ACCEPTABLE LOSSES

     (Full disclosure: I am a gun owner, and I support the Second Amendment)     

     There is an old military saying that states: ‘No plan survives after the first contact with the enemy.’

     When the military and other groups consider and develop a plan, there is something built in called ‘Acceptable Losses.’ What that means is if all goes as planned (which it rarely does), it will result in a certain percentage of life or materiel loss that is deemed worth losing (acceptable) to attain the objective of the mission.

     Keeping that in mind, while many are calling for tweaking the current laws, doing something, there is an unyielding refusal of others to consider anything to make a positive difference in our gun culture.

     Six people dying with vaping is unacceptable (now up to 59), so action is taken.

     Thirty-six thousand people killed each year by guns is apparently acceptable. In mass shootings, as shocked as people profess to be, we have become numbed to the regular increase of incidents. To help, they say we should keep sending thoughts and prayers (yawn) but do nothing else.

     Sandy Hook (29 killed) should have been when action was taken, but that was apparently acceptable. Las Vegas (58), Pulse (49), Virginia Tech (32), El Paso (22), etc., etc., should also have brought about action, but apparently, some still see those as acceptable losses. Any suggestion of changing any laws result in, ‘They’re coming to take our guns.’ To them, keeping the status quo is worth the piling-up bodies.

     Until such killings become unacceptable to all, they will remain acceptable.