I am CuTRis

Waking up to the news of two Minnesota politicians and their spouses, all Democrats, being shot in the middle of the night by an assassin dressed as a police officer, has me thinking that the assault on democracy is still progressing- even in light of the "no Kings" protests today. Please remain defiant, and be safe. Obviously, things are very volatile right now. For the past few weeks, I've had a steady stream of 1960s protest music playing inside my head with good reason. It is extremely sad that things have progressed to this point. Or perhaps, I should say regressed.

Before you fall for Trump's Victory lap for his tariffs on Mexico, you should know that the actual reason that the tariffs are suspended, is Mexico demanded the flow of U.S. guns stop crossing the border into Mexico. Now, out of the Trump playbook, he will brag and tell those who still believe his lies, that he won the trade war. In actual fact, his 125-year-old plan failed.

The news has been interesting lately, especially in light of current politics. I think that Luigi Mangione could run for president and have the charges dropped if he wins because that's how it works now. When poor people get shot, no one cares too much. If the super rich get shot, will guns become an issue?

"It's not the guns, it's the people shooting the guns." Political Translation: "It's okay to restrict personal freedom, as long as the individual retains access to deadly weapons."

It is terrorism to shoot schoolchildren. It is the extreme of cowardice. For it to continue as it has year after year, shows a lack of (real) concern for our most valuable and most vulnerable citizens. I'm tired of the excuses, because there is no excuse.

I'm not sure that this will ever sink in for those people who love their guns more than life itself. Perhaps if they had to witness the bloody aftermath that those who were first on the scene now have emblazoned into their memories... I'm not sure that would help, but it might be a good place to start. It's too easy to fall back on the stale excuse of taking away the "rights of the good people." If you actually had to witness a class full of elementary school students being gunned down, I think that might change some minds... If it wouldn't, then those people have lost all sense of what is good.

I'd like to send a message to my conservative Republican friends. You know who you are. If you could refrain from posting pictures of "beautiful 20-week-old, unborn children," then I won't have to post photos of 9 and 10-year-old children who are dead and full of holes from an AR-15 Assault Rifle. Your desire to protect the unborn, is overshadowed by your desire for guns that kill the living. Thanks for your understanding.

Seven years ago a guy having a road rage attack, chased my car for several miles while pointing a gun at me. Had I pulled into a dead-end alley rather than a police station parking lot, I might be dead. When the police caught up to the guy, they found the Glock 9mm I had described on the seat of the truck. It had a high-capacity clip. There was also a filet knife in the door of his truck. He told the officer that I was (his words written in the police report) a "raghead from Pakistan." He also had a small amount of marijuana. They released him because he had a permit to carry a gun; and he said he never pulled the gun out. Last year I needed to see a medical specialist. It took two months to get in. After a scan, it took two more months to get in for the follow-up. Fortunately, the doctor said I was okay. But it took four months to find that out. I've been told that we can't have national health insurance in the U.S. because in countries where they do have it, it tak...

Here in the USA, children are important before they're born. Once they are breathing and alive, guns are more important than they are. Does anyone see how incredibly illogical and dysfunctional our society has become?

I see a flaw in a political position that protects the rights of the unborn, and simultaneously promotes guns while gun violence destroys the living. I find it ironic that the same political views that say they promote freedom, are simultaneously working to restrict personal choices of health and lifestyle. The reason the truth is being altered, is because the arguments simply aren't logical on their own merit.

If you look at a city like Minneapolis objectively, there are shootings daily. People are shot and shot to death at an alarming rate. That means law enforcement is reacting to these violent crimes daily. If you research the statistics, when it's not being obscured by the media, most of the victims are black lives. Most of the arrested shooters are as well. When you think of the hundreds of cases handled by the police, and the relatively few mistakes, it begins to show that the number of people killed by police, is a small number in comparison to the number being killed by gun violence every single day. Yet, the media, and certain groups have skillfully turned our attention to the few tragic deaths of individuals at the hands of police; and deflected the reality of daily killings by criminals, to back page news to be ignored because it doesn't bring the masses out to demonstrate their rage. In fact, if a child or innocent person is killed, few people mourn. It's only when ...

A lot of time and effort is going into reforming police. Today, a school bus driver was shot in the head in Minneapolis. Perhaps more time and effort should be spent on the reason police are out pursuing criminals--like why are people shooting each other and also killing and maiming innocent bystanders in the city and streets? Police reform is a byproduct... an effort to fix a symptom of the true problem. It's easy to yell and scream about police brutality, but that doesn't address the crime that necessitates the reason police are deployed in the first place. If you can fix the crime problem, the police won't even be needed. It was a while ago, but when I grew up in Richfield, and bought my first house in Minneapolis (both have had shootings already this month), there wasn't continuous shootings like there is now. So ask yourself, what has changed? If we focus on the cause of the dysfunction rather than reacting to the results, perhaps real solutions are possible. Be...

As encouraging as it is that people are outraged by excessive force used by police, Americans seem to have a huge amount of apathy regarding gun violence in general, and innocent children getting shot.