26 things that made me sick to my stomach the minute I woke up this morning... again

I’m sick of this.

I’m sick of waking up to yet another hideous, needless gun massacre in America.

I’m sick of seeing the helpless, grieving relatives weeping and wailing for their lost ones.

I’m sick of hearing that the mass shooter, as at Newton, Aurora and now Charleston, was a twisted young white kid with a mental disorder who had absurdly easy access to guns.

I’m sick of the NRA saying these outrages wouldn’t happen if everyone else in the school, church, movie theater had been armed too.

I’m sick of President Obama biting his lip in post-massacre statements as he did today, pretending he deeply cares when he, too, has done absolutely nothing to stop these atrocities happening. In his last State of Union address, Obama never even mentioned the word ‘gun’ – a shameful omission.I’m sick of U.S. politicians spouting fake platitudes about gun violence and then doing absolutely nothing about them.

I’m sick of the absolute certain knowledge that gun sales will spike in Carolina over the next few weeks. They rocket after every massacre, fuelled by the NRA spewing their ‘more guns, less crime’ bulls**t.

I’m sick of gun nuts on social media arrogantly, defiantly insisting their ‘rights’ are more important than the deaths of the victims.

I’m sick of seeing the supine American news media collectively shrug its shoulders at the relentless procession of dreadful shootings - and concluding there’s nothing that can be done to prevent them.

I’m sick of idiot celebrities like Vince Vaughan informing us that ‘banning guns is like banning forks to stop making people fat’.

I’m sick of major stores like Walmart stocking walls full of high-powered assault rifles when Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs are banned from ALL American stores on ‘health hazard’ grounds.

I’m sick of a law so riddled with hypocritical absurdity that it allows 9-year-old girls to be legally handed Uzi machine guns at shooting ranges, where they ‘accidentally’ kill their instructors – but bans my 21-year-old son from recently being allowed to buy a NON-alcoholic beer because he had no ID.

I’m sick of anyone who dares use the phrase ‘gun control’ in America being instantly abused and labeled an ‘enemy of the state’.

I’m sick of hearing that the 2nd Amendment can’t be amended to drag it into modern life because the Constitution is such a sacred document. It’s already an AMENDMENT. Do the damn math.

I’m sick of seeing endless police shoot-outs happen simply because U.S. cops fear everyone has a gun. This paranoia, which is often based on reality, has turned America back into the Wild West, where the slightest altercation rapidly becomes the OK Corral.

I’m sick of the sickening, haunting mental image provided by a Sandy Hook relative, who told me that the bullets which hit those poor children made holes the size of golf balls – and each child was hit between 3 and 11 times.

I’m sick of repeating ad nausea that 100,000 people are hit by gunfire every year in America, of whom 32-33,000 die;18,000 from suicide, 12,000 from murder, and over 500 children from ‘accidents’ where some dumb adult has left a gun lying around.

I’m sick of everything from cars to pet dogs being more tightly regulated in the U.S. than guns and nobody thinking that’s just ridiculous.

I’m sick of knowing that 40% of all gun sales in America have NO background check, not even to see if the purchaser is mentally insane or a criminal.

I’m sick of America’s cities becoming almost war-zones most weekends, with higher gun death tolls in just 2/3 days than countries like England, Australia or Japan have in a year.

I’m sick of most federal and state level investment into mental health research and treatment being cut in the past decade, when millions of Americans suffer mental health issues and desperately need help to protect themselves and us.

I’m sick of the billion-dollar gun manufacturers putting their greedy, grasping commercial interests above life, aided and abetted by a dangerously powerful NRA-led lobby which bullies, threatens and abuses any politician at any level who even whispers support for sensible new gun regulation.

I’m sick of being told that guns are essential to defeat tyranny, when guns themselves have become the single most deadly, tyrannical force in the country.

I’m sick of all the tears and misery and fury and despair felt by everyone whose life is touched and destroyed by guns in America.

I’m sick of this. YOU should be too.

By Piers Morgan