By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
Within minutes of shots being fired at the Donald Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, online conspiracy theorists hit the Internet with allegations that the entire event had been staged by the Trump campaign to generate sympathy with voters.
Soon thereafter, some Republican elected officials blamed President Joe Biden and his campaign for what the FBI and Secret Service are calling an attempted assassination.
Those accusers included Ohio’s most famous carpetbagger, U. S. Sen. J. D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy, a book and movie in which he trashed his family and everyone and everything he knew about Kentucky.
If Trump picks Vance as his running mate and they win in November, that puts Vance a heartbeat away from the White House. If that occurs, I might move to Canada.
I’m glad that former President Trump was not seriously injured on Saturday. His campaign staff must be giddy over the fact that he was able to shake his fist and yell for the cameras while Secret Service agents were using their bodies as human shields to protect him from further injury.
Sadly, one bystander was killed in the shooting and two others were wounded but are expected to recover.
Biden and Trump issued statements condemning the violence, but we haven’t heard the last of it by any means. Don’t be surprised if supporters of both candidates start showing up at rallies with their own weapons as self-appointed protectors.
We also learned that the assault rifle allegedly used by the shooter had been legally purchased by his father. A few days earlier, it came to light that at least four states now are allowing a company to sell ammunition through vending machines.
That means you can go to the grocery store and load your basket with bread, milk, and eggs and then buy your 9 mm bullets or 12-gauge shotgun shells from a nearby vending machine.
No, those machines aren’t available in Kentucky yet but I’m willing to bet our Bluegrass State is represented among the more than 200 businesses waiting to join Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas who have made them legal or are in the process of doing so.
And please don’t be concerned about the recent gun violence in Northern Kentucky where four young adults were murdered at a birthday party. I’m sure their families found comfort in the obligatory “thoughts and prayers” of politicians who lack the courage to do or say anything to make guns and ammo more difficult to obtain. Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.)
