Thursday, March 30, 2023

Today's News: The Absolute Worst


The school shootings are the worst, the absolute worst. 
Here is an incredible photo -- a child weeping as she is being transported away from The Covenant School shooting in Nashville this week (photo credit Nicole Hester) 
I don't know how parents in the United States can deal with their own fear every day, much less how afraid their children must be. 
Worse still, their political system is paralyzed, unable to deal with it. 
The AR-15, along with the AK-47 and their ilk, are evil weapons, simply evil -- last night the Washington Post has an outstanding article called The Blast Effect which uses effective graphics to show why the AR15 bullets kill -- they blow a human body apart.
The AR-15 fires bullets at such a high velocity — often in a barrage of 30 or even 100 in rapid succession — that it can eviscerate multiple people in seconds. A single bullet lands with a shock wave intense enough to blow apart a skull and demolish vital organs. The impact is even more acute on the compact body of a small child.
“It literally can pulverize bones, it can shatter your liver and it can provide this blast effect,” said Joseph Sakran, a gunshot survivor who advocates for gun violence prevention and a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
During surgery on people shot with high-velocity rounds, he said, body tissue “literally just crumbled into your hands.”
The carnage is rarely visible to the public. Crime scene photos are considered too gruesome to publish and often kept confidential. News accounts rely on antiseptic descriptions from law enforcement officials and medical examiners who, in some cases, have said remains were so unrecognizable that they could be identified only through DNA samples.
As Sakran put it: “We often sanitize what is happening.”
The Washington Post sought to illustrate the force of the AR-15 and reveal its catastrophic effects.
...The records and interviews show in stark detail the unique mechanics that propel these bullets — and why they unleash such devastation in the body.


Here are some of the remarkable American editorial cartoons - the anger at the cowardice of American politicians is building, and its palpable.











3 comments:

Cap said...

American politicians are being paid, quite literally, to roll back any kind of safety regulation, be it gun safety, pandemic safety, pregnancy safety, workplace safety or environmental safety. Safety regulations cost money, and bog knows billionaires don't have enough of that. What's less clear is why average Americans continue to elect such politicians and put themselves at mortal risk.

Lest we get too smug here in Canada, let's not forget that recent stricter gun regulations, supposedly backed by both Liberals and the NDP, have been withdrawn. Does the money that stops regulation south of the border also work here?

Cathie from Canada said...

Yes, I am also not happy about the Liberals withdrawing their recent attempts to strengthen our gun regulations. They are having to fight so many wars on so many fronts these days that I guess they feel they have to pick their battles, but improved gun safety is a battle worth having, I think.

e.a.f. said...

It is beyond me why some americans and Canadians think its more important to be able to carry around a AK whatever than ensuring a child is not killed by one of those things. Guns don't save lives in every day life. They're great on a battle field when two enemies are conducting a battle, but in civilivan life, not so much.

The line some Republicans are using again, is the answer is more "good guys with guns". No it is not. Most people do not know how to shoot properly. Especially under pressure most people don't hit what they are aiming for. If aK whatevers were not in the public's hands society would be safer.

We have seen children kill children by mistake after getting their hands on guns. We don't need guns in every home. No one needs a gun in their house and especially not the guns of today which are so very good at killing.

guns do make a lot of money for corporations, stores, politicians, etc. I'm sure doctors would prefer to not make money from guns shot victims.

What has been made clear once again that Americans value their guns more than their children.

"improved gun safety is a battle worth having". I'll second that.