We in America devote more resources, energy, resolve and fervor to protecting guns than we direct to protecting school children.

Think that statement is over the top? No. It’s validated. Statistically. It is quantifiable.

And that premise accurately leads to this conclusion. We love guns more than we love school children.

Read that again.

A society can rightly be judged by its determination and ability to protect its children. Our society is currently a dismal failure.

There are more guns in America than there are people. There are more guns in America than there are motor vehicles. There are clearly more guns in America than there are functional human brain cells.

The United States of America—which some consider a developed country—leads all nations of the world in annual gun deaths by a Secretariat at the Belmont margin. There’s no denial, and no justification. (Just as there’s no justification for the U.S. leading all nations of the world in COVID deaths, but I digress.)

We’re talking gun deaths. That’s the subject. Gun deaths. So wouldn’t it be a good idea to universally acknowledge that guns are at least pertinent to the conversation?

But we can’t do that. We can’t even start to pronounce the hard-g in “guns” before the Gun Nut Loony Lobby tries to silence us. The very word is taboo.

Gun deaths.

But let’s talk about “mental health.”

Gun deaths.

But let’s talk about the breakdown of families.

Gun deaths.

Let’s talk about prayer in schools.

Gun deaths.

Let’s talk about our pop culture.

Gun deaths.

Well, actually, “Now is certainly not the time” to talk about any of this.

Gun deaths. But don’t you dare even mention The G Word. That kind of negates any chance of a meaningful conversation, wouldn’t you say?

Understand, this IS complicated, and there ARE myriad factors and problems that impact our horrific rate of gun deaths. We err when we take an either/or, binary approach to this issue.

But could we, you know, consider that maybe cultural gun-worship and easy and unfettered access to military-style guns have at least something to do with this?  Would that be unreasonable?

Apparently so.

America does not have the market cornered on mental health issues. Or cultural issues. Or family issues. Or economic issues.

But we have absolutely cornered the global market on gun deaths.

What’s the ONE variable we can isolate in all of this? What separates us from every other country on Earth in this matter?

Guns. And gun worship.

This is just pure analytics.

I learned something this week that I find admirable. In many religions, simply praying for something without then taking the action needed to bring about the desired answered prayer is considered sinful and a direct affront to God.  

That means just mindlessly mumbling “thoughts and prayers” following every predictable slaughter is not only obviously ineffective, but also blasphemous.

And this is about to get more grotesque. Tomorrow, Saturday, four days after the Uvalde massacre, The Gun Nut Loony Lobby is going to have a bacchanalia not 250 miles away from Robb Elementary. Its sole purpose will be to glorify guns.

You want blasphemy?

This is crude. And crass. And I will not apologize for it. The Gun Nut Loony Lobby, in all of its inexplicable outsized power, is going to gather in Houston for a weekend of Gun Fellatio.

Yeah, that’s disgusting.

But you know what I find disgusting?

Dead kids.

The issue is gun deaths. So shouldn’t that conversation include guns?