Seriously? NRA Tries To Get Me To Join With Guns "Sweepstakes"

Part of flyer I received in mail about prizes (multiple guns) to be won in NRA sweepstakes.

In the interest of full disclosure let me say first that although I have owned and fired firearms I've never had any interest in the NRA or joining its government-leery minions. That hasn't stopped the organization from plying me with "provisional" membership cards as well as other inducements to join. In the latest iteration I received a two page form letter from none other then Exec VP Wayne La Pierre with the end sign off "Yours in freedom".

The intro of the letter reads:

"Dear Fellow American,

This is YOUR  official call for entry in our exciting NRA sweepstakes and you don't have a moment to lose.  Because there will be over 700 WINNERS GUARANTEED and I want to give you a chance to win!

Don't wait. This is your shot at incredible gun, hunt and gear prizes - and best of all, you get to pick the prizes you'd like to win most.

PLUS it's WINNER TAKE ALL.

You read that right!

You'll not only have a chance to win your First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Prize selections - you could also win EVERY SINGLE PRIZE you've chosen at each of thee levels if you're drawn as our LUCKY GRAND PRIZE WINNER!

----------------------------

Yep, and IF I was a rabid gun nut or collector or even NRA aficionado I'd no doubt place all the accompanying prize stickers on in a heartbeat.

But the problem is I am not a gun grabber or NRA fan. Indeed, I have written multiple posts before against this bunch, such as after James Eagen Holmes' Aurora theater massacre and the Newtown bloodshed. 

After the Tucson shootings by Jared Loughner with Gabby Giffords one of the victims, I explained the basis of the 2nd amendment in one January, 2011 post:

Let me cite again the Second Amendment to the Constitution:

"A self-Regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Now, one must understand and comprehend the era and period in which this was written. At that time muskets were the primary weapon, and no major organized standing army existed such as we now have. Indeed, the Continental Army of Washington, though it prevailed over the British, now had massive war debts to pay off. There was no way to keep thousands of men under arms for sustained periods, as well as clothing and feeding them - far less recycling them with newer equipment each year!

It therefore became necessary to authorize the basis for a non-centralized force or "Militia" in order to supplement any governmentally organized army called up. This "Militia" originated in the countryside, from citizens living across the land in various villages, towns and states. In effect, the 2nd amendment drafters were asserting the necessity for a subsidiary people's army to assist the main one. Citizens then became in effect, necessary to the security of the nation. One could then describe the state militias as "adjunct armies".

Indeed, some interpreters of the amendment believe the original content is really even more diluted than what I portrayed. They see the "well regulated militia" provision as actually devised as protections from any marauding, "loose cannon" generals. These interpreters insist the framers would never in a million years have envisaged people possessing permanent private weapons in their own homes - claiming it would have really detracted from a militia's effectiveness (E.g. who controls when they fire weapons at whom, and when? Or whether or not the owners are even trained in their use? DO we just let thousands of gun owners go off half-cocked to do their own thing?)

But there is NO way, not one bit, the framers would behold what we have now ....the most formidable organized military in the world - with more weapons than all the empires of all previous centuries put together, and insist that separate citizens' militias were still needed. And they certainly wouldn't confer any benediction on owning powerful automatic rifles or even semi-automatic Glocks that can spew off 31 rounds in seconds!

Adding:

So what has happened? The NRA, with enormous political clout, has succeeded in vaporizing what few common sense controls were left and given us a very close version of the "wild West". It began when a federal law enacted in 1994 that restricted the sale of certain semi-automatics was allowed to expire in 2004. This expiry was sought by the NRA which put pressure on congress critters to allow it. (The NRA doubtless subscribed to the "slippery slope" fallacy: that if semi-automatics weren't permitted, then ordinary weapons would follow.)

The next major piece of follow -up idiocy was in allowing 'make my day' laws in many states from around 2006. Thus in Colorado now, a home owner who even thinks he's under a serious threat can open fire and use deadly force with barely a question asked.

Later, after the San Bernardino massacre on December 9, 2015 I wrote:

Who the hell needs a semi-automatic anyway? The Founders, for sure - including Madison, Jefferson and even Hamilton (himself killed in a duel) would have been aghast to behold what's on display as in the photo and allowed under a perversion of the 2nd amendment. In fact, they'd likely all re-croak if they came back to life and saw how that amendment has been disgraced by nuts and the NRA gun lobby.

The fact is NO one is taking away a person's precious right to own a proper, functioning gun by banning these high -powered weapons, which really were originally designed for MILITARY use in Vietnam, NOT for target shooting or protection. Jeezus Peace, you use a shotgun or 30.06 for target shooting or hunting a deer - you don't need a god damned AR-15!  As for home protection, get a shotgun or .38 special, you do not need a damned assault rifle. WTF are people expecting an alien invasion?

The Aussies surrendered nearly all their assault weapons back in 1996 after a massacre in which 35 were slaughtered in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Since then, the violent murders by assault weapon have been cut in half. Of course, there will still be those who get such guns and use them in malicious ways, that's not the damned point  - which the gunnies always distort. NO, it's to keep such weapons out of mass hands where even in a home dispute the disputants will not be tempted to just reach for their guns.

Highland Park (Illinois) ban is also spot on given how easily an AR-15, originally semi-automatic - can be altered to an automatic.  As yesterday's WSJ piece observes:

"The AR-15 re-cocks itself immediately after firing. The only thing keeping the gun from firing again on its own is a sear, a piece inserted in the gun that stops the cycle from continuing. By replacing the sear and a few other key components, an AR-15 can be made fully automatic."

Ending with:

As for the professed love (by gun aficionados)  for these weapons, I attribute most of it to the "regressed kid" syndrome. You know, when kids could set off firecrackers om the 4th or New Year's Eve and get a bang out of the noise and distraction?  Today, these  powerful weapons are de facto substitutes and include "uses" such as reducing small trees to splinters,  blowing up melons in the woods and blasting tin cans. They provide  that 'bang'  (and demolition) attraction for baseline "entertainment' of modern day adults. Until they are used against a family member or on oneself in a suicide.

I say, enough is enough and it's time to put away the things of a child.  Back in the 1960s we didn't have such weapons and we got along just fine. Sure there were murders and homicides but not like the regular mass slaughters one sees today - over 355 now and counting.

Can sanity prevail in this country or will the people continue to allow a powerful gun lobby to hold them in thrall - and in fear?  The question will be raised often by serious people in the coming months and years and it may well come down to imposing local or state assault weapons bans since at the federal level there is no will to act. At that level, the NRA has most lawmakers - or at least their balls-  in its maw.

----------------
My positions haven't changed since those posts. I still am convinced the NRA has twisted the 2nd amendment toward an interpretation never intended by the Founders.  Despite the debasement of too many brains with time, I still stand foursquare with the unanimous (1939) Supreme Court decision that affirmed:

"The Second Amendment grants people a right that is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only exists where the arms are borne in a militia or some other military organization provided by law and intended for protection of the State."

While this sane and sober take prevailed for several more decades, it started to unravel by the 1970s as various Right wing (wouldn't you know?) groups coalesced to challenge gun control based on spurious "private gun ownership" interpretations, and successively overturned laws in state legislatures - much like the abortion opponents are now doing .

At the time Chief Justice Warren Burger responded that these lax state gun law interpretations comprised "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

What do we infer from these historical perspectives? That the REAL un-Americans are those who have twisted the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to their own ends, with the result that the fallout has created a never-ending sea of maimed, crippled and murdered gun victims

So how did the NRA get hold of my name and address to peddle their baloney? Most likely from a customer subscriber list  -likely provided by one magazine ('World War II History') to which I subscribe. Therefore, they made the erroneous assumption that because I am interested in World War II history I must also be a gun aficionado.

Bad mistake!

Don't Be Misled By "ISIS" Jabber - Orlando Was A HATE Crime

Omar Mateen, the sick homophobic nut who butchered 49 in Orlando.

Some of the assault weapons depicted in a WJS piece from December 15, all of which need to be banned.

Another merciless slaughter, this time by a hateful psycho named Omar Mateen taking out 49 lives at an Orlando nightclub called "the Pulse" according to the NY Times. But you can bet your sweet bippy most 'Murican gun lubbers won't do diddly or squat about controlling the proliferation of military assault rifles. Oh no! They will likely  invoke the recycled excuse that "guns don't kill people, radical Muslim extremists do". A neat cop out but even if they expand the "Muslim extremists" to "people" it still doesn't work because they conveniently ignore the corollary:

"People wouldn't kill as many people if killing with high -powered guns wasn't so easy"

 That's the core of it: the ease of killing another with a weapon that doesn't even require you get up close and personal, like using a machete or knife.  If gun sales and distributions were as limited in this country as they are in others, Mateen might not have been able to carry out his foul deed to the extent of 49 dead -  - say if he only had access to a knife. Yes, he'd likely have inflicted damage - maybe killed even a dozen -  but there would at least have been time for others to react - to dodge the knife thrusts and take him down. Especially if people swarmed him en masse. 

We know from Pete Williams' (MSNBC) report yesterday this AMERICAN  thug (American citizen, born in Queens, NY like 'the Donald') modified his AR-15 to enhance his capacity and thereby kill more people. As the WSJ piece  from which the top image was culled observed:

"The AR-15 re-cocks itself immediately after firing. The only thing keeping the gun from firing again on its own is a sear, a piece inserted in the gun that stops the cycle from continuing. By replacing the sear and a few other key components, an AR-15 can be made fully automatic."

 Evidently then, the twisted SOB adjusted his weapon to become a mass slaughter machine.  (We also know from the WSJ piece one of the rifles used by the San Bernardino CA duo had been "changed to more easily accommodate a large capacity magazine". This was according to Meredith Davis, a special agent with ATF quoted in the article.)  Although dedicated gunnies insisted the San Bernardino pair accomplished their foul deed even with "strict" California gun laws, the truth is they aren't that strict. As the WSJ piece continues:

"There are ways to get around the state's background check gun laws. A person can lend another person a gun for as long as 30 days without having to run a background check."

Also:

"Many transfers between family members are also exempt from background checks>

So the laws are not as tough as believed with those loopholes, another of which is that "once a gun is sold it becomes difficult to keep track of it". And let's also bear in mind while the wacko Right screams its collective lungs out over the government "eliminating the right to bear arms", they keep their mouths totally shut over all the freaks on the terror watch lists who are still enabled - by current gun laws- to purchase any weapon they want. Cognitive dissonance anyone?

We also know the hateful AMERICAN shit was in Miami a few weeks ago when he "saw two men kissing'" and immediately vowed retribution "from the ISIS kill book", which punishes such behavior with instant death.  I mean sheesh, gimme a break! While awaiting check-in for our Barbados apartment in April (and while Janice was in the restroom) I sat in the check-in lounge while barely five feet across from two young Brit millennial women deep kissing each other on a couch. Did I freak out and want to blow them away? Of course not! There is such a thing as "live and let live" but don't try to tell that to some of these hateful, religiously-motivated  peckerwoods  - whether the gay-hating Mateens of the world, or the Planned Parenthood hating likes of Robert Lewis Dear. .

So we can conclude it was both an act of terror and act of pure hate, but one suspects much more of hate - with an admixture of "Isis" baloney tossed in for good measure. That's because the PoS realized the very word "ISIS" stirs utmost fear into the hearts of millions of Americans - who are then forced to check for "radical Islamic extremists"  under their beds each night, like many 1950s 'Muricans used to do for wayward commies. . So why not invoke it to make the terrified segment believe it was "ISIS inspired"? Hey, don't disregard it!  The cynical use of this tactic (and bear in mind anyone can say anything, that doesn't prove it) provides an effective cover for the hate crime (directed exclusively at the LGBT community). As other commentators have pointed out, the use of this ideological identification instantly inflates the nut's self-importance. Much as the U.S. inflates ISIS' own self-important by branding them an opponent in a real war. Gimme a fuckin' break already! As former Col. Lawrence Wilkerson has noted ISIS are a band of rogue criminals and should not be inflated to the level of "warriors".  This asshole Mateen is also a criminal- not a fucking warrior- and a nut besides. In effect he's no different from Robert Lewis Dear (who fancied himself a "warrior for babies")  other than the religion professed..

An FBI investigator in Orlando yesterday morning also pointed out that a cell phone call was received from the culprit while inside the Pulse club, claiming allegiance to ISIS. This last minute "claim" - despite the fact the FBI did multiple prior background checks showing no threats - indicated to me the little fuck exploited Islamic terror as the cover to commit a hate crime (and an act of domestic terror). The foul little scumball probably knew he could get away with it because too many Americans will accentuate the "radical Islamic terror" aspect and neglect the hate beneath.  As I noted earlier, the irrational fears (by which I mean disproportionate) are already there. Trump will exploit this evil act to the hilt on that score, but no one else of sound mind ought to.

As President Obama said in his address on TV yesterday "The killer was filled with hatred". And this has been true of all the major mass shooters, whether James Eagen Holmes, Adam Lanza, or Robert Lewis Dear.  Each may have been wacked out to different degrees (especially Dear who was "fightin' for the babies") but we need to bear in mind one can be a fruitcake and still express hate and vitriol.

Underneath all these kinds of violent mass shootings is the easy availability of guns. Semi-automatic killing machines like the AR-15, to be specific.  Now after the most massive slaughter ever, what are we going to do about it as a nation? Are we still going to insist - as the NRA does - that those who wrote the 2nd amendment actually had modern military assault rifles in mind when they wrote it? I can tell you right now this is a damned fable! If one of the authors of the 2nd came forward in time to behold how his writing was twisted he'd likely scream: "You fucking idiots! THAT is NOT what we meant by the right to bear arms!"

In a worthwhile book entitled 'Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right To Bear Arms in America', a professor of constitutional law at UCLA - Adam Winkler- masterfully documented how guns were regulated from the earliest days of our Republic. As an example: laws that banned the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, in Indiana in 1820 and in Tennessee and Virginia in 1838. Similar laws were later also passed in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.

The then governor of Texas in 1893 was heard to proclaim:

"The mission of the concealed weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law abiding man".

WOW! How times have changed!

Meanwhile, Winkler showed that congress passed the first set of laws regulating, licensing and taxing guns in 1934. Though the law was challenged and wound up in the Supreme Court, in 1939, the crazies lost. FDR's Solicitor General framed the argument correctly to the Court:
"The Second Amendment grants people a right that is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only exists where the arms are borne in a militia or some other military organization provided by law and intended for protection of the State."

The SC decision was unanimous.

While this sane and sober take prevailed for several more decades, it started to unravel by the 1970s as various Right wing (wouldn't you know?) groups coalesced to challenge gun control based on spurious "private gun ownership" interpretations, and successively overturned laws in state legislatures - much like the abortion opponents are doing now.

And let's not forget that Chief Justice Warren Burger once asserted that the alleged right to keep powerful weapons in one's own private possession was  "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Well, it's good Justice Burger didn't live long enough as to see the arrival of automatic weapons and the claim that the 2nd amendment provided for the ownership of those too!

Over twenty years ago Australia also suffered its worst mass shooting ever but opted to take action. There followed new gun laws that included having to get a license to own a gun just as you would a car. Each time a person makes a weapon transaction, even using a 30.06, the license number is taken down and entered in electronic records. The electronic data base for all of Australia then keeps track of a given gun's history and chain of ownership Why isn't that done here? I mean, it's no more an "invasion of privacy" than already occurs with internet use. So why not (certainly) for semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, or Bushmaster .223.

The fact is the only reason the gun lobby and its lackeys protests is that they see ANY incursion or limit on their insane ownership "rights" as an incentive to knock out the entire 2nd amendment. In other words, the classic slippery slope argument expanded and inflated to absurd exaggerative dimensions.

But in the wake of Orlando, it's now time for good men anywhere and everywhere to raise a hue and cry for our so-called reps to do something, and not just continue the status quo that's brought us hundreds of mass shootings since 2011. Worse, until our elected reps get off their asses nothing will change.

We now also know the most likely profile for a loser-hater as given by a psychoanalyst on CBS Early show in the wake of the Orlando massacre. The "cocktail" for lethality includes:

-History of personal failures

- Indications of hatred for others

- Pattern of blaming others

- Use of violence against others

- Fascination with firearms

The last was most important, and as she observed:

"When you add all these things together but you don't have access to lethal weapons you cannot act out as violently as we saw."

In other words, we need to keep the weapons away from these hater-loser psychos!

Follow-up 10:30 p.m. MDT:

New FBI leads have disclosed Mateen (born in Queens, NY NOT Afghanistan) expressed support for both Al Nusra and ISIS, which are diametrically opposed Islamic groups. Again, this discordance shows the guy was a hateful fruitcake as opposed to any kind of 'radical Islamist' - who one would think could keep his Islamic cults straight!

6:45 a.m.

A new Quinnipiac poll presented on MSNBC shows 6 of 10 Americans support a ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic assault weapons and 9 of 10 want background checks.

See also:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e900766a-3149-11e6-bda0-04585c31b153.html#axzz4BPNcN12z

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/p-m-carpenter/67648/a-psychotics-freedom

Don't Get Sidetracked By Terror! San Bernardino Was NOT A "False Flag"!

At least the NY Daily News names the NRA's Wayne La Pierre (bottom right) an equal  opportunity terrorist to Syed Farook and the butchers below!

"I need a gun because he has a gun, and he has a gun because that other guy has a gun, and that other guy has a gun because those guys over there have guns, and they have guns because the cops have guns, and so the cops need more guns to protect themselves from all the people out there with guns. The gun manufacturers, the bullet manufacturers and the NRA laugh all the way to the bank, their hands dripping crimson as they count their money. Maybe what happened in San Bernadino was ideologically driven terrorism. It was still a mass shooting because you can practically pick assault rifles from the trees like dark apples in this country."- William Rivers Pitt, on smirkingchimp.com yesterday, 'Slaughter Is the Standard in the U.S.

The sane citizen must grudgingly admire the way the political Right's screech monkeys twist things around  to their benefit. After the Newtown massacre it was widely circulated that it was really a "false flag" operation, carried out by "actors" from the government as a ruse and excuse to take away god fearin' 'Muricans'  guns. After Colorado Springs, it was claimed by many that Robert Lewis Dear was really a "left wing terrorist" and he actually "signed up to vote as a woman once" which "proves it". All of which is palpable, screech monkey bullshit pulled out of their asses with zero evidence. (Or perhaps they heard it on Limburger's show or on FAUX News).

Now, we behold the lawyer hired by the (Syed) Farook family actually taking another page from InfoWars' Alex Jones and - at a news conference - claiming the San Bernardino massacre didn't really happen as portrayed and was yet another "false flag" with the objective to force powerful gun laws to take citizens' guns away.  From this, as Rachel Maddow observed last night, one wonders how much nuttier this nation can get. Well, a lot, if its people lack logic and critical thinking skills.

But it also shows clearly - given the fright aroused on the Right with this false flag BS - that despite the suspects being named as part of a terror incident, we need to absolutely keep the heat on for gun control no matter what these demented fuckers spout. They know, even here in a gun lovin' state like Colorado, Gov. Hickenlooper's aides and friends are now broaching much stricter gun regulation measures. (Denver Post, Dec. 2, p. 3A)

Meanwhile, FBI head James Comey announced yesterday the Bureau's investigators have determined the San Bernardino massacre was perpetrated by two individuals who were inspired by ISIS . Female Pakistani Tashfeen Malik made a FB "pledge" (to El Baghdadi) but there is no evidence it was "directed" by ISIS, i.e. they were following orders or part of a terror network. That's a huge difference but one likely to be lost on the screaming zealots determined to turn Americans into security sissies ready to grab any gun they can.,. or hide under their beds in fear.

Make no mistake this is still about guns, namely the modified AR-15s used to carry out the attack. As noted in a CBS News segment last night, all the major massacres of the past few years, including the Aurora theater massacre, the Newtown massacre (by Adam Lanza), and the one at Umpqua Community College  "shared a common thread"-  they were all carried out with the AR-15. The San Bernardino case was especially violent because the FBI reports the AR-15s used were "modified" to be more lethal. (They are still trying to ascertain exactly how this modification was done.) The same segment also observed the AR-15 is "Americans' favorite rifle".

WTF? WHY? You don't need an AR-15 to hunt a deer or a cougar, not if you're man enough! A simple, basic Remington 30.06 ought to do.  Also, you don't need an AR-15 for "home protection"!. I mean Jeezus, it's a military assault weapon! WTF are you protecting against,  a Martian invasion? In fact, there was once a nationwide ban on similar (but automatic)  weapons after a series of mass shootings in 1994. But the ban was removed ten years later with predictable results and an ever spiking increase in mass shootings. (As I will show in a future post it is relatively easy to convert a semi-automatic AR-15 to an automatic.)

But all of this - now emphasized by the idiotic rhetoric on the Right (with the likes of Ted Cruz saying we "need more guns to shoot bad guys with guns") showed how the 2nd amendment has been deliberately perverted by the NRA and its gun nut denizens.  Go back to the Supreme Court ruling in 1939, marking the first time the gun crazies lost. FDR's Solicitor General framed the argument correctly to the Court:

"The Second Amendment grants people a right that is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only exists where the arms are borne in a militia or some other military organization provided by law and intended for protection of the State."

The SC decision was unanimous. So what the hell happened to mutate American brains away from sane interpretations of the 2nd?

While this sober take prevailed for several more decades, it started to unravel by the 1970s as various Right wing  groups coalesced to challenge gun control based on the spurious  concept of "private gun ownership" interpretations. Thereby, and via mass mind-fucking in concert with ferocious lobbying, they successively overturned laws in state legislatures - much like the abortion opponents are now doing, especially via the specious "personhood" amendments and laws.

Chief Justice Warren Burger responded at the time that this personal ownership interpretation was "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

The tragedy is that it worked! And even today has worked to allow some of the most devastating weapons to fall into massive use - even for such innocuous activities as target practice! Reminding me of a horrific incident that occurred in the Pike National Forest barely 8 months ago when a dad out camping there with his family took semi-automatic rounds in the head. He was a victim of assholes "target practicing" with AR-15s in the same woods.

As I predicted two posts ago, the Right's loons would focus on the perps (Syed Farooq & wife, Tashfeen Malik) and now this "inspired by ISIS terror" link to go batshit crazy. This has led them to launch a crusade on Islamic terrorists despite the fact the use of guns was the deciding factor in the extent of the slaughter and many other killings.

Those like Christie are even proposing bringing back the NSA's bulk collection of phone records, instead of implementing the USA Freedom Act which restricts that dragnet collection. But to show what hypocrites the Right and its security parrots are, they won't even allow a law to be passed that closes gun purchases to those on the 'No Fly' list, i.e. effectively terrorists on the TSA Terror watch list!

Meanwhile, the likes of Paul Ryan insist "We can't be sure those on the 'no fly' list  really deserve to be there".  So get this: While the Right uses dumb analogies like, "Would you really take a chance of eating an M&M from a giant bowl of 10,000 if one was laced with cyanide?' they are quite ok with thousands on the no fly list buying lethal weapons. (Over 2,400 such purchases have been made since 2010).  And let's not even get into the legal loophole that allows any crazy or terrorist to purchase a lethal weapon like an AR-15 from a private seller - whereas a background check  is needed in the case of a regular commercial seller.

They also fret about Syrian refugees bringing  home terror when terror is all around us right now with nearly 80 killed each goddamned day! And WHERE is this terror coming from? Well, it's not from ISIS radicals or Wahabbi maniacs but from our own literal home grown killers!

The unholy truth is that most shootings are  NOT ideological, terror-based or random but rather domestic (in people's homes) - either suicides or one spouse (usually male) killing the other after a fiery argument.   Assaying all mass shootings between 2009 and 2015, the Huffington Post found that 70 percent occurred in the home. Of these, 57 percent involved a family member or current or former intimate partner. 81 percent of the victims were women and children. These killings were not done by 'crazies'  or Islamic terrorists but usually normal people who simply lost it in the midst of a heated argument and reached for the weapon nearest and dearest - a gun.
In this light, and as the NY Daily News featured on its headline, it is the NRA's Wayne LaPierre who qualifies as the real terrorist because it is HE who has made available the millions of lethal weapons to kill so many Americans (many more than ISIS could) by refusing to implement sane gun laws. Such as universal background checks, and reinstating the ban on semi-automatic weapons that had endured through the Clinton years.

Anyone who now tells you to focus on terror and Islamic terrorists to the exclusion of gun regulation is trying to mind fuck you. If they present plans to vet terrorists but not to prevent terrorists from buying lethal weapons - like the AR -15- they are talking shit, pure and simple. As much shit as those who babble that Robert Lewis Dear was a "left wing terrorist".  But hey, if Farook's family hired this lawyer because they fear gun control as a result,  maybe Farook was really a Right wing terrorist trying to make it look like a Muslim terror attack.  If people want to go down mindfuck labyrinths there are many ways to proceed!

If Repubs and others also resort to smokescreens like "new mental health laws", without concomitant gun control, you also know they are talking shit because not all the deadly gun incidents occurring each day in this country are done by "crazies" or by Islamics. They are done by family members who lost it during an argument and grabbed a gun- likely bought and placed in the home for "protection".

If we lose perspective on the true source of our massacre problems in this country we are doomed to never escape them - even if we manage to put all the heads of every ISIS and al Qaeda terrorist on spikes - dotting the Mall in Washington, D. C.

And the 'pukes and their fellow travelers in the NRA damned well know that!

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-rivers-pitt/65051/what-rough-beast-slaughter-is-the-standard-in-the-us

Time To Get Control Of The Gun Insanity

"There is evidence that if guns weren't so widely available.... if  we could just put some space - a time out - between the person that's upset  because he got fired, or after the domestic abuse or whatever other motivation may be working on someone who does this...maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage." - Hillary Clinton yesterday

Alison Parker (24)  and Adam Ward  (27)) were two up and coming stars, reporters for their Roanoke, VA station  WDBJ- 7. They were in the middle of an interview of the head of the Chamber of Commerce when an unhinged nut, Vester Flanagan, opened fire at 6:45 a.m. with 14 shots, killing both. Yet another tragedy,  now after Charleston, Newtown, Aurora and Virginia Tech. When does this insanity end?

Of course you can expect the usual chant from the NRA gun lobby and its assorted followers, to wit:

"Guns don't kill people. People kill people".

But they totally ignore the corollary:

"People wouldn't kill as many people if killing with guns wasn't so easy"


That's the core of it: the ease of killing another with a weapon that doesn't even require you get up close and personal, like using a machete or knife.  If gun sales and distributions were as limited in this country as they are in others, Flanagan might not have been able to carry out his foul deed - say if he only had access to a knife. Yes, he'd likely have inflicted damage but there would at least have been time for the two others shot to react - if only to dodge the knife thrust  which, let's face it, is a lot slower than a bullet traveling at hundreds of feet per second.

All this is firmly supported by a new study from the American Sociological Association just out this week which shows:

- Despite only having 5 percent of the world's population the U.S. has had 31 percent of all mass shootings since 1966

- The U.S. is also first in the world for civilian gun ownership with 88.8 firearms per 100 people. (The next highest rate is Yemen at 54.8 per 100 people)

The other canard that the gun nuts will offer  is that well, it's nuts doing most of the shooting and hence all the gun laws in the world won't stop it but will stop law abiding citizens from the freedom to own Glocks, AK-47s and AR-15s as well as Bushmaster .223s.  But this is false.  The unholy truth is that most shootings are  NOT ideological or random but rather domestic (in people's homes) - either suicides or one spouse (usually male) killing the other after a fiery argument.  Again, the availability of guns makes it easier to solve disagreements in the most expedient and catastrophic way.

This was documented last night on Chris Hayes' All In. Melissa Jeltsen of the HuffPo affirmed we are missing the big picture, especially on mass shootings, but also regular shootings.  She noted the reason our perceptions are distorted is because most mass shootings we hear about happen in public. Hence, we believe the greatest risk is in public spaces - whether schools, theaters or malls. But this is false.

Assaying all mass shootings between 2009 and 2015, she found that 70 percent occurred in the home. Of these, 57 percent involved a family member or current or former intimate partner. 81 percent of the victims were women and children. These killings were not done by 'crazies' but usually normal people who simply lost it in the midst of a heated argument and reached for the weapon nearest and dearest - a gun. Maybe the perp was a gun collector or maybe he just owned one for "protection" - but ultimately it was turned not on an intruder but on his own loved one.

This is the lie we need to expunge - that shootings are only 'random' and done by psychos - in order to pass more rigorous gun control laws including demanding a fully 30 day waiting period for detailed NSA, FBI background checks. If we can do it for terrorists, we can do it for potential gun owners whose killings now vastly outnumber those of terrorists.

Apart from these sociological findings, a historical perspective on the 2nd amendment and gun ownership is also useful.  In a worthwhile book entitled 'Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right To Bear Arms in America', a professor of constitutional law at UCLA - Adam Winkler- has masterfully documented how guns were regulated from the earliest days of our Republic. As an example: laws that banned the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, in Indiana in 1820 and in Tennessee and Virginia in 1838. Similar laws were later also passed in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma.

The then governor of Texas in 1893 was heard to proclaim:

"The mission of the concealed weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law abiding man".

WOW! How times have changed!

Meanwhile, Winkler showed that congress passed the first set of laws regulating, licensing and taxing guns in 1934. Though the law was challenged and wound up in the Supreme Court, in 1939, the crazies lost. FDR's Solicitor General framed the argument correctly to the Court:

"The Second Amendment grants people a right that is not one which may be utilized for private purposes but only exists where the arms are borne in a militia or some other military organization provided by law and intended for protection of the State."

The SC decision was unanimous.

While this sane and sober take prevailed for several more decades, it started to unravel by the 1970s as various Right wing (wouldn't you know?) groups coalesced to challenge gun control based on spurious "private gun ownership" interpretations, and successively overturned laws in state legislatures - much like the abortion opponents are now doing (as in Virginia, where its AG Cuchinelli 'read the riot act' to state health clinic administrators ordering them to cooperate with a new state edict to limit safe abortions, "or else"). But we need to know this is how these vipers succeed.

Undissuaded by the gun crazies' arguments, especially that the 2nd amendment granted every man the right to keep and bear arms on his own, Chief Justice Warren Burger responded that this interpretation was "one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Well, it's good Justice Burger didn't live long enough as to see the arrival of automatic weapons and the claim that the 2nd amendment provided for the ownership of those too!


Finally, kudos to Walmart for formally ending sales of all military-style assault rifles in U.S. stores. You don't need a damned assault rifle to hunt, and if you do need one - you shouldn't be out hunting but strapped down in a psycho ward, on thorazine and lithium.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jaime-oneill/63595/no-more-bullshit-about-shooting-deaths