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Another Multiple-Shooting Tragedy: Time for the NRA to Start Lining up Excuses
I’m shedding my reporter and writer’s cloak and submitting these thoughts as an American citizen. I’ll not be as gentle as my colleagues on the subject.
Guns don’t kill people…people kill people. Some effed-up dipshit named Holmes, a 24-year-old “people” PhD candidate who was apparently prepared to leave the program, killed at least 12 “people” and wounded another 59 according to police reports, including a three-month-old baby. This happened 39 minutes into a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado.
In the January, 2011 Gabrielle Gifford’s Tucson shooting, a “people” named Jared Lee Loughner, age 22 at the time, killed 6, including a sitting federal judge and a precious 9-year-old girl. He wounded an additional 13 or 14, shooting ‘Gabby’ point-blank in the head.
Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, was the scene of another mass shooting. A total of 13 dead (12 students, 1 teacher) and 24 injured. A couple of young brutes, Harris and Klebold, fired assorted weaponry at will inside the school. A 12-guage shotgun was fired 25 times, a Tech 9, 55 times and a 9mm carbine, 96 times. A pal purchased some of the guns at a gun store.
Just for the record, Holmes was packing an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a near-twin cosmetically to the M-16, but that’s where the similarity ends. He also carried a Remington 870 12-guage shotgun and a .40 caliber Glock handgun on his person. Another Glock was found in his car. All were legally purchased.
The granddaddy of all U.S. mass killings used to be the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech massacre that took out 32 victims and wounded 17 more. A South Korean, Seung-Hui Cho, 23, ended the horror by killing himself. The Aurora shooting eclipsed the Virgina Tech total of dead and wounded with a record combined count of 71 victims.
Four examples all involving young men with societal boners getting off by killing innocents of all ages.
Aurora’s mayor insisted that “this is a safe city and a safe country.” Democratic Governor, John Hickenlooper thanked those who had offered help and support. “We will get back on our feet and we will move ahead. Let them know this is an isolated incident. It’s tragic, it’s horrible, but it’s isolated.” Yeah, we only kill tens of thousands every year in isolated incidents. The governor sat down with no comments about guns. Republicans? Democrats? Not a word about guns. Never a word! Until the two heroic exceptions I’ll cite in a moment.
Both President Obama and Mitt Romney also had their say on the matter. The two men were highly sympathetic. Obama, in counseling prayer, has had more practice commenting on senseless shootings. Romney indicated there is something we can do. We can “offer comfort.” Prayer; comfort?
Here’s the only comfort I can draw from this incident. CNN, to its credit, gave a fair amount of face time to the black Democratic mayor of Philadelphia, who made more courageous sense than anyone I’ve heard on this subject for years. Michael Nutter said more reasonable gun regulations and procedures need to be in place. He added further that the NRA has a disproportionate level of influence and also a stranglehold over legislators of both parties. Gimme an ‘N’, gimme a ‘U’…now there’s a man. New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, long an advocate for gun control, was quoted as saying more reasonable gun regulations and procedures need to be in place.
These men are right on point. Let’s treat the NRA like the bloodthirsty, gun-nut dictatorship it really is. I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again. If other elected officials besides the two mayors on any level dare utter ONE word against owning anywhere from one to an infinite number of guns, the NRA will use it’s ridiculous and totally unearned clout to remove that person from office come the next election.
The NRA will say, “If only people in the theater were armed they could have shot the guy.” That’s the insidiousness of the NRA. Make sure enough people have access to guns (everybody is their goal) so when a guy goes off his feed, then they can sell the ‘self-defense’ rejoinder. By the way, if you’re packing your chances of getting killed go way up. Again, as I’ve written before.
That’s what is so insidious about the NRA. They make sure enough people have access to guns to carry off horrific incidents like the ones described. Once the inevitable happen, then they can sell self-defense to the rest of the population. Republicans and an embarrassing number of democrats carry all the water for the National Rifle Association. The NRA expends millions of their dues money for lobbyists and candidates. For all the republican bitching about how a percentage of union dues might go to democrats, they don’t give the least little shit that NRA dues money might find its way into republican candidate coffers.
Then there’s the final resting place for the NRA, the 2nd Amendment. The most important right in the history of the universe, the Right to bear arms. Otherwise known as the right to kill at will. A couple of years ago the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote of course, said go right ahead partner. Feel free to stuff every overall pocket, cram every nook and cranny, pile high in every basement all the shotguns, rifles, handguns, revolvers, hell – muskets, whatever goes boom, to your heart’s content and by God, the states and locals can’t do one thing to stop you. Gee, states-righters cheering the feds enforcing their right to their little pop-guns while insisting that health care and other truly positive federal initiatives are NONE OF THE FED’S BUSINESS.
So, yeah, an occasional two-year-old might die from pop’s gun sitting on the kitchen table and hubby might fatally shoot the Mrs. in a drunken domestic dispute and 6 or 12 or 32 might die in minutes and gun-lusters will don a somber mask for a few moments before again playing quick draw in front of the mirror.
Right now, the responses of the New York and Philadelphia mayors show a lot more courage than the two men who should be leading the way.
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35 Responses to Another Multiple-Shooting Tragedy: Time for the NRA to Start Lining up Excuses
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Joe
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
A 2 year old from Colorado shot himself to death in Utah earlier this week when Grandpa’s gun was apparently left out to play with.
get real
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
It’s Grandpa’s fault.
Just as it’s Grandpa’s fault when he doesn’t make sure that his grandkids have their seat-belts fastened when he plows into a tree and they get killed.
Rick Shreiner
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 6:20 pm
I get so tired of tgat pame excuse, “let’s blame Grandpa” when an innocent child gets killed.
The question you should be asking yourself is, “Does it REALLY make a difference whose fault it is that the kid’s DEAD ” ? ? ?
Like I am so fond of pointing out (to anybody who will listen), if a child gets run over because he/she trusts a green “Walk” light at an intersection, instead of looking BOTH ways and determining that taffic has actually stopped, does it make ANY difference whatsoever to the child trapped underneath the car, who was at fault ? ?
No, it doesn’t.
Assigning blame to Grandpa or an unattentive driver does NOT SOLVE the true problem, which is that American values place too little respect on firearms, and too much faith in people.
People are stupid, and stupid should not be allowed to interact with firearms.
Jared Drury
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
I own guns but I don’t support the NRA. My take on this as I have said on this site before right after the Norway incident. Guns are not only a fundamental right, the are an absolute necessity. Our constitution gives us the right to overthrow our government should the need ever arise. Some people may blow this off as crazy talk, but think about it. It is very possible that our government could take our guns away (possible treaties aim to do just that), should that ever happen then where will be if our government becomes to much to bear? A few crazy people killing others is not a reason to give up our rights, just as terrorism is not a good excuse for laws already in place that have already done as much. Don’t let fear run you life, but always be prepared for the worst.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
I know you dont actually believe that do you? Guns are not a necessity, nor will you have the strength to over throw the government. That ability was gone after WW2
Nop one is talking about giving up your rights. However there come a time when rationality has to take over. Auto and assault weapons are not necessary for anyone
Keping your head down in the Colorado situation might have saved your life as compared to trying to shoot the guy. Dont be in such na hurry to kill.
Rmuse
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Look, you’re parroting the NRA without being a member. No-one wants your gun. Your constitution may give you the right to overthrow your government, but my Constitution does not. The Framers gave us another remedy in MY Constitution; it’s called voting. In case you’ve not read MY Constitution, follow this link: www.google.com/url?sa=t&#...
Jared Drury
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
You must be a fool if you think voting accomplishes anything. maybe it did in the past but it almost certainly doesn’t now. Perhaps I alone don’t have the ability to overthrow the government but we as a society do and should that day ever come, I would rather be armed than not.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:40 pm
We not going to fight off the US military. Try not to get carried away
Jared Drury
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
You have the right to your opinion but I am not willing to give up any rights whatsoever, in the name of anything or anyone. Period.
It may be outlandish to consider armed insurrection as a possibility but please consider recent events in Egypt and Syria to name a few. It is possible and it could happen whether you would like to admit it or not.
We may not be able to fight our own military but I am not saying that would even have to. Our soldiers are our brothers and sisters, hopefully we would have some sway over their decisions should we ever have to.
We should never give up our rights in the name of fear. I have mentioned it before but it bears repeating. TWICE as many people die annually from peanut allergies than they do from terrorism, yet we still have the so called ‘Patriot Act’ which relieved us of numerous rights in the name of freedom. That is what happens when we let fear dictate our actions. It is irrational and it needs to end.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:04 am
No one is talking about you giving up any rights. But many are talking about what types of weapons people should own. And thats not taking away your rights. No one on earth has the need for an automatic or any assault weapon
Give up on the government thing. That excuse was gone light years ago.
Yopu have lost far more important rights that guns. Your right to representation is incredibly more important than guns and thats been bought by the 1%
Jared Drury
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:26 am
Just because people don’t need assault type weapons doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have them, I own a few but I don’t go around killing innocent people. This person was sick, likely a psychopath. His own mother told the police that they had the right person. This isn’t even a guns rights issue. There was obviously a failure on his parents part in getting him treatment. Should he have been deemed incompetent by a court he wouldn’t have been allowed to own a gun to begin with. You anti gun idiots get me every time. Guns DO NOT kill people, irresponsible people do. So there is obviously nothing that could have been done to prevent this save his family owning up to what they already apparently knew.
A Walkaway
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:56 am
Uh… Shiva… remember the MRFF? That organization exists for a reason, and I think it very possible that we may find troops and police at the door trying to force people to convert (remember the partnerships being set up between the dominionists and certain police departments around the nation… just as bad).
Troops and police trying to force conversions probably isn’t real likely at this point (at least, I hope not) but it IS possible. I don’t want to see it and if it came true, I would want the ability to at least have half a chance of defending myself.
Also,
The dominionists have been arming themselves for years. They too are a threat, and because I’m a law-abiding citizen type, any bans would mean that they’d have a big advantage if they decided to try to force the issue. I don’t want to be forced into trying to carry a pop-gun in a shootout when the assailants have Uzis.
A Walkaway
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:48 am
How would people prevent this? I cannot think of a single way to do so quickly without disarmament – and that would be wrong and probably cause innocent people to become criminals. That would be punishing innocent people for the crimes of a single person and putting a lot of people’s lives in jeopardy, much less not being do-able because of resistance (I would resist as much as anyone).
Waiting periods? Don’t usually work and I’ve read of a couple of cases where the waiting period cost an innocent person their life. Screening? From everything I’ve heard, he would have passed (if he’s a sociopath, he would be hard to catch anyway). Banning people from certain persuasions from owning guns? They were setting up to do that to my own tribe – peaceful people who are just the opposite of “potential terrorist threat” as anyone can get (disarming us was a Klan dream… then they’d be free to do whatever they wanted). Thank God that bill failed. (Because of that politically and racist-driven designation, “Law Enforcement” would also had the right to search and seizure of our bank accounts and assets without cause or warrant – if the bill hadn’t been defeated.)
There is no simple and easy solution beyond the laws already in place. Banning certain types of weapons? That’s stepping onto a very slippery slope – and from what I’ve learned, countries with such bans have learned they are of no value in stopping things like this.
Limiting where one can take a weapon? That too has been abused… I nearly was arrested for carrying a knife – a tool I used all the time. The people were flabbergasted when I told them all of the different uses I used the knife for each day (I now carry a multitool because they’re that much more useful). We have had cases here in Florida where grade schoolers were expelled from school for having a plastic knife to cut their food – it actually happened. I also know of a couple of situations where kids were being severely bullied and took a weapon to school to defend themselves. I nearly did that and can sympathize – but they were punished because they broke the rules. Funny, but don’t those same damned rules say that faculty and staff are supposed to stop bullying? (As most victims of school bullying can attest, often faculty and staff join in.)
The only thing that will really make a difference is addressing the root causes of the problem… and that will take research and cultural change. If, as I suspect, he was motivated by hate radio and all of the nonsense about the new movie being somehow a “liberal plot” or whatever, then conservatives need to own their language and cool it. We will never be able to stop things like this (unless we can really change this culture and that will take some – a great deal – of time) but we can reduce the chances of it.
I’m worried about overreaction. As bad as this is, let’s focus on helping the victims and rooting out the reasons and causes of this tragedy, and not immediately start calling for things that would hurt innocent people.
moles
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 2:28 am
Oh puh-leeeze.
Rick Shreiner
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 6:30 pm
And you think you will put up a good fight (against the most powerful and technically armed military in the world) with a handgun ? ?
You accept bans on bazookas, rocket propelled grenade launchers, flamethrowers, mortars, cannons, high-caliber machine guns, and even fully armed Cobra attack helicopters, all of which would provide better chances of defeating a tyrannical government, but you WON’T accept any restrictions on a semi-automatic extended-clip handgun which can be hidden underneath a light jacket, and can kill 30 innocent civilians in a few seconds ? ?
That’s not a very well thought out argument.
get real
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
It’s too late people, the ship has already sailed.
300,000,000 guns are already out there in the US. Good luck trying to get them back.
Just as deporting all illegal immigrants is impossible as an issue for the ‘Right’ so is confiscating all firearms as a ‘Left’ issue.
Reynardine
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Nobody wants to confiscate them. We’re looking to keep weapons designed only for rapid, mass human slaughter out of the hands of those who want to do exactly that. We’re looking to keep high-powered sniper rifles out of the hands of assassins. We’re looking to keep private artillery divisions out of the hands of corporatists. And we’re lookiing to keep open-carry bullies away from political rallies, town halls, and Presidential appearances. Is that so hard to get?…
get real
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Repeat after me:
It’s. Too. Late.
Criminals will ALWAYS have access to guns. Period. End-of-story.
The milk has been spilled. The genie is out of the bottle and whatever other cliche is out there you want to use.
Guns are part of America whether you like it or not. There are more guns than people at this point.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Criminals? Most killings are not by criminals but families, friends and acquaintances.
get real
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:09 am
Either way, the guns are already out there.
As they say, if you outlaw guns only the outlaws will have guns.
That didn’t work out too for my people, Jews, in Nazi Germany. Fortunately, my family got out in time.
As with almost everything, there’s a trade off. Freedom comes with a price.
get real
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:12 am
Sez me: Need an edit button around here.
Meant to type: That didn’t work out too well…
get real
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:38 pm
5,000 teens between the ages 15-19 die every year. 5,000 teens dead. Every year.
No, not from mass shooting tragedies but from traffic accidents.
Better teen driver education would save far many more lives than trying to confiscate guns and creating more ineffective ‘gun control’ laws.
Look at the big picture folks and prioritize what the REAL problems are in America. Knee-jerk reactions to rare events don’t do any good.
Reynardine
Jul. 20th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
These events are no longer rare.
get real
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:01 am
50 people or less dead every year in a population of over 300,000,000 is still statistically very rare.
Far more more people die falling in the bathroom every year.
crystalwolflady
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 11:33 am
Yep two incidences in the last 3 days?
We have to change gun ownership, like a driver’s license is a privilege and not a “right” as the RWNJ would have you think. Also make people pass a TEST for each weapon and outlaw assault weapons, sniper rifles etc, grenades, explosives etc have no place in civilian life.
The NRA like Grover Norquist must go!
Tax those MF’rs! then they won’t have money to lobby our congress and politic ans.
And change the stupid! The mindset of the RWNJ is “well if someone else was armed they could of shot the suspect”. WRONG!
Gabby Giffords had a glock. Did not “magically” keep her from getting shot. I don’t know if she had it that day, but it would of been absolutely no use to her.
Only keeping guns out of the hands of those that would misuse them will stop, the carnage. This guy had what 3 guns, legally bought? How is that possible?
And get rid of these “stand down” laws, that allow people to legally kill another, like Zimmerman, and that woman in the trailer home “protecting” her baby…while she had 1 huge German Shepherd dog?
(the other one got shot days before…target practice?)
She was made into a Heroine! When she was just a killer. Disgusting. America has become a Looney bin!
James Bell
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:03 am
Some food for thought …
1,640 people will die today from heart disease, but you won’t see that on the news.
1,558 people will die today from cancer, but you won’t see that on the news.
321 people will die today from random accidents, but you won’t see that on the news.
216 people will die today from Alzheimer’s disease, but you won’t see that on the news.
187 people will die today from diabetes, but you won’t see that on the news.
147 people will die today from the flu, but you won’t see that on the news until it reaches epidemic proportions.
133 people will die today from kidney disease, but you won’t see that on the news.
94 people will die today by their own hand … suicide. But unless they are a celebrity, or do it in mass, you won’t see that on the news.
93 people will die today in auto accidents (30 by drunk drivers), yet we don’t call for the removal of automobiles.
33 people will die today from a gun, 26 of which will be at the hands of convicted felons. THAT you will see on the news.
Today, in a single attack, 12 people died and another 59 injured. The man had smoke grenades and planted weapons … this was a well planned, well thought out attack. He used guns, yes. But if he didn’t have guns, pipe bombs filled with nails would have been even more deadly, not to mention fires. There is no way to stop an attack like that. The weapons were merely the tool.
I am not trying to belittle what happened today in Colorado by any means, but while I was channel flipping through the various news media, I noted it was MSNBC that first brought in their “gun Control” experts within a few hours of the news breaking, and they were already calling for increased gun control. Major Bloomberg (big surprise) is already challenging the presidential candidates to make it a part of their platform. At that very early time they had little more than the shooters name and how many weapons they think he had, and they are already calling for more laws, before even knowing how this happened and how new laws can prevent it. Politicians will never let a good tragedy go to waste, so here comes more laws.
… and American’s love titles … it’s already being dubbed as the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.
I would suggest that before we jump to conclusions and drafting legislation that will do nothing to prevent what happened, that we take time to honor our dead, tend to our wounded, and allow the various law enforcement agencies to do their job and get all the facts.
Sophie Amrain
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 7:54 am
James, you make a both valid and irrelevant point. Many more people die from diseases than from violence (gun and others). However, if we at any time will live in a society, where violent death is the major source of death, that will be a nightmare of society for sure.
The difference is somebody (the killer) is plainly responsible for the murder, while ‘the diabetes’ is not a person. It is much harder for family to lose somebody to violence than to old age. So your comparison is true, but irrelevant.
The US murder rate is about fivefold that of most European countries. There is a reason for that. Just like the US should try to reduce its rather high child mortality (for a developed nation), it should try to reduce its rather high murder rate. Canada’s frequency is one third of that of the US, for Christ’s sake!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...
marvin
Jul. 24th, 2012 at 11:38 pm
THANKS
Disillusioned
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 12:53 am
Why do we persist in trying to control and impose on each other our ideas and ideals? Both of which have valid points. We need common ground not conflict. Work on it to work it out.
GeneralLerong
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 11:16 am
Really had to laugh about the comment that the Constitution gives us the right to overthrow the government. Citizen militias were for the _defense_ of the government, back when it was an expensive thing to recruit, arm, and train a standing army.
Now we have a standing army. That will kick your candy asses right into federal prison if you plot sedition. Read up on the Whiskey Rebellion why don’t you.
And we all know what “criminals” stand for in the minds of these wankers.
OR SSS
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Best article I’ve read yet.
Thanks for having the balls to say what no one else should.
JJM
Jul. 21st, 2012 at 8:30 pm
There are pathological narcissists like Holmes everywhere, to be sure. But they may have a tad bit harder time securing guns in the countries with stricter gun laws.
What the states of VA, CO, and AZ have is zero will to regulate any gun purchasing at all and do not enforce the laws they have on the books. So demented people like the Virginia Tech guy can actually be sold guns in a way that violated state law (he had been involuntarily committed to a mental institution) and everyone just shrugs or winks and nods and nudges. Boys will be boys.
In Arizona, no one is, by law, allowed to re-sell the assault weapons they purchase legally, yet I’ve seen reports of people taking the dozens of guns they have just bought (one was a teenager who paid for the guns no one knows how) and then in the gun store parking lot sold them to someone else…
So… I just don’t care to visit states where such an attitude is preponderant.
Why
Jul. 22nd, 2012 at 3:43 am
Why would he have an entire armada of weaponry, swat team equipment and every single person around him unarmed? If you ban guns this guy could still do the exact same thing EXCEPT everyone is definitely not going to have anything to fire back with this time
Inez
Jul. 22nd, 2012 at 11:20 pm
I can see owning a pistol or a rifle, but what is the reason to own an assault rifle ? Why are gun owners so afraid of limiting their collections? Why would any retailer, on line or in a gunshop, not question hundreds of rounds of ammuntion purchased by a private citizen? Why would anyoneneed body armour or sell it to a no-law enforcement agency or officer? Howcan the Policeprotect us when nut casesare permitted to lock and load faster than they? <
Inez
Jul. 22nd, 2012 at 11:24 pm
Since the Colorado massacre, I have one important issue which Thas never been mentioned by the media,, This Black Knight/Joker entered the theatre by knocking on the EXIT door. WHO OPENED THE DOOR AND WHY? iS THAT INDIVIDUAL GUILTY OF ABETTING THE SHOOTER????????????????????????????wHY HAS THIS QUESTION NOT BEEN RAISED???????????????