You knew when the “good guy with a gun” solution failed miserably during the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that the gun nuts would come up with a new shibboleth, and they have. “We are not talking about restricting the rights of current, law-abiding gun owners or citizens,” Texas Senator John Cornyn announced about the compromise gun-bill currently under consideration in the Senate. “Again, this is about the art of the possible.”
Earlier this week it came out that a policeman had the chance to shoot the Uvalde Gunman in the school parking lot but he hesitated. This shows the fallacy of the good guy with the gun. There is so much chaos and uncertainty in these situations that there is no guarantee the presence of armed protectors will make a difference. The only solution is to limit gun ownership and ban assault weapons.
Please don’t give up on this issue Lucian until America again bans assault rifles(as they were for 10 years in 1994 by the Bill Clinton administration) and raises the age to buy a firearm to at least 21. I recommend that all assault rifles in America be banned immediately and those confiscated/surrendered weapons be sent to the Ukrainian military.
200,000 ARs in circulation, and now the stupidest and least qualified among us will get to play with them in public wherever and whenever they like.
It's a pathetic scared shitless ego culture masquerading as a gun culture on steroids.
And it's weirdly small potatoes compared to the Supremes setting up to deal with the "Independent State Legislature Doctrine".
That decision coming prior to the midterms and perhaps soon will either give this country a short respite on its way down the fascist funnel, or sink it. entirely.
A couple of things. One is that when Cornyn and his cronies talk about "law-abiding gun owners," I'm pretty sure they're talking about *white* law-abiding gun owners. No person of color is going to drive around with a loaded gun on the seat next to them. Philando Castile merely told the officer who pulled him over that he had a gun, which he was licensed to carry. He never reached for the gun, but the officer shot him several times and killed him.
The other thing is about "mental health issues." Mental health issues, like intent to break the law, are often glaringly obvious in retrospect, like after the guy (and it invariably is a guy) goes off the rails and kills 19 children and 2 grownups. It is fiendishly hard to predict in advance which prospective gun purchasers are likely to go off the rails and shoot up a school or a theater or a grocery store or a church or a synagogue -- or is it? Perhaps anyone who wants to buy an AR-15 or similar weapon by definition has mental health issues, especially if they're white, male, and under 25?
The real problem with the "mental health issues" gambit is that a significant portion of the U.S. population is seriously loopy when it comes to guns, and that includes almost the entire Republican Party. Eric Greitens, the disgraced former governor of Missouri who is now running for the U.S. Senate, just released a video in which he holds a shotgun and says he wants to hunt RINOs, i.e., Republicans he doesn't agree with. Should this guy be able to buy firearms? No way.
When I was a kid back in the 1960s, guns were rare. You needed a permit and a valid reason to carry a pistol, and I recall mention of an interview with the chief of police too. The NRA ran gun safety courses and kids took them so they could get a hunting license. Our Boy Scout troop gave gun safety instruction and there was a marksmanship merit badge that required a lot of gun safety knowledge.
What happened? Two things: the gun manufacturers took over the NRA and the Republican party decided to pander to gun fetishists. Gun safety was never heard of again.
Bravo. These guys are soulless psychopathic fuckers. They don’t care what happens to anyone except them. If they are not voted out of office, or unless the Democrats increase their numbers,
Repug corruption and deceit. The faceless men/women behind the Shock Doctrine WANT social unrest. Anarchy demands authoritarian rule, and the fascists pulling the strings can’t wait to seize power, with no concern for “collateral damages.”
State legislatures just pass these laws from one to the next. Also recommend people read David Pepper's book: Laboratories Of Autocracy which tells about the stranglehold on some state legislatures like Ohio and Wisconsin that should be more evenly divided and were in Democratic control in state houses before 2010 census and gerrymandering after GOP focused on state houses after Obama was elected. Also a fascinating and enlightening read.
We have to get the majorities in the state legislatures. Especially in PA, AZ, and Michigan now.
Bravo, Lucian! You definitely described the mindset of Repubs/GQP/Pro-Rape Party. They talk so easily about those who have mental problems but like everything else they do, they neglect to recognize that is it THEY, who are mentally ill! I want those AR-15’s seized and melted down and given to sculptors and artists to create monuments or art pieces that remembers all who died. I want these murderers to live with the screams of mothers, fathers, family members whose lives have been upended.
I’m at my second home in Krakow, where due to COVID I had not been since 2019. Poland is every bit as divided as the US. But the crucial difference--and it’s a damn big one and makes me feel much calmer than I do in the US--is that almost nobody has a weapon here except people in the military. The difference between waking up and reading about another massacre in your country and not reading about one is night and day. We’ve decided to start spending eight months here and four there, because our children are over there. Otherwise, I think I’d just say goodbye to all that. Never thought I’d feel that way. But I do.
Then there's the Supreme Court that is poised to strike down the 'concealed carry' laws in some states.
I tell you, it's becoming more dangerous by the second to be an American and that's a shameful way to live. The only way it will stop is when someone goes and blows away spectators at the next Trump rally, and that will stop all of it, especially if they happen to hit the speaker.
(which wouldn't be a bad thing, after all, but that's for another time).
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result." Not said by Albert Einstein, but probably he thought it up.
In these times I miss my late grandfather, erstwhile Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (who by the way, made a special point of directing me towards a viewing of a documentary about "The Army-McCarthy Hearings," a useful and especially instructive summary of our collective history today, when the Select Committee continues its work, in public, open to rational criticism, open to second-guessing vis-a-vis when in the hell!?!?, it will become excruciatingly clear Trump must be indicted, etc. etc. etc.)
So, of course, thanks Lucian, I enthusiastically second these excoriating expressions of sound logic and justified moral outrage.
Sure, we civilians, at terrible times in our daily life, might indeed "need" weapons, at times, for self-defense and defense of others.
But come on, weapons developed over centuries to be efficient, deadly instruments of war? No. That's what the posse, the "Posse Comitatus," the collective self-defense of the town against outlaws was designed for ---(although of course the Native Indians had a rather different set of understandings, but you can't right every historical wrong within one set of immigrations, correct?) that's what "the posse" is doing in our Hollywood westerns.
Presumably this is a last defense against violent chaos, not an easily purchased item at Walmart.
A connected observation open for discussion: unintentionally glamorizing violence in art, even -- or maybe especially -- when done so authetically, portrayed so brilliantly, by the recently deceased actor in "Goodfellas," Ray Liotta, is very tricky territory for the First Amendment.
But AR-15s, or the same damn weapon only lacking an internet order and minimal expertise to make it "fully automatic," of course not.
P.S. Thanks for the informed, deeply intelligent blog, Lucian.
Earlier this week it came out that a policeman had the chance to shoot the Uvalde Gunman in the school parking lot but he hesitated. This shows the fallacy of the good guy with the gun. There is so much chaos and uncertainty in these situations that there is no guarantee the presence of armed protectors will make a difference. The only solution is to limit gun ownership and ban assault weapons.
Please don’t give up on this issue Lucian until America again bans assault rifles(as they were for 10 years in 1994 by the Bill Clinton administration) and raises the age to buy a firearm to at least 21. I recommend that all assault rifles in America be banned immediately and those confiscated/surrendered weapons be sent to the Ukrainian military.
You absolutely hit the nail on the head with this one. Thank you for stating so clearly what the majority if Americans are thinking and feeling.
200,000 ARs in circulation, and now the stupidest and least qualified among us will get to play with them in public wherever and whenever they like.
It's a pathetic scared shitless ego culture masquerading as a gun culture on steroids.
And it's weirdly small potatoes compared to the Supremes setting up to deal with the "Independent State Legislature Doctrine".
That decision coming prior to the midterms and perhaps soon will either give this country a short respite on its way down the fascist funnel, or sink it. entirely.
That's how close we are.
Votes will no longer count in elections.
And the court is stacked.
A couple of things. One is that when Cornyn and his cronies talk about "law-abiding gun owners," I'm pretty sure they're talking about *white* law-abiding gun owners. No person of color is going to drive around with a loaded gun on the seat next to them. Philando Castile merely told the officer who pulled him over that he had a gun, which he was licensed to carry. He never reached for the gun, but the officer shot him several times and killed him.
The other thing is about "mental health issues." Mental health issues, like intent to break the law, are often glaringly obvious in retrospect, like after the guy (and it invariably is a guy) goes off the rails and kills 19 children and 2 grownups. It is fiendishly hard to predict in advance which prospective gun purchasers are likely to go off the rails and shoot up a school or a theater or a grocery store or a church or a synagogue -- or is it? Perhaps anyone who wants to buy an AR-15 or similar weapon by definition has mental health issues, especially if they're white, male, and under 25?
The real problem with the "mental health issues" gambit is that a significant portion of the U.S. population is seriously loopy when it comes to guns, and that includes almost the entire Republican Party. Eric Greitens, the disgraced former governor of Missouri who is now running for the U.S. Senate, just released a video in which he holds a shotgun and says he wants to hunt RINOs, i.e., Republicans he doesn't agree with. Should this guy be able to buy firearms? No way.
When I was a kid back in the 1960s, guns were rare. You needed a permit and a valid reason to carry a pistol, and I recall mention of an interview with the chief of police too. The NRA ran gun safety courses and kids took them so they could get a hunting license. Our Boy Scout troop gave gun safety instruction and there was a marksmanship merit badge that required a lot of gun safety knowledge.
What happened? Two things: the gun manufacturers took over the NRA and the Republican party decided to pander to gun fetishists. Gun safety was never heard of again.
Bravo. These guys are soulless psychopathic fuckers. They don’t care what happens to anyone except them. If they are not voted out of office, or unless the Democrats increase their numbers,
nothing can change.
Pure evil.
Repug corruption and deceit. The faceless men/women behind the Shock Doctrine WANT social unrest. Anarchy demands authoritarian rule, and the fascists pulling the strings can’t wait to seize power, with no concern for “collateral damages.”
“nosireebob”- LOVE THIS: I also use this phrase 😁
Someone said the GOP is "Guns Over People" party...maybe I am quoting you! But I thought that was a good one.
If you haven't read the New Yorker piece about Marion Hammer from 2018, it's quite a story. Everyone should read it. It explains a lot: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-nra-lobbyist-behind-floridas-pro-gun-policies
State legislatures just pass these laws from one to the next. Also recommend people read David Pepper's book: Laboratories Of Autocracy which tells about the stranglehold on some state legislatures like Ohio and Wisconsin that should be more evenly divided and were in Democratic control in state houses before 2010 census and gerrymandering after GOP focused on state houses after Obama was elected. Also a fascinating and enlightening read.
We have to get the majorities in the state legislatures. Especially in PA, AZ, and Michigan now.
Bravo, Lucian! You definitely described the mindset of Repubs/GQP/Pro-Rape Party. They talk so easily about those who have mental problems but like everything else they do, they neglect to recognize that is it THEY, who are mentally ill! I want those AR-15’s seized and melted down and given to sculptors and artists to create monuments or art pieces that remembers all who died. I want these murderers to live with the screams of mothers, fathers, family members whose lives have been upended.
I’m at my second home in Krakow, where due to COVID I had not been since 2019. Poland is every bit as divided as the US. But the crucial difference--and it’s a damn big one and makes me feel much calmer than I do in the US--is that almost nobody has a weapon here except people in the military. The difference between waking up and reading about another massacre in your country and not reading about one is night and day. We’ve decided to start spending eight months here and four there, because our children are over there. Otherwise, I think I’d just say goodbye to all that. Never thought I’d feel that way. But I do.
Then there's the Supreme Court that is poised to strike down the 'concealed carry' laws in some states.
I tell you, it's becoming more dangerous by the second to be an American and that's a shameful way to live. The only way it will stop is when someone goes and blows away spectators at the next Trump rally, and that will stop all of it, especially if they happen to hit the speaker.
(which wouldn't be a bad thing, after all, but that's for another time).
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result." Not said by Albert Einstein, but probably he thought it up.
New 'safer gun laws' like putting a bandaid on a guillotine. Will do NOTHING!
At this point what can any rational person say? Extremism eventually defeats itself.
In these times I miss my late grandfather, erstwhile Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives (who by the way, made a special point of directing me towards a viewing of a documentary about "The Army-McCarthy Hearings," a useful and especially instructive summary of our collective history today, when the Select Committee continues its work, in public, open to rational criticism, open to second-guessing vis-a-vis when in the hell!?!?, it will become excruciatingly clear Trump must be indicted, etc. etc. etc.)
So, of course, thanks Lucian, I enthusiastically second these excoriating expressions of sound logic and justified moral outrage.
Sure, we civilians, at terrible times in our daily life, might indeed "need" weapons, at times, for self-defense and defense of others.
But come on, weapons developed over centuries to be efficient, deadly instruments of war? No. That's what the posse, the "Posse Comitatus," the collective self-defense of the town against outlaws was designed for ---(although of course the Native Indians had a rather different set of understandings, but you can't right every historical wrong within one set of immigrations, correct?) that's what "the posse" is doing in our Hollywood westerns.
Presumably this is a last defense against violent chaos, not an easily purchased item at Walmart.
A connected observation open for discussion: unintentionally glamorizing violence in art, even -- or maybe especially -- when done so authetically, portrayed so brilliantly, by the recently deceased actor in "Goodfellas," Ray Liotta, is very tricky territory for the First Amendment.
But AR-15s, or the same damn weapon only lacking an internet order and minimal expertise to make it "fully automatic," of course not.
P.S. Thanks for the informed, deeply intelligent blog, Lucian.