Another Mass Shooting While Congress Does Nothing

(This photo of the Pittsburg mass shooting is from USA Today.)

America suffered another mass shooting on Saturday. This time it was in Pittsburg, where 46 year-old anti-semite Robert Bowers (armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and several handguns) shot 17 people (four police officers and 13 civilians) -- killing 11 of them.

Sadly, this is not an unusual occurrence in the United States. While most mass shootings (where at least 4 people are shot) do not make the national news, they happen on an almost daily basis. In the first 300 days of this year, there have been at least 294 mass shootings. That's 0.98 mass shootings per day -- or about 29.4 every month. This doesn't happen nearly as often in any other developed nation, and there is no rational reason why it should be happening here.

What is our government doing to stop (or at least reduce) these mass shootings? NOTHING!

Donald Trump is useless. He said after the shooting that we must stop the hate in this country -- completely ignoring the fact that he has increased that hate by his own actions and rhetoric. He has demonized groups that don't fit his white patriarchal mold, and encouraged racists, bigots, and white supremacists -- and doesn't seem to be interested in curbing his own hate speech.

Trump also suggested that the answer is more guns -- inferring that less people would have been killed if there had been guns inside the affected synagogue. That shows he doesn't understand the problem. There are too many guns already in this country (more than one in circulation for every person in the country). More guns is not the answer.

What is the reaction from the Republican-controlled Congress. Just useless "thoughts and prayers", and more nonsense about this not being the time to discuss doing something. They will do nothing because they have been bought and paid for by the gun manufacturers and their lobbying group (the NRA).

Our politicians whine about Second Amendment rights. But they ignore the things that could be done without violating the Second Amendment -- things like making gun laws stricter, banning assault-style weapons and huge ammo magazines, and closing the loopholes in our background check law. A majority of Americans support the first two, and an overwhelming majority supports the third (between 80% and 90%).

Action could be taken by Congress that, while it couldn't prevent all gun deaths, could significantly reduce those deaths.They won't act though, and that's why they should be voted out of power.