Latest way two rights make a leadership wrong

Sadly, we find ourselves in a place in which we are more and more desensitized to mass shootings.

Think about that for a moment.

People are being killed in obscene ways and in overwhelming numbers in everyday stations of our society.

Schools. Clubs. Restaurants. Concerts. At work. At the mall. Clinics. Community colleges.

And we know all too well that military outlets have been targeted. There is no safe space.

And while there is no place completely safe, there is no complete solution, either.

President Donald Trump said the latest example of this is a mental health issue. He’s right. The nutbag who shot up the Texas church was so far off the rails he was 10 miles from the nearest station.

And to Trump’s point, there’s no way to legislate or regulate against crazy.

That said, for those banging the drum about how this is reason 2,308 why we have to find a way to stop selling and buying automatic assault rifles and the gadgets that turn them into elite killing machines, well, they are right too.

One hundred percent right.

There are crazy people out there. And there are guns out there that make it easy for those crazy people to kill at a lightning-strike pace.

But as we move forward in a world that becomes more connected and disconnected with each iPhone, how have we turned two rights into two sides saying the other is wrong?

Take Trump’s statement from Japan this week: “I think that mental health is your problem here. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries.”

Yep.

“But this isn’t a guns situation,” Trump said. “I mean, we could go into it, but it’s a little bit soon to go into it. But fortunately, somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction, otherwise it would have been — as bad it was — it would have been much worse. But this is a mental health problem at the highest level. It’s a very, very sad event.”

Sad? Absolutely. Mental health problem? Of course. But please, don’t stop there. Please, let’s go into it. Now. Like yesterday.

For all of us, this is a life-and-death issue, and there has to be a better way to control the amount of mass-shooting automatic killing machines out there.

Forget agendas and line items. Forget warm wishes. Forget talking points. Forget eternal kindness.

The Texas victims were flush with thoughts and prayers, folks. They were in their place of worship, for crying out loud.

If we want the crying to stop, though, we have to find a way to stop the crying shame that has become the political tug of war that stands in the way of righteousness.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.