Victims Are of Less Value Than Murders in US Judicial System

Here is a perfect example of why no one should trust the judicial system in America: victims are of less value than murderers. There is no viable argument about what I mean when I promise that “the truth lives here” and claim that there are separate judicial systems in America. Today, a South Carolina judge, who is obviously a supporter of the Second Amendment rights of the NRA gun lobby, and a denier of the fact that domestic terrorists are the greatest danger to the American people in the 21st century, gave a mass shooter minimum bail, and an order to wear an ankle bracelet which allows him to continue his normal life without interruption.

“A 22-year-old man arrested after Saturday’s shooting that injured 14 people at a busy shopping mall in South Carolina’s capital was given a $25,000 bond on Sunday,” according to the Hill.

I admit that I have lost count of the mass shootings in America during the last week, beginning with the assault on 29 men and women on a Brooklyn, New York, subway platform. This has become normal for the United States of America in the 21st century.

Jewayne M. Price was released on minimal bail, and two others were released without bail while authorities search for two other “persons of interest.” Price was previously accused of the fatal shooting of a high school student in 2018. Fourteen people were injured at the mall.

Mall shootings have become normal in 21st-century America. To be totally honest, mass shootings have become a normal part of American life for more than three years when these violent actions with the use of weapons of mass destruction continue to outnumber the days on the calendar. The NRA gun lobby will continue to claim that “guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”

The fact is that uncontrolled access to lethal weapons is the only reason why the United States is the most dangerous nation in the free world. Background checks are required at gun stores but are ineffectual. There are no background checks in most states for purchases from gun shows or online. Although handguns have more restrictive laws pertaining to their purchase, obtaining a military assault rifle, whose only purpose is to kill human beings in large numbers as quickly as possible, is available to almost anyone, anytime, anywhere.

The most memorable mass shootings in American history were committed by lone gunmen using these military weapons of mass destruction. The slaughter of 58 men and women in Las Vegas in 2017 is the most destructive single action of violence by one shooter in history. A month later, 26 men, women, and children were murdered inside a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. On Valentine’s Day, 2018, 17 students and faculty lost their lives in Parkland, Florida. We must be reminded every day that on December 14, 2012, 20 children, ages five and six, were brutally murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, along with six educators.

Will this become the legacy of people who lived in 21st century America? Are we willing to accept losing thousands of innocent Americans every year to protect the most ambiguous and primitive amendment to the Constitution? Although it does not apply to our nation today, the right-wing continues to shove it in our faces as your family and friends die for no reason while going about their normal lives.

Our government can no longer be trusted to do the right thing. Our entire system must be revised. Old, white men and women must be removed from Washington. Capitalism is a failure. Only Democratic Socialism will lead our nation forward and protect the rights of the majority while preventing fascists from taking control of our nation’s future. This country belongs to us, not to those we elect to serve 330 million people.

Your vote is important and attempts to suppress the votes of minorities, and low-income Americans must be stopped at all costs. The first amendment must be protected.

You must vote and vote intelligently on November 8th. Your future and the future of those you love depend on it.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources:

ABC News: Accused SC mall shooter connected to 2018 fatal shooting; by Marcus Flowers
The Hill: Suspect in South Carolina mall shooting given $25,000 bond; Michelle Lui, Dennis Bright

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of PublicDomainImages’ Pixabay Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Lorie Shaull’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License