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"The Mass Shooting Playbook"
A Letter to the American People:
The Mass Shooting Playbook
I consider it a national disgrace that an article like this should ever have to be contemplated, never mind published. There is no joy in writing about such tragic losses as those suffered at Sandy Hook, but the massacre of innocent people has become so commonplace in the U.S. and the responses of special interest groups so predictable, that there might as well be a "Mass Shooting Playbook" for Americans to use the next time it happens. That way, we'll be able to get on with our self-absorbed lives as quickly as possible without the guilt of missing a frame from the cycle of shock, outrage, self-righteousness, exploitation and return to "normalcy" that so characterizes the American people.
First, an otherwise uneventful day must be interrupted with "breaking news" about another mass shooting in the U.S. True to form, initial reports must be entirely inaccurate as anchor persons vie to build a profile of the "shooter." From there, every TV channel in the country has to descend on the location of the tragedy, first providing sky shots from their carrion-seeking helicopters and then once their vans are operable, giving feverish updates from in front of the yellow police tape that's already marked the crime scene.
As the extent of the killing unfolds and the identities of the victims revealed, it is critical that the gun control debate kick off once again, with all of the blow hards screaming over one another on CNN and MSNBC. Equally essential to the proper sequencing of the Playbook, Fox News must chime in with its dogmatic defense of the Second Amendment and pathetically lop-sided parade of right wing zealots spouting off about how "guns don't kill people, people kill people."
Once we know what kind of weapons and ammunition were used in a given killing, attention must shift to still photos of the gun(s), complete with a breakdown of caliber, clip capacity, rounds per second and the morbid details on what a single bullet can do to the body of a child. Emboldened with that information, news coverage must then move to the sporting goods stores in Texas or gun shows in Alabama where the truly enlightened proclaim that the logical solution to gun violence is to have more guns.
Let's not forget the need for state and federal politicians to get in on the act, either. Our Playbook wouldn't be complete without scenes of Congressman from both sides of the aisle standing between the regal columns of Capitol Hill offering their highly proselytized (and mutually exclusive) view on gun reform. To be fair, the Playbook must allow for an equal number of liberals clamoring for no-chance-of-being-passed gun laws and Republicans clinging to the pro-arms script that their generous donors have provided them with.
Most importantly, the American people have a role to play in this travesty, too. As such, an entire section of the Playbook must be dedicated to the proper handling of the Tweets, celebrity condolences, candle light vigils, postcards, signs, snowflakes, half-masted flags, letters to the editor, proclamations of faith, church meetings, moments of silence, fly-overs, websites and foundations that inevitably crop up in the wake of a mass shooting. Although reprehensible, the Playbook must also contain instructions on how to deal with the scum bag aunt, cousin or total stranger that sets up a scam non-profit to take donations for the "families of the victims."
While all of the above must happen within the first 30 days of a mass shooting, the most damaging phase of the Playbook is the one that takes a little longer to unfold; the American people's progressive willingness to do nothing about gun violence. As the news vans reel in their antennas and the candles burn out, the Playbook demands that people disguise their apathy in a defiant push to get our lives "back to normal," courageously soldiering on in the face of overwhelming national grief.
After all, this is the best play the American people can run under the circumstances, isn't it? We take one on the chin, band together, say a few prayers and painfully forge ahead, right? That is, of course, until the next Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Sikh temple, Aurora or Sandy Hook massacre takes place and we have to look deeper inside ourselves to find the apathy to ignore what has become the scourge of the American Experience. Wake up America; we're not forging ahead, we're bullshitting ourselves into thinking that going back to exactly what we were doing before a shooting is somehow going to miraculously prevent the next one.
In spite of its callous thoroughness, the Playbook is clearly missing one vital instruction set: How to console the families and loved ones of people that were wounded or lost in a mass shooting. What can you possibly say to a parent who sent their child to school in the morning only to have to identify their devastated remains a few days later at the local morgue? What words will comfort the siblings of a girl who went to the movies with her friends and ended up so badly shot that her wake required a closed casket? When the emails stop flowing, the phones cease ringing and the families are left in the silence of the night to deal with their irreversible grief, what happens then? My Playbook doesn't have an answer to those questions, so I'll leave the response to the merchants of death that so glibly defend their right to profit from the misery of others.
It is certain that the brutality of Sandy Hook will extend the amount of time dedicated to this particular story. Anderson Cooper is already back in Newtown and to his credit, Piers Morgan continues to stridently advocate for the legitimate reform of gun laws (and ironically, he isn't even a U.S. citizen). Clearly, the politicians are putting on a good show and some are even making an honest effort to toughen the laws, but rest assured that nothing is going to change after Newtown. Congress will continue its partisan circle jerk and even if the President implements an Executive Order to get assault rifles off the streets, the NRA and imbeciles like Alex Jones will challenge that decision all the way to the Supreme Court. Equally certain is the fact that the American people will sit back and let the whole pathetic scene play itself out on national television, and not do a single thing about it.
So, in addition to our heartfelt sympathy and expressions of short-term concern, the Playbook mandates that it is our civic duty as resilient Americans to "tough it out," all the while becoming more tolerant of mass shootings and all-the-more capable of suppressing our collective shame. We might not know it yet, but we the people are becoming desensitized to gun violence and may soon find the national psyche hijacked into thinking that the occasional mass shooting is the price we have to pay to preserve the Second Amendment.
That would be a sad day, but unless the three hundred million or so sane people in America demand that real steps be taken to curb gun violence, it will be here sooner than you think. And once we reach that point, there will be no Playbook in the world that can save us from ourselves.
Sincerely,
Daniel L Gardner
