Uvalde and the American Condition

Ignoring the parts that actually tell us what it does is not a good way of defending the constitution.

 

Is it the best possible Constitution? Is it flawless?

Is there any room for improvement at all?

Is it Holy?

 

On the American Condition

Via NPR↱:

Monday is day 185 of the year, and the country has already experienced at least 309 mass shootings so far. At least 309 in just over 26 weeks. This averages out to more than 11 a week.​

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Notes:

Saeed Ahmed. "Halfway through year, America has already seen at least 309 mass shootings". National Public Radio. 4 July 2022. NPR.org. 4 July 2022. https://n.pr/3bPNCRV

 

Add Another

The New York Times Sunday Review front page, 29 May 2022:

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​

Add Highland Park to the list.

 

The American Condition and the Death of the Family

Matt Bors↱ asks, "Hey, uh, what’s going on with people", and offers two examples. One is an image of a tweet claiming Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ08), said she would do anything for her grandchildren, including shooting them. The other is cartoonist and notorious right-wing crackpot Scott Adams explaining something about young men at risk for violence to themselves and others, and that society only allows a family two options, to watch people die or kill your son.

In turn: Yes, she said it↱, though it sounds like a legendary Bushism; it's one thing if she did not formulate correctly, but wow, what a sentence: "I have five grandchildren. I would do anything—anything—to protect my five grandchildren, including, as a last resort, shooting them, if I had to, to protect the lives of my grandchildren."

Adams↱ seems to claim that instead of intervening, he watched his stepson collapse into suicidality, and was relieved that the young man didn't kill anyone else on his way out.

Bors is not wrong: Something is awry. Adams is furious at any prospect that there is any other way, and goes out of his way to make the point. Lesko, in opposing a federal red-flag firearms regulation, turns from that declaration about her five grandchildren to complain that, "Democrat bills that we've heard this week want to take away my right—my right—to protect my grandchildren!" And she goes on to talk about other people who might need to protect their families, and, sure, the obvious grim joke looms, but the other grim joke is already in effect: She will do anything—anything—to protect her grandchildren except use her public office to regulate firearm supply and distribution.

This isn't the first time rightists have flirted with the prospect of killing their own families: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) courted Pastor Kevin Swanson during the 2016 primary; the notorious preacher advocates parents killing their children↗ instead of letting them read Harry Potter books, or watch movies like How to Train Your Dragon.

Maybe six years ago, it seemed like morbid comedy, and in the moment it might seem like Adams and Lesko both tried rhetorical maneuvers exceeding their capabilities, but in the current American moment and condition, it's hard to not notice.
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Notes:

@MattBors. "Hey, uh, what’s going on with people". Twitter. 6 July 2022. Twitter.com. 6 July 2022. https://bit.ly/3yLTdSb

@RyanShead. "Allow me to introduce you to Congresswoman Debbie Lesko of Arizona, who is currently running for office unopposed in her district. She would like America to know she loves her grandchildren so much she would shoot them if necessary. But liberals are the problem, right?" Twitter. 6 July 2022. Twitter.com. 6 July 2022. https://bit.ly/3bUmVeW

@ScottAdamsSays. "When a young male (let's say 14 to 19) is a danger to himself and others, society gives the supporting family two options: 1. Watch people die. 2. Kill your own son. Those are your only options. I chose #1 and watched my stepson die. I was relieved he took no one else with him." Twitter. 6 July 2022. Twitter.com. 6 July 2022. https://bit.ly/3uvY47v

 

Speaking of Family

Damn it, I can't even make it out of the room before the next blow strikes. This note from yesterday just showed up in my twitfeed:

The Illinois State Police just told @axios Chicago that Crimo's father co-signed for his FOID card that he received even after threatening to kill his family and having his weapons confiscated. @pksmid all of which was reported to the ISP.

(@MonicaEng↱)​

 

Our American Condition: The Hamden Note

The word from New Hampshire:

Police arrested a New Haven man after they say he was reported to have drawn a gun Saturday over two women not thanking him for holding a door open for them ....

.... Hamden police officers were called to the Family Dollar store on Dixwell Avenue around 3:15 p.m. on Saturday after Murray was reported to have pointed a gun at customers in front of the business, police said.

“A witness reported that the suspect was upset that two woman did not say 'thank you' to him for holding a door open for them,” police said.

(Yankowski↱)​

Something goes here about the modern man who simply delights in seeing a woman smile at him, but wry remembrance probably strikes the wrong tone. Still, if once upon a time we observed that chivalry itself arose from contempt for, and ingrained prejudice against, women, we might also take note of what the passing days have brought. Compared to everything else, it is possible to suggest this was a good day, because Joshua Murray didn't actually shoot anyone; nonetheless, the prospect of pulling heat because women aren't playing their proper roles sounds about on par with the period.

I think of however many people, over time, who bawled and whined and parsed and tried to split hairs about misogyny, and how so much of what they pretended it somehow unfair to suggest continues to come to bear. That it didn't escalate to a mass shooting is perhaps cause for a sigh of relief, but it is nothing to actually celebrate. There is no getting back to some golden age when people flashed heat like flipping birds and everybody just went on with life.

Remember, the same expectations by which Murray held a door also drive the anti-science populism of the anti-abortion movement, and are regularly a feature in mass shootings.

There's nothing new about any of this, except perhaps that pretty much all the excuses people make for traditional supremacist chauvinism have been gunned down.
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Notes:

Yankowski, Peter. "Man drew gun after women didn’t thank him for holding door in Hamden, police say". New Haven Register. 17 July 2022. NHRegister.com. 21 July 2022. https://bit.ly/3yR0O0E

 

Condition: Friday

Strangely, the takeaway from this one apparently has to do with the success of a surveillance system.

A Woodridge man was arrested Thursday in Englewood with five loaded guns, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and disturbing handwritten notes about mass shootings.

Chicago police say they intercepted the man after he fired a shotgun into a park.

Alexander Podgorny, 29, now faces five felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon ....

.... An arrest report obtained by FOX 32 from the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk states that police located Podgorny near his minivan. Police said his driver’s side and passenger side doors were open.

Documents state that in his pocket, Podgorny had a loaded semi-automatic handgun.

When police searched his vehicle, four other guns were recovered, including a shotgun and an AR-15.

All of those firearms were "readily accessible and ready to be fired" – according to Podgorny’s arrest report.

Plus, police said they found at least 300 spent shell casings of various calibers, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and handwritten notes that "contained incoherent rants and references to mass shooting events."

In his vehicle, officers also located a hatchet and a pruning saw, according to the arrest report.

(Chronis↱)​

Still, the contrast between what could have been and what is hand-wringing compared to what actually happened is not an irrelevant question: The easy juxtaposition between catastrophe and vagary stands out in part for its ease, which in turn might be a thoroughly American context.
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Notes:

Chronis, Kasey. "Woodridge man fired shots into Chicago park; police find handwritten notes about mass shootings in vehicle". FOX 32 Chicago. 5 August 2022. Fox32Chicago.com. 6 August 2022. https://bit.ly/3p2PQ3H

 

Weekend Condition

A note from this morning, per Andrew Weinstein↱:

A 4-year-old girl shot and killed herself with a gun she found in the backseat of her mom’s car in Georgia yesterday, but you might not have heard about it because it’s the sort of thing that happens every single day in America ....​

Her name was Kendal Lewis. The detail, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution↱:

Officers were called to I-85 northbound at North Druid Hills Road just after 7:30 p.m. when someone was reported shot, DeKalb police spokesman Lt. Shane Smith said.

When officers arrived, they found the girl dead in the back seat having suffered an apparent gunshot wound, Smith said. Police identified the victim as Kendal Lewis.

Smith said homicide detectives determined that while Kaelin Lewis, 26, was driving, her daughter found the firearm and the weapon discharged, striking the girl. According to the arrest warrant … the gun was stored under the driver’s seat.​

It is easy enough, in this time of mass violence, to forget that this goes on. We Americans are inured to these outcomes; they have long been somewhat normal, often mere background nosie compared to more spectacular incidents.

In the Atlanta metro area alone, at least forty children have been shot; nineteen are dead. At least twelve of the forty were inflicted by themselves or another child. Seven died, all of whom were under nine years old. According to EveryTown↱, we have experienced 169 unintentional shootings by children so far this year, nationwide, claiming seventy-four lives and injuring over a hundred.

There was also a mass shooting in Atlanta, last night, with a six year-old among the injured; apparently a dispute at a softball game somehow escalated.

I honestly don't know what to say; this is just how it goes in these United States. This is our American condition.
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Notes:

@Weinsteinlaw. "A 4-year-old girl shot and killed herself with a gun she found in the backseat of her mom’s car in Georgia yesterday, but you might not have heard about it because it’s the sort of thing that happens every single day in America. It’s long past time we did something about that." Twitter. 8 August 2022. Twitter.com. 8 August 2022. https://bit.ly/3JIrE06

EveryTown. "#NotAnAccident Index". 2022. EveryTownResearch.org. 8 August 2022. https://bit.ly/3A8v1u6

Simanas, Ron and Rosana Hughes. "Mother charged after 4-year-old accidentally shoots herself in car on I-85". The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 8 August 2022. AJC.com. 8 August 2022. https://bit.ly/3QsUJP3