American Idol American Gun

The United States has 270 million guns and had 90 mass shooters from 1966 to 2012. [During that same period], no other country has [had] more than 46 million guns or 18 mass shooters.
— The New York Times, Nov. 7, 2017

And they have built the high places of Tophet…to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire.
— Jeremiah 7:31 (KJV)

I carry… says the father interviewed
on the radio as I shave.
He’s come to see his daughter in Las Vegas,

the rifle round that slid up her thigh
and into her belly now snuggles her spine.
I’m still a Second Amendment person.

I carry a weapon.
He assures the reporter his daughter is strong.
He blames it all on a godless society.

The people want the military stuff, I overhear
the guy from the Texas office drawl.
He has just explained to the two New York attorneys

how a bump stock works on an AR-15.
He knows all the technical details. Owns
a few guns himself. Says the only real automatics

you can get are Thompson machine guns,
but you have to register them. The government
has to know exactly where they are.

The two New York attorneys listen
and nod. The Texan sounds like a movie
cowboy. I wonder if he’s carrying.

That night my wife tells me of an interview
with the man from American Greatness:
We look at guns and we say, look,

this is a way that the weak
can protect themselves against the strong.
The people, apparently, are afraid.

When Moses disappeared on Mount Sinai
and his people grew afraid, the first thing
they did was fashion a golden

calf, melting down the gold jewelry
plundered from the Egyptians.
To obtain the new god’s protection

they made burnt offerings. My people
have also fashioned a new god,
this one with a voracious appetite for virgin

flesh. Thirteen hundred children
shot and killed each year. Collateral
damage to sate an American idol.

When my people crave protection
they are quick to sacrifice their sons
and daughters. My people want weapons,

to bring them comfort, automatics,
because they are afraid,
and woe unto the heretics.

– Eugene A. Melino

Image from Halukakah webpage for “GANGSTA” Men’s 18k Stamp Real Gold Plated M16/AK47 Gun Pendant Necklace with Cuban Chain 30″. Price: $10.65.