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Monday, December 17, 2012

Enough is Enough



After watching the Sunday talk shows ,it was comforting to know that people on both sides of the gun control issue want to come together to find a path forward in trying to curtail the senseless killings. The pro- gun advocates want to make violent movies and video games, treating the mentally ill, and breaking away from the special interest groups as part of the conversation. I wanted to hear what our pro- gun politicians had to say. Meet the Press invited 31 pro- gun senators to appear on their show but they all declined. Fox News was left with Tyler Texas’s wing-nut Representative Louis Gohmert, to make a case for more guns but that went over like a lead balloon and his words will probably be used by the late night comics.

The same talking points don’t have the impact they once had because this time we’ve had enough. Connecticut ranks fifth as far as strict gun controls goes, the Sandy Hook school was as secure as any school in America. The guns were purchased legally, so there’s not a lot to be done to correct this particular situation. That doesn’t mean that we forget the other places of mass violence and just yesterday a man was arrested in the Indiana, who had 47 guns and threaten to shoot up a school.

New York’s Mayor Bloomberg said that 77,000 individuals tried to illegally purchase a gun but the Feds are slow in going after these people. Enacting new state laws won’t mean much if they don’t have the support of the Federal government because there is the issue of the constitution.

It’s been estimated that 40% of illegal gun sales are done at unregulated gun shows. These are measures that are easy to correct were it not for fear of political repercussions. The talk shows pointed that out, as if the Democrats were the only ones afraid to take action. This time it’s different; Senator Feinstein said she will dust off her old “assault weapon ban” and present it to the senate just as soon as Congress reconvenes. You’ll be surprised how many people won’t mind taking those deemed military style weapons, off the market. There’s no appetite for confiscating those that already out there, just the future manufacturing, sales, and importation of those weapons for civilian use.

I heard that we have 200 million guns in the United States but only four years of ammunition. The second amendment is not absolute; perhaps a high surtax on the bullets is an answer; as was once suggested by the late Senator Moynihan.. The gun enthusiast need not fear because the Supreme Court has proved time after time that the second amendment will be up held and it should be. The right of self- protection is a right we all endear but show me one case where an AR 15 was used for self -protection.

Treating mental illness should be front and center because as a pundit said this morning “ what kind a country are we living when it’s easier to buy an assault weapon than it is to get an appointment to treat mental illness.” Restoring funding to treat mentally illness should be a priority and a very important tool in getting a handle on all the violence.

I don’t know what role of violent movies and video games play but I imagine it affects the more vulnerable. As a kid, I remember watching “The Lone Ranger” and playing cowboys and Indians where playacting or not; killing was part of the game. I’ll leave that to the experts because I don’t know how realistic the games are these days or what impact it has.

 Whenever action we do take; it has to be comprehensive and not just excuse to go after the gun lobby. We’ll hear that we can’t stop all the violence, and that’s true but that’s no reason to sit on our hands and say “that’s just part of life these days.”

17 comments:

Mike said...

I just heard Fareed Zakarin, say that death by homicide or suicide is 15 to 20% higher in the United States than it is anywhere else…. It’s not because we have 15 to 20% more violent people or those suffering from mental problems.

He also said Japan has more violent video games than we do but nowhere near the gun violence we do, so it has to be the accessibility of high capacity ammo clips and military style rapid fire weapons.

Mike said...

Australia is much like our country where free democracy rules the day. That changed in 1996 after a gun massacre left 35 people dead. Their legislators passed laws that banned semiautomatic and automatic weapons and shotguns. They also put in a mandatory buy-back program for those who owned the banned weapons.

Did it work; our skeptical friends would ask? It sure did, in 10 years, firearm homicide rate fell by 59% and firearm suicide rate fell by 65%.

Edith Ann said...

As posted on Facebook this morning (this tweet from Michael Moore) "If only the first victim, Adam Lanza's mother, had been a gun owner, she could have stopped this before it started."

born2Bme said...

EA, was that some kind of joke?

Mike said...

I’ve seen too much coverage of the Connecticut shooting because last night I woke up several times dreaming about it.

That was one show where a gun advocate was making a “distinction without a difference “argument.. He was trying to shoot down the host because he said automatic weapons were already banned… The fact that one weapon will automatically fire all of its ammunition if you hold down the trigger or the other where you have pull the trigger to rapidly fire a semiautomatic weapon does not deter the fact that both weapons are too much firepower for an ordinary citizen.

There has been 70 school shooting since 1994 and there’s not been the case where a person having a concealed handgun permit came to the rescue. Fact is, these are random acts of violence, so it’s very likely that arming citizens just throws gasoline on the fire.

Since 1994, the NRA has chosen to protect gun manufacturers rather than their membership.

I’m still getting familiar with the mental health aspect because as several of the people from the medical field have said, many of these people were deranged but did not necessarily have a mental condition. I heard that 1 out of every 17 people have mental problems but only a third of them seek help. For example, Connecticut and has about 140,000 people with mental health issues but only half of them are getting treated. If those needing medical help don’t come forward their names will never appear in a “do not sell” database.

Someone said that we should give the violent video game makers the same status as we do to the producers of porn.

A recent poll stated that 54% of people are now ready for stricter gun control measures but that will change unless Congress acts within a month or so.

born2Bme said...

I just cannot see the reason for owning one of those guns. You can't hunt with them, you don't need them to defend your property because a hand gun or shot gun will do what you need there.

They are only meant for one thing...to kill many victims at one time, and quickly.

They dont' sell the public tanks and armed copters and planes, do they? Why those kinds of guns?

born2Bme said...

Also, they mentioned that guns don't kill...people do, BUT, a lone assassin...and that's what they are...cannot kill as many if he have to stop and reload and it gives others time to take him down.

Mike said...

There is a lot of optimism that a ban on semiautomatic weapons will pass but I think the high capacity ammo clips will go first.

Actions like the one Dick’s Sporting Goods took ,will pave the way. They decided on their own to halt the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles from its stores nationwide and pull all guns from shelves in the stores nearest Newtown, Conn….Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm that owns a stake in Bushmaster, the gun manufacturer that produced the rifle used in the massacre of students and teachers at an elementary school in Connecticut, announced early Tuesday that it intends to sell that investment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/cerberus-capital-freedom-group-gun-manufacturer_n_2321258.html

Mike said...

Yes they do mention that slogan" guns don't kill...people do" but people using guns do kill people.

Yes, this lone assassin only had to change out his 30 round clip once to do all the damage he did....I like what the conservative senator from West Virginia,Joe Manchin said. He said that he only loads three shells into his deer rifle because you are likely to only get one shot.

Edith Ann said...

No, Born, not a joke at all. Just Michael Moore pointing out the emptiness of the right's argument for more guns and everyone being armed. I guess they forget about the mass murder at Killeen. Lots of armed folks there

Edith Ann said...

For those who are determined that anyone on the left could not possibly be right, the Killeen mass murder I was referring to is the one on the Army Base by the military psychiatrist. On that base he was surrounded by a zillion folks who were armed. I was not referencing the Luby's shooting.

Just wanted to be clear on that so that I don't get an inbox full of emails...

Mike said...

EA

I understand your meaning but the soldiers weapons were locked up as they are on all military bases in the US..They are only issued for training or deployment. A female civilian police office shot the person doing the shooting but not until he fired off 214 rounds killing 13 and wounding 31 others. There might have been someone armed on the base but I didn't hear of any.

You still have a valid point because the assassin had no idea if the soldiers would be armed and those were his targets since he intentionally bypassed civilians.

I talked to my daughter about Rick Perry's idea of arming the teachers...She let me know in no uncertain terms that it was a stupid idea. She studied to be a teacher not law enforcement. I can see a lot of panicking and innocent people getting hurt.

Mike said...

I think some people on the right devolved a militaristic view about guns after Ruby Ridge and later Waco reinforced it....Some think that taking away the semiautomatics and high capacity ammo clips is a slippery slope to total confiscation and they will be hard to convince otherwise....Arms and munition sales shot straight up after the recent shooting.

I thought it was downright shame when the gun zealots showed up outside the New Hampshire and Arizona venues where President Obama was speaking carrying handguns and AR 15s...Just because they could....That's the mentality of some of the people we are dealing with..

Mike said...

This morning the gang on” Morning Joe” were placing a lot of the blame of the Connecticut massacre on the video game “Call of Duty.” … I won’t discount that but when the Tucson massacre happened, those on right said that the vitriol on talk radio couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the shooter’s motive. I’m sticking with my first theory that video games, violent movies and media that supports hate will affect the most vulnerable among us but then again I’m not an expert in that field.

Nothing will happen until the store owners take action.. Big business didn’t mind telling the nation that they were taking measures to make sure they didn’t have to pay for their employee’s health insurance…They didn’t mind letting the world know their opposition to gay marriage. A landlord in Goliad refused to rent his building to a pharmacist who was selling the morning after pill…. The media could do its part with documentaries exposing the violence in the videos; thereby making parents aware.

The NRA said that they would contribute in a big way to make sure that the kind of violence that took place in Newtown wouldn’t happen again…. Joe Scarborough was so glad because he thinks that the NRA is reaching out with an olive branch and might be; we’ll have to see. Friday they could say that they are contributing some dollars to combat mental health which bypasses the semiautomatic and high capacity and high capacity ammo clips issue.

Where are the republican legislators on this? They were all over Benghazi but rather silent on this issue.


Mike said...

I had some errands to run this morning, so I thought I would listen to right-wing radio host, Ricci Ware, and hear his take on the gun issue. It was “now is not the time to be thinking of solutions because emotions are running high” but he doesn’t seem to realize that this issue has been weighing on a lot of people’s mind for a long-time…. It started with Bob Costas, and now a couple of basketball coaches have taken advantage of the press coverage to tell the country that “enough is enough.”….The shooting at Sandy Hook was the tipping point.

This morning, Roy Irving’s letter took the cake... I would dare him to go up to the parents of the 20 children and tell them that “the act of using firearms illegally is minuscule” and then tell them that much more deaths come from the use of tobacco or medical procedures.

I question the letter writers' research because “In 2009, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 66.9% of all homicides in the United States were perpetrated using a firearm.[4] [4] There were 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000 besides the fact that Mr. Tasin agrees with his research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

We haven’t had a director of ATF since 2006, when the GOP made it a cabinet position that needs congressional approval. We have couple part timers, and it shows.
Mr. Erwin might be wise to compare our deaths due to gun violence- to other civilized industrial nations.

The tide is changing this time; over 1000 guns (in two days) were turned in one of the most crime ridden cities in America, Camden, New Jersey when the city instituted a buyback program.

Senator Feinstein’s bill will example were 900 types of weapons and this time a well-defined definition will be used as to what constitutes an assault weapon. The high-capacity clip is sure to go.

As of yet, the leaderless GOP has not come forward with their take on the banning of semi-automatic weapons... The closest is former Senator Scott Brown, but he’s thinking of running for the empty seat in Massachusetts.

I agree with Jim Wright who writes a blog he calls the Stonekettle Station. I recommend you read his latest blog titled “Don't just embrace the crazy, sidle up next to it and lick its ear” where he states that we have a violent culture and we won’t get anywhere until we admit that.

Mike said...

Correction instead of "Senator Feinstein’s bill will example were 900 types of weapons.

Senator Feistein's bill will exempt 900 types of guns.

Mike said...

Yesterday, ABC's Jack Trapper had the audacity in to say this to the president.. “This is the fourth incident of this type since you've been president; where have you been?

Where has Jack Trapper, the media, the American public, the GOP, and the NRA been?