Midnight Mutterings | January 6

||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||

OK, so here we are again looking at videos in the Congressional Hearing of what happened at the Capitol on that January day in 2021. Some videos new to us, some have been seen before, all astounding. (Strange phrase: ‘ to watch a hearing,’ I don’t think we ever get to ‘hear a watching.’) In any case, it doesn’t seem to get any less horrifying. But I think we should see these images, to know what happened

Ashli Babbitt, age 35, was shot in the shoulder and killed by a Capitol Police officer when she was trying to climb through a broken window of a barricaded door to the Speaker’s Lobby which leads to the House chamber. In my opinion, the remarkable thing about this is that she was the only person shot during the riots. Certainly, at least some of the officers whose task was to defend the Capitol and its occupants must have been armed. And I have heard no estimate of the number of rioters who breached security and broke into the Capitol who must also have been carrying at least handguns.

Nevertheless, the whole long episode which caused the deaths of at least four other people either that day or in days to follow, did not erupt into a gun battle between rioters and security. While there were many injuries, some quite serious, and an amazing amount of damage to the building and its contents, gunshots from single digit shot handguns or semi-automatics did not ring out. Shots were not exchanged between security and those who breached the Capitol.

Why not? Would it have been better or worse if more than one gun was fired? Certainly, in a gunfight, more people would have been injured, more people would have died, but would the fighting have ended earlier? Been prevented altogether?

In the many school, church, supermarket, prayer meeting, synagogue, as well as the open air street corner, the type in which Rep. Gabby Gifford was shot in the head and others, including a child were murdered, there were one or a few attackers while the victims were unarmed. We hear cries that we need more guns in schools. More ’good guys’ with guns. More doors locked, with armed guards standing behind, teachers allowed (required ?) to be armed?

I’m not convinced. I think we need fewer guns, not more. And more gun regulation, not more effort to identify people who are more likely to have ‘mental problems’ that might make them more likely to shoot innocent people, children, spouses, strangers at church or in the street. It’s hard for me to see how that might be done without stigmatizing people seeking mental health treatment. People on medication to reduce depression, couples seeking marriage counseling, etc. While some shooters announce their intentions to kill on social media, many do not self identify.

Do we identify and make a list of ‘loners,’ of shy people. I might end up on such a list as one who is uneasy in crowds, doesn’t understand cheerleading, especially the kind that encourages us to ‘kill, maim, trounce’ our opponents, to ‘fight, fight, fight’
for victory over a team or group. Sure, I know I’m in a minority, a poor sport at that.

Then there are proponents of trying to identify groups of people who are likely to shoot other people. Like males. Should females be the only people allowed to have guns? How about people who were’ born’ male and now identify as female. Guns for them? (Not that I have heard of any trans people shooting up schools.) Or maybe only white males? I am unaware of any mass shootings by persons of color of any gender.

Now to solutions: I would be interested any thoughts of good, practical solutions to the ‘Gun Problem.’ I am especially interested in solutions that do not involve more guns. There is a new (to me) idea that we try to solve too many problems by addition, when it would be possible in some cases to subtract. Here’s one link to the idea of ‘Addition by Subtraction.’ There are others. Check with the Googler.