Fact of Life...

 

Colt Gray, Colin Gray's Mug Shots Released After Georgia School Shooting, Newsweek

© September 8, 2024, the Griot Poet

“Tyrants overthrown: 0

“Co-workers, students, spouses, store clerks * et al: near ∞

“And we cower

“Kowtowed by lobbyists’ power

“NRA clout and dollars

“Make our representatives “want to holler”

Scoreboard, July 23, 2012

 

“Death is a sure thing, but life is just as certain. The problem is you can’t know in advance.

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Toni Morrison, February 18, 1931 - August 5, 2019

Fuck your “thoughts and prayers!”

“I... can’t... breathe!”

“Between mass shootings

“Not 24 hours after twenty souls were

“Dearly Departed

“By another white domestic terrorist

“In El Paso, Texas”

Carnage, August 19, 2019

“Sports commentator

“Jemele Hill’s saved tweet,

“Sums up our national sociopathy:

“Quoting Dan Hodges: “In retrospect, Sandy Hook marked the END of the gun control debate. Once America decided that killing children was bearable, it was over.”

“Children,

“[Who] on December 14, 2012,

“[Had] every right to dream about a white Christmas: they lived in Connecticut,

“And New England is known for its winter weather.”

Killing Fields, February 15, 2023

 

Governor Bill Lee tweeted:

“I am closely monitoring the tragic situation at Covenant, & the Tennessee Department of Safety & Tennessee Highway Patrol are assisting local law enforcement & first responders at the scene.

“As we continue to respond, please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community.”

“After three students and three adults,

A teacher, a substitute, and a custodian,

All in their sixties died in a Christian school,

“Thoughts and prayers” are oxymoronic,

“But so is signing legislation against drag shows, which to date:

“Drag shows are voluntary activities.

“No one’s died, ever.”

Thoughts and Prayers, March 29, 2023

 

I am tired of writing about mass shootings.

On the 58th anniversary of the first episode of Star Trek.

A fantasy of society evolving to a “more perfect union.”

They’re becoming more frequent than Braxton-Hick’s contractions.

 

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told grandparents to “take one for the team” during COVID-19 to open the economy as our corpses froze in eighteen-wheelers.

The libertarian fascist set wants to raise the retirement age to 72, to get us closer to death.

The answer to rising childcare costs is for the aforementioned “take one for the team” and work until you drop grandparents are supposed to “take up the slack” by being what: zombie corpses skilled at diaper changing?

The fact of my life is my granddaughter just started kindergarten.

 

Every piece I’ve written was to avoid the eventual day she started learning how to escape and evade,

Play the quiet game,

Text her parents to tell them that she’s okay until the PTSD nightmares begin.

 

A gun enthusiast [obviously] named Colt Gray.

Let me give some perspective:

At fourteen, I was in Army JROTC and joined the Rifle/Pistol Team.

To get on the rifle range, we all had to join the NRA,

Before Wayne LaPierre got his grubby hands into it, they took care of the gun range safety training, and that was it.

“Point the barrel of your weapon down range.”

“Always wear your eye and ear protection.”

“Practice BRASS: breath, relax, aim, slack (the trigger finger), squeeze (the trigger finger): repeat.”

And,

“Never point your weapon at anyone at any time.”

Most importantly:

“Put your weapon in the gun safe on exiting the range.”

We trained with 38-caliber pistols,

World War 1 M1A1 bolt action rifles,

And the Mike-One-Six long rifle.

Which has a muzzle velocity of 3,100 feet per second,

5.56mm NATO (.223) caliber cartridge

And has a maximum effective range of 600 yards. It has a rate of fire of approximately 800 rounds per minute.

This class scared the living shit out of fourteen-year-old me,

But I’m betting Colt Gray never heard it.

 

The precursor of this personal weapon of mass destruction was the Armalite 15 Assault Rifle.

The AR and the Mike-One-Six can punch a hole the size of a fist in front of a human body and rip the back out on its exit.

Which is why we had deep respect for the power that we wielded,

This is why we haven’t seen any aftermath photos of gun massacres from Columbine to Sandy Hook.

A Mike-One-Six in Vietnam could tear down concrete walls if you let it.

 

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children, they’re not able.”

AP News: https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-georgia-shooting-7d7727a1aff8491f66914a4d8a14cd8c

 

Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Uvalde: all had “bolstered security” with resource officers.

 

Mr. Vance,

I must [respectfully] disagree,

Our society for letting this carnage go on and on is psychotic.

The fact of my life is my grandbaby who just started kindergarten.