Against the Grain II
Is it time to stop the tradition of championship parades
Winning a national or world championship is a source of ultimate pride. To have defeated the highest level of competition is a badge of honor coveted by star athletes.
In many professional sports and some college sports, the win is followed shortly thereafter with a parade through the town of the champions.
It is even popular with individual champions like tennis Grand Slam champions and such. It has been a defining moment over the years. The ticker tape parades of modern times are legendary still to this day.
However, times have changed. In most states, the gun laws are so non-invasive that they actually promote open carry. Missouri is one of those states. This very policy has come back to bite them in this case.
It is not rocket science to understand that the more individuals who are in possession of guns, the higher the propensity for there to be a gun incident. With hundreds of thousands of fans lining the streets of Kansas City, Mo., to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory, some putting the number at one million, it all came to a catastrophic head on Wednesday as gunmen opened fire injuring 20 and killing one individual.
Watching the video of the incident is heartbreaking. Innocent folks who just came to catch a glimpse of stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce or even possibly Taylor Swift, left with sights of a shootout that left carnage laying in the streets of Kansas City.
Union Station, where the pep rally following the parade, was where the shootings occurred. Unfortunately for the victims, they were locked in much like the unfortunate killings in Las Vegas at the Jason Aldean concert. Patrons were literally sitting ducks as with the density of the crowd, there was no quick and safe way to escape once the shooting began.
Just days prior, an active shooter was inside mega-church pastor Joel Osteen’s church. When the dust settled Genesse Moreno, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was allowed to own a gun because of loose gun laws. Those close to Moreno saw this as a predictable outcome because of the legal right to own a gun even in her diagnosed condition. It was a recipe for disaster.
The ironic thing is NFL stadiums are some of the most secure places on Earth. The Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium on a normal basis and the NFL’s security policies deter any firearms from being present. A clear bag policy, metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs are all a part of the protocol of most venues.
Maybe it’s time to stop having massive events if all of these precautions can’t be implemented. Maybe it’s time for these parades to just go away. The crowd at Union Station was estimated to be one million people. With that many people in one place — even with massive security — there is no way to adequately secure the patrons. Additionally, it is an increased risk for the celebratory teams. Imagine the horror if one of the players or coaches had been shot.
The hard truth is Pandora’s Box is open on open carry and it’s not going back. Gun rights activists have convinced legislatures, congress, the Senate and the President to relax gun laws under the guise that they are a person’s rights. We are granted the right to bear arms. When that law was originally written, it was an effort to allow the general citizens of America to be able to defend themselves from threats both foreign and domestic. The problem is we have amended the law to a casual byline that promotes and affords mass killings.
