We're Living in David Koresh's America
...and other thoughts after watching Netflix's "Waco: American Apocalypse"
1.6 million rounds of ammunition.
AR-15s illegally modified into fully automatic M-16s.
.50 caliber Barrett sniper rifles.
Hand grenades.
What’s terrifying about this story is that what we consider to have been extremely deviant then is now far too commonplace. AR-15s illegally modified? Check. Hoarding of ammunition? Check. Apocalyptic views of the near future? Check. Mixing the teachings of Jesus Christ, noted nonviolent Son of God, with belief in violent confrontation? That’s the entire MAGA worldview!
Once more, on Saturday night, we got a reminder of the diseased American society at work. A Hispanic, Mauricio Garcia, who’d fallen into neo-Nazi teachings, went to an outlet mall in Allen, Texas (seriously, why is it always Texas?) with full body armor and an AR-15 derivative, and proceeded to murder nine people and seriously wound eight. Photos and a video from the scene leaked out online before police showed up to cover the wounded. It also yielded a quote that I am still unable to process. You read these words and ask yourself if this is really how low we have sunk.
Kaleo Palakiko, 36, was shopping with his parents for an upcoming vacation when they saw people running outside.
“It was just kind of chaotic for a second. Then when someone said, ‘shooter,’ we all ran to the back of the store,” Mr. Palakiko said. “As Americans, we’re used to this, because everyone knew exactly what to do.”
Mr. Palakiko and his parents hid in a storeroom for about 45 minutes before they were released by police and walked out with their hands in the air. Mr. Palakiko said they walked by stores with shattered window panes.
As Americans, we’re used to this, because everyone knew exactly what to do. If this were happening in any other advanced nation in the world, the State Department would put out a Level Four warning and tell people to not travel to that country. In America, it’s just another Saturday night. Or a Sunday at church, or a Tuesday at school, or a Thursday at a hospital. Or Friday night at home, when your neighbor is a poison-brained lunatic who was so offended by the idea of not shooting his AR-15 in the backyard that he slaughtered five people, including a child.
As Americans, we’re used to this.
We shouldn’t be. We didn’t used to be. Republicans used to be staunch allies when it came to the battle to regulate and limit the availability of guns designed to be used by soldiers in combat. One Black Panther march through the California State Capitol building and Ronald Reagan acted with a quickness to ban the open carrying of guns. In 1994, Republicans such as Tom Ridge voted for the Brady Bill, and for the next ten years, American school shootings were not common. They horrified us when they happened and there was time to grieve in between them.
It’s nearly thirty years later and you cannot even find a Republican who will support a background check. Greg Abbott, whom I’ve already had words about, tweeted years ago that Texas was only second-best in gun purchases in America, and he literally cheered people on to buy more guns. Since then, Texas leads the nation in mass shootings. From the Dallas cop killer to a church in Sutherland Springs to a Walmart in El Paso to a backyard in Houston to an outlet mall in Allen and so many others that I’ve lost count, Texas is nothing more than a Star-Spangled Shooting Range, with real people as the targets.
The photos that leaked on Twitter from the Allen massacre are horrific, and one thinks that if politicians were forced to confront these images on television, maybe it would change matters. Then again, one of the architects of the Texas Assault Rifle Anarchy™ is this guy, Rep. Keith Self.
Mr. Self, who was one of the ten congressmen to bleed Kevin McCarthy dry in his bid to become Speaker of the House in January, was asked what he would say to those, like myself, that are tired of their “thoughts and prayers,” and want some goddamn legislation to remove these weapons from our streets.
“Those are people that don’t believe in an almighty God who is absolutely in control of our lives,” [Self] told CNN’s Paula Reid. “I’m a Christian. I believe that He is. Today we should be focused on the families. Prayers are important. Prayer is powerful in the lives of those people who are devastated right now.”
This self-righteous gasbag went on to say, when asked by Reid if he’s concerned about so much violence in America, “Of course. Absolutely. Any time there is violence, whether it be in one of the big cities, riots, the trashing of stores in Chicago, or shootings like this. Allen is usually a very safe area.” Self also derided the bare minimum act of raising the purchase age for AR-15s or expanding background checks as a knee-jerk reaction that doesn’t stop criminals.
Keith Self, Greg Abbott, and every other Republican politician in Texas would’ve fit in real well with David Koresh and his followers, stockpiling guns left and right, because that’s what Jesus would tell them to. We’re living in the Branch Davidian vision of America, where the teachings of Jesus have been perverted beyond recognition, and where the Prince of Peace has been turned by these idiot clownsticks into an advocate for owning an arsenal of guns.
I’m going to leave you with this, a screenshot of a Facebook post a friend of mine saw on the timeline of a high school classmate after the Nashville school shooting. This person is a father with young children, and this is how they reacted.
His guns have more value to him than his children. David Koresh’s guns had more value to him than the people inside, and they all burned to death for it.
Welcome to America, where the number of days without a mass shooting is always zero.