Aurora

In the wake of our latest mass shooting (I forget whether it's number 39 or 43 or even 45—keeping up with them is a full-time job), much of the local media is asking a curious question: why did the shooter (Gary Martin) have a gun?

I can answer that question: this is America.

America's gun policy (or rather the lack of one) is set by a trade association. Like any business organization, the National Rifle Association is bent on ensuring that the maximum number of guns are available to the widest-possible body of consumers.

It's just that simple. It's business.

Unlike other trade associations, the NRA has been spectacularly successful in blocking change that might inhibit—in any way—the availability and consumption of the products it advocates for. Even when that product is used for for things far less-innocent than going squirrel-hunting with grandpa.

(I should mention that the NRA did allow President Trump to sign into law legislation that will soon make bump stock illegal. So there's that.)

But even when a gun-owner's permit is recalled because of a felony conviction (as was Martin's), there's an amazingly naive policy in place that requests that the newly-denied owner turn over their gun to law enforcement or someone with a valid permit.

Yep. You read that right. Want to guess the rate of compliance?

(Hey—can you excuse me for a minute? I have to go to my local police department and confess I was speeding in a school zone last week. Be right back.)

OK. So yes, this is why Gary Martin had a gun. A better question to ask in 2019 America is why wouldn't Gary Martin have a gun?

Gun permits aside, in our warped take on democracy guns are available to everyone. No questions asked. And they should be. Just ask the NRA. They fight tooth and nail every day for just this kind of access.

So yeah. Another five innocent people are dead. Dads, brothers, sons, uncles, neighbors, friends. But who really cares? In the face of advancing market share, five people (or should I say five more people) are just not that important.

And even when they are, our elected representation is afraid of alienating the NRA and falling prey to their soft on crime slander. Come on. Face it: like every other gun out there, Gary Martin's prevented a lot of crime.

Right?

To the silent majority who are troubled by this, I will say the country we make today is the one we must live in tomorrow. Think about that.