How Long, Adonai?

How long does it take? Why are we always back to square one and starting over?

Number 1
Oil
As prices go up, we re-create the exact same flows of information we have generated in the past: speculation in oil futures, lack of refineries, opening up the national pertoleum reserve to lower prices, higher taxes/lower taxes, the effects on family vacations...

Number 2
Guns
Anyone in their right minds knew that killings would increase with the rapidly increasing number of guns owned. We, however, thought that crime would actually decrease. Yes we did. That is a good insight into our mental health.

The Guardian writes on the increases in killing:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/05/stand-your-ground-gun-control-data

...in states with both SYG laws and the weakest gun controls – as defined by the Brady Campaign against gun violence – we found a statistical correlation with an increase in justifiable homicides.
Across the US, such killings have risen sharply over the last five years, according to the data provided by the FBI and the Florida department of law enforcement. Between 2001 and 2005, there were 1,225 homicides classed as justifable(sic), compared to 1,528 in the period 2006-2010. By contrast, violent crime overall has been falling...

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, said: "This research demonstrates a fundamental point. Stand-your-ground laws are dangerous on their own as a mentality. But when combined with weak gun laws they become a recipe for tragedy."
He added: "Too much of the media focus has been on stand your ground alone. But we need to look at why Trayvon Martin is dead. Trayvon Martin is dead because George Zimmerman had a gun and that gun was put into his hands by the abominably low standards of guns laws in Florida. Zimmerman had a record of violence, but he was allowed to walk the streets with a loaded gun."...

Recent years have seen an increase "not just in the number of guns, but also in the places that people have the right to take guns", said Kenney.
"Various states are trying to remove almost all restrictions, even in bars serving alcohol. There's a high probability in states like Florida that a large number of people around you are armed."
Into that mix, the SYG laws remove any responsibility to diffuse a situation, he said, leading to a "wild west" system of justice.
"Justified homicides by police are also up," said Kenney. "The police are shooting more people and citizens are shooting more people. We're evolving into an increasingly coarse society with no obligation to diffuse a situation and rapidly turn to force.
"People are literally getting away with murder."

 I wrote about this the other day. All I have is the fact that I've been around the USA for a lot of years and I kept my eyes open and I remember what I saw. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that when you make killing easy, the outcome will not be pleasant.
Previous to the most recent campus shooting, people frequently were heard to say that if all the students and professors were packing heat, they'd gun down any shooter that came on campus aiming to kill people. The outcome in California shows that that was nonsense, also. Either that, or not enough divinity students were carrying concealed weapons that day.
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