Bears issue statement after Highland Park July 4th parade massacre

Another day in the life of America. Another mass shooting. Another mass murder. This time, it happened at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. A gunman climbed an unsecured ladder to an unsecured roof and shot 30 unsuspecting people, killing six of them.

After being at large for most of the day, the murderer has been caught.

The Bears have issued a statement regarding the latest tragedy involving guns and human beings far too troubled and evil to ever own them. It’s what’s done at times like this, even if it doesn’t do anything.

Thoughts and prayers. At this point, it’s more caricature than cliche. And yet that worn out phrase has made its way into the team’s statement. What else, really, can be said?

The problem is simply beyond our ability to properly diagnose and repair. We just can’t do it. We can try. We can make minor strides. But it’s never going to be conclusively solved because we lack the political will to do it. The people may want it, but the politicians we’ve elected will not do it. And those who think it’s simple to replace the politicians who resist meaningful safety laws that don’t prevent responsible gun ownership don’t understand how a toxically-flawed two-party system truly works.

Here’s the reality. If you’re going to live here, you need to accept getting shot to death in a public place as one of the daily risks of leaving your house. Go to the grocery store, parade, church, school, wherever, and you could be shot and killed. Someone who has no business having a gun possibly will have gotten a gun and possibly will show up and take aim at you or those you have a solemn duty to protect but can’t.

You can’t do it because we are broken. Fundamentally and, by all appearances, irretrievably.