to eliminate weapons by choking off the supply isn't serious public policy; it's wishful thinking. Government prohibitions don't work; there is a black market, and money is fungible. These monsters often plan the crimes.
Note that in the cases of the Boston Marathon terrorists and the Florida shooter, authorities were aware of them and reportedly interviewed them; it didn't stop their murders.
Always remember that haste makes waste; first, do no harm. Bureaucrats may create victims by denying them their right to self-defense. All in an attempt to demonstrate they "care" because they impose their will on other people, whether or not it would make any difference at all against similar crimes.
"Everyone forgets?" No. I attended the University of Texas a decade after Whitman's massacre from the Tower. This is a very difficult problem. I'm not diminishing the tragedy of 17 dead teenagers, people who will never marry or have kids, live a long, fulfilling career, etc. We have irreconcilable differences. I see "progressive" political whores exploiting tragedies to sell their feckless Statist agenda.
"Congress does nothing" I would hope so; the 111th Congress delayed the recovery and exacerbated economic uncertainty. But more to the point, Congress has no legitimate say in this issue.Police powers are exercised by state/local authorities.
