Vice President Kamala Harris Addresses Texas Mass Shooting

[appalachiablue]

4. The country is in an escalating state of decline. Political

dysfunction and anti- democratic, authoritarian dominance driven by the extreme right and growing numbers of guns and violent shootings very year. Most media are delivering the same deflecting script as you say, rarely focusing on the stalemate with gun control, the influence of racism, greed and profit derived from increasing inequality and promoting division and hate.

Above all gun ownership, now at 400 million that's fueling mass violence and death that is non- existent in other countries. It's becoming dangerously normalized here.

At times I'm glad that my father, uncles and their father, a law enforcement official aren't alive to see this. All of them used guns responsibly for hunting and sport and served in the military in wartime. They wouldn't believe what's happening, the shooting at Va. Tech, my dad's alma mater, the innocent victims massacred at schools, the many Americans shot in theatres, clubs, malls, churches and synagogues producing enormous trauma and pain for loved ones and communities.

On so many levels the US needs a tremendous amount of work and new vision. The push for reform of the major problems and the preservation of democracy has to continue. Today I'm not so optimistic that these objectives can be achieved, certainly not in my lifetime. But I also know that giving up isn't an option. Tomorrow is new day.