The recent and tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford put me in mind of the Eddie Izzard sketch, "The Gun Thing". Not that there is anything funny about this dreadful and gruesome crime, but more because of how completely farcical the debate about gun control has become in the US. We seem to have moved beyond abject denial and into something so much more surreal.
"...guns don't kill people, people do,"says Izzard, quoting the oft-used National Rifle Association strapline. "But I think the gun helps".
The US is currently completely absorbed by a discussion over the apparently "toxic" nature of political debate in the US, and how it is responsible for these terrible events.
Are they fcuking kidding? (please excuse my French.)
Has the seemingly endless array of mass shootings in the US not taught Americans anything? Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood. How often have random and indiscriminate acts of murder that deprive the innocent of their right to lifeuntil someone, somewhere, realises that "hey, maybe it's the guns that kill people!"
How did Australia react to the senseless mass shooting of innocent tourists at Port Arthur? Regulated gun ownership.
How did Britain react to the heart-wrenching massacre of innocent children in a school in Dunblane? Regulated gun ownership.
Am I missing something? It's not the "toxic"nature of political debate that enabled Jared Loughner to shoot Ms Gifford through the brain, maim others and kill six. If that were the case he would have shouted, ranted and maybe even spat or thrown an egg. It was the gun in his hand - that he no doubt found easy to acquire despite obvious mental health issues - that enabled him to cause such chaos, injury and death.
The rational reaction of any sane individual or community to any disaster is to examine the facts and determine a cause of action that will prevent such a tragedy happening again. Americans, like junkies in denial of the fact that the drugs are ruining their lives, have come up with perhaps the most ridiculous furfie yet.
Sadly not even the fact that in this event it is an actual Federal Lawmaker that has been injured will change anything. The slaying of their own President in 1963 didn't seem to make any serious difference. How many lives are worth the preservation of an Amendment - an Amendment mind you - to the "sacred" constitution? The families of these poor victims must be beside themselves with fury, because I'm bloody angry and it has got nothing to do with me!