I had intended to write about Northampton County today. That will have to wait until Tuesday. Yesterday, the joyous mood at a wedding party in Bloomsburg was dampened by news of a deadly mass shooting in El Paso that left 20 people dead. Just a few hours later, news broke of yet another mass murder in Dayton.
I'm sure that no one, from Donald Trump to the most absolute defenders of the Second Amendment, condone what happened. But as bodies of the dead and wounded were still being carried away, Beto O'Rourke was calling Trump a white nationalist.
Stay classy, Beto.
Instead of playing the blame game for political advantage, I'd like to understand what's going on.
The Violence Project has studied every mass shooting since 1966, and reaches the following conclusions:
1. Most mass shooters experienced early childhood trauma.
2. Most were angry or despondent about a specific grievance.
3. Most mass shooters studied the habits of others before them.
4. They all had the means to do what they wanted to do.
I think most of us would agree that access to firearms should be denied to thise who fit into the first three categories. But I confess that's no easy task in many cases.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Monday, August 05, 2019
87 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
It’s high time to repeal the Second Amendment in its entirety. The whole thing has to go.
ReplyDeleteImmediately begin gun registrations. Registrations are the first step to confiscation and it’s clear that many many makes and models are going to have to be confiscated in a buyback program or simply confiscate.
Ammunition must be read registered but the point-of-sale and pre-existing emission must be registered with a local law-enforcement agency. Every bullet must be accounted for. There’s more to do but this is a good start.
Move to Russia or China.
DeleteReinstate ban on weapons of mass destruction. Military armaments must not ever be allowed in civilian hands. Semi-automatic weapons ban must be reinstated.
ReplyDeleteBetter background checks.
ReplyDeleteConvictions for harassment, disorderly conduct, defamation should be warning flags. Pending charges like filing false reports involving gun play should hold up an application until judged. Social media of the applicant should also be checked for signs of mental illness, such as glee when politicizing a mass shooting.
Kids raised on antidepressants. The chickens are coming home to roost. There is no solution. It's going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteNot all mass shooters are created equal.
ReplyDeleteIf you go by the "lower" threshold for defining a mass shooting, meaning four or more killed or injured, then the vast majority of shooters and victims (approximately 75%) are black:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/us/americas-overlooked-gun-violence.html
These shootings do not use "assault weapons" ,but typically cheap or illegally obtained handguns. They are also often tied to crime or petty disputes.
School shootings and "disgruntled employee" shootings are different. These are people who are mentally damaged or driven to the brink, and are lashing out at the institutions that they associate with their failures. There is a mental health element here, but it also speaks to the nearly untenable stress level in modern society, where people are put through a grinding system of regimentation and debt slavery, from the time they are toddlers until they retire, if they're that lucky.
Finally, you have the actual political violence, not only this recent shooting in El Paso, but also the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the San Bernadino shooting, Pulse Nightclub, Fort Hood, etc. These are indicative of the deep cracks in Modern America, where white men feel that they are losing their nation, and newcomers are often coming from cultures hostile to our European values. We can expect these types of attacks to continue, and probably become more frequent as we barrel towards one of the fastest and most dramatic ethnic replacements in human history.
Banning guns will only accelerate this situation, as white (and specifically, rural and male) Americans will see that as yet another core piece of the old national identity stripped away. At the same time, they are unable to express any kind of cultural solidarity without being fired and harassed. Everyone laughs about white people losing their privilege, and how they deserve it, but this kind of civil unrest and radicalization of disenfranchised youth is what you can expect to see more of. Both in the US, and Europe.
How do we stop all this? We have to look realistically at the root causes for all these above problems. Unfortunately, the answer is that American society (and Western society in general) is undergoing an ongoing crisis, and I am not optimistic that we are able to assess the facts frankly, and instead it will proceed in a disorganized fashion. Hold on to your butts.
In the last 30 years when a mass shooting happened there were those poised to ask “what kind of gun did the shooter use?” Instead we should be inquiring into which gun the person used to stop the mass murderer. On 9/11 we lost 3000 innocent Americans to a coordinated group of terrorists wielding box cutters.
ReplyDeleteHow do we solve these types of horrible events? It starts with teaching our people that life is a contact sport and you may have to get your hands dirty. You may even become horribly injured or killed standing up to a person attempting an atrocity. Instead of surrendering to violence by advocating for a “new law”, cultivate a national mindset like that which exists in Israel: there is an ass kicking waiting to happen.
The common theme is to determine the motive of the perpetrators. It’s more fruitful to determine the motives of the people who facilitated the atrocity by either ignoring the blatant warning signs exhibited by a person known to them or cowering to a stranger who is engaging in an act of violence.
If passing laws was the answer we wouldn’t have the issues we have today. I’m quite certain that wholesale killing without justification (lawful self-defense) is already against the law.
400 million guns in a country of 330 million - but the gun death rate continues its 30-year decline. Holdouts are urban kill zones and mass shooting. Most gun deaths are suicides. Most of them are white guys in their 50s, whom everybody seems to blame for everything.
ReplyDeleteIt's not guns. Worst school killing of all time was in the early 1900s in Michigan where explosives were used. Deranged killers always find a way.
We closed mental institutions as an overreaction to solving their legitimate problems. We drug kids to endure them until they're legally independent, although never socially independent. We spend money on sex change surgery for traitors like Bradley Manning, and study why lesbians are obese, and why certain gnats don't have sex. But there's no money for mental health research and we know as much about mental illness today as we did 100 years ago. Better living through pharmaceuticals isn't working out for us.
The Texas shooter is a domestic terrorist so he falls into a different category.
ReplyDeleteHe falls under the full Gitmo provisions and anyone who supported him.
Beto is not saying anything newsworthy, it is common knowledge.
one official was ranting on fox about antifa while the police were still clearing the building.
remove assault rifles from civilian purchase.
have Comrade trump remove bump stocks like he claimed he wanted to do.
same with drum/extended magazines.
the gun show loophole can be closed.
background and waiting periods for all gun purchases.
red flag capability for law enforcement.
or do nothing and claim all those people died for "freedom"
accept the fact that you can be shot in public cause gun dealers need the bucks pushing cheaply made assault rifles.
your carnage their profits.
Plase clarify the term assault rifle or stand down and let the grown ups talk. Jesus. This is why we can't have a reasonable conversation.
ReplyDelete6.31
ReplyDelete"It's not guns."
Sandy hook was a cupcake fight?
BTW why can't you buy explosives like you buy guns?
wonder why?
mental health is a problem but it is not the main cause.
that is just a diversion from the problem of assault weapons in the hands of people for no real reason.
6.37
ReplyDeletefor starters lets go with all of those pushed as assault rifles by the makers of them.
they advertise them as assault rifles.
spare me the bs of a hunting rifle can be used as an assault rifle so therefore ak's are kosher.
it is merely misdirection.
How do you plan on removing the 400 million guns from our streets? Drugs are illegal and yet available in every prison and high school.
ReplyDeleteDon't we have laws against murder? These killers are either so mentally ill or so ideologically driven that I don't believe they will mind breaking one additional law banning them from possessing guns.
You can't stop evil. You must examine the causes. Most of these shooters are from broken families where values were never instilled or they took up some extremist belief in their young adult years.
Bernie, you probably wrote this before the articles came out showing one shooter was suspended from school for threats and sexual comments. Hit list, list of females to sexually assault. 2012, not 2019. Finger pointing at Trump, but he wasn't President then. So good comment regarding Beto. Mental Health is an issue. Not the only one, but a major player. I'm an NRA member, but things like Red Flags, Background checks, don't bother me.
ReplyDeleteLook to 5:12 for the rational, sane answer.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, when horrible incidents like this occur far too many people jump-up and blame Trump or 'White Racism' (new category being pushed by Liberals).
ReplyDeleteSecond, our mainstream news media needs to be CONDEMNED and REJECTED for politicizing and using these tragedies for brainwashing. Knowledge doesn't comes in 30 second sound bites.
The Dayton murderer shot his own sister first and was a known to have emotional and ajustment issues. He was a fan of Elizabeth Warren. I certainly don't blame Warren for this type of thing.
The El Paso monster APPEARS to be an ANTIFA supporter. There is evidence he did not act alone. His purported manifesto indicates his hatefulness from long before the President. Lately, ANTIFA has been encouraging its thugs to go to El Paso and shoot create choaos! It's time for ANTIFA to be declared a domestic TERRORIST organization, track down who has been funding them, and arrest ALL mask-wearing troublemakers who assault others.
Sorry, Democrats and others, Trump is not the problem.
7:24 what a bunch of Fox bullshit!
Delete6:29 has this sized-up very well. History shows outlier groups, like Communists, Fascists, want to create CONFUSION and CONFLICT to disrupt an existing society and culture, then replace it with their "new vision."
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase Karl Marx, "Accuse others of doing what you have already been doing."
ANTIFA is not anti-fascist at all!
The problem with all four traits you have identified is that they only become apparant AFTER a shooting not beforehand. Elimination of all assault type weapons. is the first step. Huinters don't use assault type weapons, and sports shootersw don't either. Only killer use them so lets ban them.
ReplyDelete@8:17
ReplyDelete>Only killer use them so lets ban them.
The American Citizen should also be a rifleman. The ability to project lethal force for self defense, as well as maintaining distribution of power in society, is a fundamental human right.
@7:57
ReplyDelete>To paraphrase Karl Marx
FYI that was actually Saul Alinsky, pretty sure it's in "Rules for Radicals."
As chaos and instability increase, the lack of enforcement of the law, the frozen political situation which cannot address problems with simple solutions, like the illegal immigrant situation, violence will likely increase.
ReplyDeleteWhile the media and dems will blame Trump for the division in the country, we must admit he has attempted to address problems that have been going on for decades. whether is is trade, immigration, Iran or North Korea, most politicians would rather kick the can down the road.
We have also witnessed the organized attempt to label religion as a mental illness, but consider all kinds of abnormalities as normal.
Our country was dependent on self restraint and self control grounded in faith for a long term purpose, we have scrapped that and become dependent on government control rather than self control. Government will never control in a way that self control can, not even with an authoritarian police state.
We see out legal system perverted daily, our politics are all about gaining power at any cost, no justice, no dealing with roots of problems, just dealing with effects and legislating inanimate objects. This is just a cheap way of saying they have done something, when they refuse to consider the solutions that are politically incorrect.
All violence are people problems from Cain and Able till now. When you see that the government either refuses to implement the law, or uses it for political purposes, frustration and violence will increase.
The only real restraint on violence is self control, with the belief and hope in a higher power. The admonition, "Vengeance is mine, I shall repay" has kept many from taking matters into their own hands.
I've repeated heard that it isn't the gun's fault, it is the person using the gun. I agree and therefore suggest that we register, test for both psychological fitness and basic firearms knowledge, and license anyone who wants to own guns or otherwise use them. We already do something similar in issuing licenses to drive a vehicle. We also progressively make the testing and regulation more stringent if a CDL is sought. Several levels of firearms licenses could be created in a similar manner. Smooth bore black powder musket use would require only a very low level license to honor the intentions of the founding fathers. After allowing a reasonable time period for gun owners and users to obtain a valid license, enact laws that create dire penalties for anyone found guilty of a firearms related violation. I believe that the Second Amendment will have to be amended to do what I am suggesting but the sooner that process is started, the better off we will be.
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats never disappoint. They will male the time from now until the last funeral into a racial event. The El Paso event will reign supreme while the Dayton tragedy will be dismissed. Why? Because the Texas scumbag fits the narrative, while the Dayton cretin identifies with the Democrat progressives. Could have been a Cory Booker / Beto O'Rourke disciple if not for Pocahontas Warren.
ReplyDelete@8:56 - Agree completely. If you want the right and privilege of owning a gun, you need to demonstrate knowledge and the requisite skills involved with the use and handling of a firearm. A thorough background check and review is a must. You need to be a choir boy/girl.
ReplyDeleteThe NRA will never go for it unfortunately.
Hey asshole. This isn't a democrat vs republican issue. Get a life idiot.
ReplyDeleteObesity related afflictions - heart disease, stroke, etc - kill exponentially more people than everything else combined. Yet, we don't blame eating utensils, or restrict TV and social media, which are filled with food porn. We hold individuals responsible for their actions, in these cases. The results are countless deaths. What's the solution for those who can't or wont put down their flatware? The cost in healthcare to us all is staggering.
ReplyDelete@7:24, Apparently the El Paso shooter was identified as an antifa supporter by Breitbart, but this is not supported by any actual evidence. More reliable news outlets are reporting that much of his manifesto is violently anti-immigrant, and especially opposed to hispanics.
ReplyDelete@9:23 - the classic deflecting counter argument. What about cars and trucks?!? They kill a lot of people too! Don't forget lightning and shark attacks!!! Just dont take away my precious gunz!!!
ReplyDeleteYour hobby, as important as it is to you and as much as you associate it with pride, politics and patriotism, doesn't equate in anyway to the day to day nutritional needs of human beings. Transportation issues have a bigger economic impact that your guns too.
Stop making excuses and trying to find something/someone to blame, make plans and proposals that will incrementally reduce the chances of nitwits getting their hands on guns. Yes, the overall effect and impact will be making it harder for everyone to get guns, but the one bad apple theory has been the basis of law for centuries.
Your grandparents had to make sacrifices, in some cases with their lives to make this country safe. If you have to fill out a couple extra forms, wait an extra few days/weeks to get your hands on a specific gun you're coming out ahead in the game.
Getting rid of guns is not the answer. If you want to limit the sale of certain kinds of automatic weapons, that shouldn't be a problem.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is that these "shooters" gain a sense of notoriety in todays society. The attention they were missing in their youth, is readily available via the news with its need for sensationalism. Media/internet/FB/Instagram thrive on chaos, but feign horror. Death sells!! Deny these killers their "fix" and it may not seem as worth while to risk being killed (by law enforcement), if it doesn't get posted on social media.
IMHO
Institutionalize those with Trump Derangement Syndrome and followers of the Democrats New Deals! This would solve much of todays modern social issues plaguing America.
ReplyDelete6:29. Wtf? Apologist for the angry white guy. Explanations like yours are a big part of the problem. They were saying the same crap when the Irish and Italians came with their "Pope-loving" culture. "Their kind are loyal to the Pope, not to the constitution". One of our biggest strengths is our mixed society. Should immigration be done in a controlled, humane manner?....absolutely, but irrational fear of the "other" is what will take this country down.
ReplyDelete"Most were angry or despondent about a specific grievance."
ReplyDeleteWhatever the grievance is we should make sure to ignore it. /s
400 million guns aren't going away in a country founded by turning guns on Great Britain, the world's most powerful empire. I'm frustrated too. But prohibitions and confiscations are simply not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteThere is an obvious common denominator that you didn’t mention - most if not all mass shootings are committed by men. Why is that? Women experience early trauma and have grievances but that doesn’t lead them to buy guns and slaughter people. We need to understand the root of this aspect of the problem to inform policies that for instance might help boys and young men learn how to handle anger, deal with trauma and grievances.
ReplyDeleteBarbara,
ReplyDeleteStop being a pussy.
Love,
Men
Step one is to ban the sale of AR15 and AK47 style semi-automatics to the general public. Obviously, this won't stop all mass shootings but it would have at least prevented that weapon being used. The shooters legally purchased the weapon and in the case of Daytom, a 100-round drum magazine. If we must keep them legally obtainable, make them the same as acquiring an automatic weapon.
ReplyDeletePlase clarify the term assault rifle or stand down and let the grown ups talk. Jesus. This is why we can't have a reasonable conversation.
ReplyDeleteThe only ones not grownups on this issue are clowns like you that press semantics. We all know what assault weapons mean but if it makes you feel better, we'll start with the 1994 definition.
-Homage to Neil deGrasse Tyson-
ReplyDeleteOn average, across any 48hrs, we also lose…
500 to Medical errors
300 to the Flu
250 to Suicide
200 to Car Accidents
40 to Homicide via Handgun
Yes these are dispassionate facts best used for triage, but through ceremony, sensationalism or politics 1300 deaths, every single one a tragedy, will and would have been marginalized or ignored.
@The Huntress 9:56
ReplyDelete>One of our biggest strengths is our mixed society.
Please qualify this statement without referencing food or the "amazing array of restaurants" available.
>Irish & Italians
Were Christian, from European societies, and also were under significant pressure to actually assimilate. In fact, the influx of Irish, Italians, and Eastern Europeans in the late 19th century was destabilizing enough culturally that we ended up with the Immigration Act of 1924, which specifically restricted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. We then had forty years of very low immigration rates, which allowed us to have a beautiful, assimilated, high-trust society, until the 1965 Hart-Celler Act opened up the floodgates again. How have things gone since then? Ask anyone under 30 if they're happy with the state of the nation, or optimistic about the future.
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Diversity Is Strength.
12:42 beautiful, assimilated golden age? BS read a history book or four. Palmer Raids, immigrant trials, McCarthy hearings, not to mention our sordid past on race relations. No you're not afraid when people who dont look like you serve you or mow your lawn...what really gives you the shakes is that they are claiming seats of power (finally) and will make laws and maybe be your supervisor or somebody who determines whether you're hired or not. Let's hope they are more fair minded than you are. Tables turned scared the bejesus out of folks like you.
DeleteU.S. Army Spc. Glendon Oakley 22, was an example of another young American man at the shooting he is an example of what would be my immediate response to the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe solution as a country, we need to produce more Glendon Oakley's and less youth like the shooter. That metric more than likely will not be helped by more laws.
12:42 - bringing them Alt-Right talking points huh?
ReplyDelete@1:09
ReplyDeleteMy statements come from an honest assessment of facts, history, and current events. If that makes them "alt-right"... If you want to stick your head in the sand, you're going to keep wondering why things are unraveling like they are.
Can I remind you that the people of the United States were so desperate to change the course of the nation that elected noted reality TV star Donald J. Trump to the office of the President of the United States? And now two years later, it's all normalized, and we have major Democrat candidates openly advocating for reparations and open borders? We are going off the rails. It will only get worse.
"Please clarify the term assault rifle"
ReplyDeleteAn assault rifle is a rifle that although it can be lethal it's primary design is to maim.
Being maimed on the battlefield ties up and exposes more enemy resources than a kill. It is because the suffering they cause these weapons are considered weapons of war.
If your primary reason for using a rifle is to kill there are far better hunting rifles. The only consideration with hunting is a clean kill, if you make your prey suffer it means you can't and probably shouldn't hunt.
1:49. Spot on! As the child of a real hunter, this is truth.
DeleteAnonymous 12:23 PM said...-Homage to Neil deGrasse Tyson-
ReplyDeleteHow many of those were deliberate acts caused by a mass murderer?
1:55
ReplyDeleteDid this kid turn out like this by accident or
do you think this mass murderer was intentionally made by our society, his local community and his american family?
Maybe it's the Russians or Trump?
Our accidents will be the end of us.
Deliberate or not, he's just another of our accidents.
ReplyDeleteno politician will solve this problem politicians are this countries problem.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on the many mass shootings during the Obama Administration, it seems too simplistic for the Dems and Media to rush to blame these events on Trump. Do you folks blame the earlier crimes on Obama? If not, why not?
ReplyDeleteI'm all for making certain additional weapons illegal. Add them to the bazookas and surface-to-air missile list, etc. BUT . . . .
ReplyDeletethis will NOT prevent mass carnage by weapon! Be that, bombs, acid, AND pistols.
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-rally-shoot-them-video-resurfaces-after-texas-mass-shooting-1.7622791
ReplyDeleteThis is not Americas finest moment. Seriously , I don't know how or why anyone would defend this character.
LOL! Like Haaretz is a good source for anything other than "we should invade more countries in the Middle East."
ReplyDeleteThe two incidents are similar in that there were multiple fatalities.
ReplyDeleteThe shooter in Texas shot strangers similar to the New Zealand shootings, basically a mentally ill person motivate by right-wing politics.
The other appears to be a desperate search of nationwide police blotters trying to find a similar act by a registered democrat even though he shot his sister and others and was not at all political motivated.
This is how our media provides balance.
2.41
ReplyDelete"Do you folks blame the earlier crimes on Obama? "
Care to mention those shootings that followed President Obama's speeches or rallies?
Where the shooter was reacting to President Obama's statements?
Please list them.
Comrade trump plays a dangerous game by firing up his base with red meat--that the lunatic side of his supporters advance.
3.56
ReplyDeleteThe Texas guy is a domestic terrorist.
One can argue whether a terrorist is mentally ill or not.
The Texas guy wanted to instill fear and send a message to everyone.
so he should be treated like a terrorist.
3.03
ReplyDelete"this will NOT prevent mass carnage by weapon! Be that, bombs, acid, AND pistols"
It will reduce the numbers of people killed by assault rifles.
You could kill someone with a pool noodle but it is rather difficult to kill large numbers of people with them as it would take a long time.
4:35PM
ReplyDeleteSpit that media fish hook right out.
The kids a loon....find out why if you are at all interested in remedies.
4:43pm
ReplyDeleteDid you every work at a hotdog stand at the fair?
4.51
ReplyDeleteIt does not matter if he is a lunatic he committed a terror attack.
He should be treated as a terrorist along with any who assisted him if any.
5:18PM
ReplyDeleteA classmate said of the shooter, "Every time I looked up someone new was harassing and being mean to the guy."
I hope all those bullies are happy now...I think they assisted him.
Are you in favor of exposing his terrorist?
People are talking as a gun is the only way to commit mass murder? There are so many ways to commit such henious acts of violence the list could go to infinitum.
ReplyDeleteSome are so simple minded they use catch phrases to stick with just one. That one just happens to be guns right now, next it will just be something else. Guns also keep us safe from criminals and or the political parasites allow criminals to do there dirty work.
5.38
ReplyDeleteIf they conspired or assisted him materially then charge away.
5.38
ReplyDelete"There are so many ways to commit such henious acts of violence the list could go to infinitum."
well removing assault rifles makes the list a little shorter.
". Guns also keep us safe from criminals "
If you need an assault rifle to feel safe in your neighborhood i suggest you move.
for close in work a shotgun works better.
There is no need for citizens to have military grade weapons.
besides as ronnie reagan said
" Governor Ronald Reagan, who was coincidentally present on the capitol lawn when the protesters arrived, later commented that he saw "no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons" and that guns were a "ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will." In a later press conference, Reagan added that the Mulford Act "would work no hardship on the honest citizen."
Yes and just think, back in the day if you didn't have your loaded gun on you at church the preacher would fine you!
ReplyDeleteModern social ills exceptable as a form of development in inner cities?
6.28
ReplyDeleteYep,
back in the day the NRA was against folks walking around with military grade hardware.
particularly in big cities(all them Prohibition gangstas}
Now the NRA aside from grifting board members work for gun dealers instead of responsible gun owners
Mostly same old political bullshit, admit it, none of you have a real clue how to solve these problems. Our problems are moral and spiritual and that has been soundly rejected in modern America. legislating inanimate objects is a joke. It took us a long time to get here and it will take a longer time to recover , if ever.
ReplyDelete6.59
ReplyDelete". legislating inanimate objects is a joke"
yep requiring cars to have bumpers and safety glass is clearly a waste of effort.
look at all the money airlines could save if they did not need to use certified parts.
why require food inspection so some people die from contaminated food?
remember "guns do not die people do"
This issue will fade as it always does. The left knows they can't force change and they'll get slaughtered at the polls. Gun sales are probably skyrocketing today, as they always do when the left goes off for a week or two. The left would really like to get back to the tragedy of plastic straws and beef consumption. And they will soon. Talk to you all at the next shooting.
ReplyDeleteYou know, you are right. The left is never going to get anything done on firearms by itself, because the GOP is propped up partly by the NRA and refuses to regulate any firearm lighter than a fucking antiaircraft gun. And while over 90% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun sales, Republicans don't back up that preference with either their votes or public pressure. So maybe, instead of being a glib asshole, you, as a non-lefty, could make yourself useful by calling Pat Toomey's office to tell him to support background checks and red flag laws.
ReplyDeleteI am sick and tired of people who make assumptions about the left or Democrats and vilifies them. I am equally sick of comments trashing Rs. People like you just increase the divisiveness. Cut it out.
ReplyDeleteIt's clear there were no good guys with guns nearby.
ReplyDeleteBoth TX and OH have built into their respective concealed carry statute the legal opportunity for a business to post a sign which disallows lawful concealed carry. It’s against the law in either state to carry a gun where there is a sign posted.
ReplyDeleteThis in and of itself diminishes the number of lawful people carrying guns because even though the person passed rigorous background checks to carry legally there are arbitrary places that are off limits. This type of thinking incubates easy picking for predators.
Also, I’ve hunted with an AR. Did I need to? No, but the hog was tasty. Even though I had a 30 round magazine I only needed one round. The silly arguments made about “weapons of war” diminish the person saying such words. As the most vocal in the nation focus on the types of firearms used and the sheer capacity of their magazines they will continue to pick the intellectual low fruit and stay a safe distance from the actual problems and causes of these tragedies.
But keep blaming the NRA. It’s so much easier than actually thinking.
Bernie deleted this earlier because he's got a thin skin, but it needs to be said:
ReplyDeleteReally, Bernie? That's the comment you won't tolerate? The one telling someone to call their elected official to advocate for a policy change? Look at the comments on other posts on your blog. It's a cesspool of insults and idiots repeating fabricated trash they read on Breitbart, and you have done nothing to discourage that. You frame yourself an independent, but you are apparently so terrified of any change that actually solves a problem, that you consistently criticize people serious about governing, while giving free passes to racist shitheads to post on your page provided they don't offend you personally, and giving oxygen to nonsensical conspiracies that are completely untethered from any semblance of reality. Keep telling yourself you are the reasonable adult in the room. You're not fooling anyone but yourself.
6:27, time to retire this tired argument. In Dayton the shooting was responded to by law enforcement in a matter of seconds and it still resulted in multiple fatalities. Neither shooting occurred in a gun-free business (FFS, WalMart sells tons of guns), and the Dayton shooting was outside. There is no empirical evidence suggesting that gun-free zones produce more mass shootings.
ReplyDelete9:23 Exactly, this is the propaganda that the gun industry and their mouthpiece organizations spew. Their explanations are BS and they know it, but hey, enough schmucks will use it to defend whatever right they think is being infringed on. The only guns and ammo that I hear activists wanting to limit access to are semi-automatic assault-type weapons and larger clip rounds. Arguments against these weapons are completely logical, it would prevent large numbers of deaths in short amounts of time. I believe somebody earlier posted about the actual reason these weapons were created and it was for its military value. Ah but I can already hear the rantings of the militia types "we need it to protect against the tyranny of the government"...sweethearts I hate to tell you but the government has more hardware and people who know how to use it than you could possibly defend against so let's get real ok? Also, let's not forget that the vast majority of U.S. citizens (over 80%) when polled are FOR Universal background check, tight controls on those with diagnosed mental illness getting access (Trump overturned legislation addressing this very issue because of course it was Obama's order), and people on the no-fly lists should be banned from buying guns. So why haven't at least these issues been addressed...gun manufacturers and the gun lobby who works for them have bought and paid for (mostly) Republican lawmakers and, of course, the complicit coward in the White House.
ReplyDelete"mental health is a problem but it is not the main cause."
ReplyDeleteMental health is indeed a problem. However, firearms are not the main cause either.
"Stop making excuses and trying to find something/someone to blame,"
Seems like this poster has already made up their mind and blamed guns.
" what a bunch of Fox bullshit!"
There was some good back and forth, of course, most of it was the same old stuff, but not all. Then there was this intelligent and insightful comment. If liberals won't listen to conservatives and conservatives won't listen to liberals, how is anyone supposed to fully understand an issue?
I've noticed that the NRA won't budge, mainly because of the slippery slope argument. Planned Parenthood, and others, also use the slippery slope argument when it comes to defending or rationalizing abortion. Especially late term or even in their opposition to The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S.311). Both abortion and gun ownership are enshrined in law and both are fiercely defended similarly. Interesting.
Anonymous @ August 6, 2019 at 9:08 AM
ReplyDeleteThere is no need to attack Bernie, personally. Reading the comment policy will tell you he can delete any comment for any reason he deems appropriate. It is his blog. You apparently read this blog and know by the "...cesspool of insults and idiots..." he does allow for all to see. Many comments on this blog are antithetical to his views. I disagree with his views often. He seems to become more and more "independent" and surprises me at times. At least he doesn't just drink the koolaid. A reasonable adult will examine an issue, from as many angles as possible, and form an opinion. You're just mad because he deleted your comment. Perhaps you should follow your own advice and "Keep telling yourself you are the reasonable adult in the room. You're not fooling anyone but yourself."
12:21, the opposition of Democrats to S.311 is on the grounds that it is purely a messaging bill because it is obviously already illegal to kill a baby that has already been born. It's just redundant legislation for the GOP to pander to religious conservatives. But abortion isn't really the issue at hand, is it?
ReplyDeleteThere is substantial evidence that what sets the US apart from the rest of the world in terms of violence using firearms is the availability of firearms. There are more guns per capita in the US than any other country on Earth, and number 2 is Yemen. Most of the other proposed causes of the high rates of mass shootings in the US have either been shown not to be linked with mass shootings (i.e. violent video games) or are also experienced in other parts of the world (i.e. mental health issues). That is not to say that mental health issues, traumatic childhoods, or other things don't contribute to a person becoming a mass shooter, but that without access to firearms the person would not have been so easily able to commit violence on such a scale.
I just deleted a comment complaining about my comments policy.
ReplyDeleteSome have used the slippery slope argument as a rationale not to support S 311 as well. No, abortion isn't the issue at hand. Just thought the comparison was interesting.
ReplyDeleteLet’s go back to Antroplogy . Man as we know him for 15,000 years has killed each other for various reasons. Now add the Industrial Revavalution , ,eventually we get firearms . Fact is ,this will never change , The killings of us will not stop .,note the ant wars., so we have to understand why and run agarithms on published web site s today . Personally,I do not go into a public domains that especially ar not supervised , - with my family unarmed. I say and have said ,anytime you have people in a public arena, IE. “farmers market”there should be somebody there that can “fix shit” . Our school district thinks they have protected environmental but they fail to exercise a “real drill”. They don’t know what they don’t know. How many times are we going to be without a real counter- shooter ?
ReplyDeleteProblem probably is there too many people per square mile in most places these issues occurs. We’re a a point where almost anybody may fall victim to some sort of crime. Me ,along with many of my friends have LCFA or concieled firearms permit in Pa. The only time and hopefully the last time I’ve cleared my holster was a felony drug case when I was a Constabulary here in Northampton County. Hijucks occure daily in Chicago but it can happen here. Imagine the horror of having been a car jack victim? That’s so bad how about when your kids were in there car seats and the perp takes off with your kids. Rufus Patterson ,from Easton tried just that at 25 th Street K-Mart ,running from store dicks.He’s now dead. - fortunately.
ReplyDeleteNow stabbing people . It’s not the firearm ,it’s the mentality. It’s not about the mechanism of injury it’s about the person that causes it.
ReplyDeleteNow stabbing people . It’s not the firearm ,it’s the mentality. It’s not about the mechanism of injury it’s about the person that causes it.
ReplyDeleteExcept the Dayton killer probably isn't killing 9 people in 30 seconds with a hunting knife. Stop with the infantile arguments.
Haaretz (and the like): bias and hate
ReplyDeleteHaaretz twisted language, especially on racism: slaps it on cultural divisions or on safety but not on Arab Muslim racist attacks
The "competitive" tantrum trend among hard Israeli left to utter the "racism" terminology has been for some time.
They are ever so loud on isolated cases of violent attacks against Arabs which we all condemn, of course.
Yet, they are silent on every weekly attacks by racist Arabs targeting Jewish civilians (at times travelling for miles far away from own Arab town...). Of course, it's Arab Muslim terrorism but it's also anti-Jewish ethnic racism and religious bigotry.
Yet, will term any Israeli security measure as "racist." As if it's "not" saving lives, what it is really about.
Will minimize Arab Islamic Palestinian use of its own population as human shields (at least since 1980 by Arafat), and Israeli attempts to evacuate before an anti terror operation.
Will maximize, exaggerate any claim of abuse.
Incidentally, with all the heavily funded anti-Israel groups inside Israel. Why isn't there any even as much as a 'peace' movement on the Arab Palestinian side, Hamas' Gaza or Fatah's Ramallah?
If one specific community wants to keep its unique education, they immediately cry "racism".
They are silent on every Israeli court case that favors Arab vs Jew. But ever so loud on any partial-discriminatory incident. Despite the fact, it is rather ultra-orthodox who feel most all out discriminated against, mainly prompted by anti-Religious hatred campaign by hard left like Haaretz - actually.
These supposed "peacenicks", these same hypocrites, incite against, demonize Haredi ultra Orthodox conscientious objectors who refuse to serve in IDF draft in Israeli army.
It might very well be that at the beginning of "it's racism" rant, years ago, it was less meaning it, and more intented to shock, especially Jews, more sensitive, being victims, past and present of bigotry. But it has since become a "normal" language to utter it wherever, if for only that they 'can' float it. There is zero check on it.
The decades routinely vilification of Jews isn't just mere irresponsible. It surpassed that level long ago.
Haaretz and the like, are not just biased. But hate mongers.