I’m not going to dignify or add to the creep’s burgeoning right-wing rock stardom by using his name. Nor am I going to take you through the details you already know so well of what he did. That such a recounting isn’t necessary tells us all we need to know about how ordinary this American horror story has become.
I just re-read the 2nd amendment to the constitution. Indeed it says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Before that though, it says "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..." We seem to have forgotten that part, no? I think if you personally want to keep and bear arms, you should be in the militia, well regulated, with regular drills and training, keeping your firearms at the local armory in case you are called out to fight.
Lucian, you wrote: The only reason to have a gun is to be able to inflict death and bodily harm. It’s what guns do. They don’t do anything else. In fact, it’s not possible to use a gun for a truly “safe” reason. Lucian, you are so goddamned right about this in its basic simplicity that what blows my mind the most is that these words aren't ringing from the mountain tops, sea to shining sea. But then, no one has any time for rational observation, fixes, or solutions to any of it....
I have long argued the first six words of the Second Amendment..."A well-regulated militia being necessary..." has the controlling power. When written there was no standing Army, only local militia that drilled on village greens, commanded by local officers, usually the rich of the district, the "militia" being called out when war was threatened or happening. You brought your own weapon because there was no United States government that issued weapons for an army at that moment at time. Plain and simple....that's why there is a Second Amendment. It was a product of that time.
Think about the Third Amendment, no quartering soldiers in private homes, which is only there because what the British did in Boston in the 1770's.
"A well regulated militia" is not the same as every fool gets to buy an assault rifle or an Uzi. I have been making this argument for decades. And of course I changed a single mind. Not yet anyway. I hope you and your readers will help.
A firearm is a tool. In civilian hands, it can be used to hunt game for the freezer to feed the family. It can also be used to defend a farmer's livestock against predators. In the military, a different class of firearm is used for killing the enemy in battle. I've never known a hunter who needed an AR15 to fill a deer tag or deter a coyote. AR type rifles are weapons of war designed to efficiently kill people. I'm old enough to remember when the NRA was focused on marksmanship, hunter education, conservation, and safety, especially the Eddie Eagle children's safety program. Then the crazies took over and it changed beyond recognition. Please understand that the majority of sane, responsible gun owners support gun safety legislation such as universal background checks for all gun purchases. Open carry laws are an invitation to the type of violence we saw in Kenosha. Guys (and they are almost always guys) who walk around in public with AR15 type rifles seem to me to be using them to show everyone how macho they are. Kind of like little boys who are comparing penises. They need to grow up!
In Utah last summer, I saw a sign by a highway that stated "Zero fatalities is the only acceptable goal." It was right beside a shooting range. The Utah Dept. of Health reports "Over the last decade, the Utah firearm-related death rate was consistently higher than the national rate. Cases
peaked in 2017 which had an increase of 35% in Utah since 2009 compared to an increase of 19% in the U.S. This difference is likely due to the increase in Utah’s suicide rate over the past few years. Utah has had a higher prevalence of high school students reporting that they carried a gun at least one day in the past month compared to the U.S. since 2005." It's time to stop the gun insanity.
The second amendment makes no provision for ammunition. As cold medicine was regulated during the methamphetamine epidemic of the early 2000s, ammunition could be regulated in the same way. It could be licensed and require identification and a certain age to purchase. It could be tracked the same way any other controlled substance is. It could require insurance to purchase and a reason for purchasing it. It wouldn't touch the second amendment because it mentions nothing of ammunition. That's the only way forward. People talk about AR-15s but really they're just a Lego kit built around a lower receiver.
I was a juror in a murder trial. It was a drug deal gone bad. Both the buyer and the seller had guns and exchanged fire, wounding the seller. The buyer ran out into the parking lot where he encountered the innocent bystander and shot him in the head. The only question in the trial was whether or not the defendant was really the person who shot the victim. The circumstantial evidence was clear but the identification was a 3rd person who picked the accused out of a photo lineup while in a neighboring state. Photo lineups can be sketchy, especially if the "other 5" in the composite are carefully selected. I've run it over in my head countless times. But in the end, if neither the buyer nor the seller had guns on hand, there would have been no gun with which to kill the victim.
We had a driver who spent 30 years as a Dublin police officer.
He said that in his entire career he did not have a single encounter with an armed suspect.
The idea that a citizen would be carrying a gun was simply unthinkable to him.
Meanwhile here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, it’s becoming inadvisable to walk down the street to the supermarket or the pharmacy or the post office unarmed.
If only...… I fully agree with you that, "The American horror story is a perfect circle: we manufacture and sell to each other the things that we use to kill each other. The vaunted “right” under the Second Amendment is actually two rights: the right to own the gun that takes a life contains the right to have your life taken by a gun. You don’t get the one without the other." However, I do not see a solution that can feasibly work; the "perfect circle" cannot be broken with common sense gun laws unless we are prepared to forestall a nation wide Armageddon. Guns are one of the deadliest addictions in America.
It strikes me upon reading the GVA reports that these, and similar reports on MSM and in the news always frame the assassinations/murders in the passive voice: "was shot," "was injured," "was a victim." I don't advocate for grisly or graphic depiction of the facts - because most certainly that would become the new normal and further anesthetize this already sick nation - but how about turning the sentences around and actually say what's what.
"A man armed with an AR15 drove across the state of Texas and blasted his AR15 into a group of shoppers in a Walmart in El Paso. Using his assault weapon, the murderer shot countless rounds of bullets into the bodies of mothers, children, and grandparents. A man armed with a loaded pistol, used it to shoot and killed his girlfriend and then killed himself. An armed man walked inside a church and aimed his assault weapon at parishioners, blowing them to bits as they prayed."
Whether or not it's the gun doing the killing or the man holding the gun, in my opinion, the onus is on both and the horrific destruction they foist on humanity should not be a "passive" thing that happens and then disappears from the headlines until the next one occurs. I know I'm being picky, but "was shot" just seems about on par with "was nervous."
Here's an idea for SCOTUS: If the justices in their wisdom (such as it is) decide to expand the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to remove all restrictions on the right to (open or concealed) carry firearms, they should not exempt their building from its provisions. All metal detectors should be removed from the entrances. They should, in other words, subject themselves to the same conditions to which they are subjecting, e.g., bank or store clerks, family members of abusers, and anyone who showed up to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Do they really want to live in a world where anyone with a grievance can show up with a firearm and "even the score"? Somehow I don't think so.
You write Truth. As a former cub newspaper reporter assigned to write obituaries, I'm thinking the young up and comers may find themselves penning mass obituaries post public events: concerts, parades or citizens accessing their right to free speech. Undertakers may offer mass graves. Not so intended consequences of mis-interpreting the Second Amendment.
It is astounding that everyone reading this column can legally buy an AR15 or a concealable 9mm pistol unless they have a felony conviction. Stranger yet we have Right Wing Loons stockpiling ammunition. People can complain all they want. Nothing will change in the USA. Perhaps a dozen Sandy Hooks -back to back- will change the USA ownership of firearms. Yes people will write great columns like this one.
Congress and the Courts have done little since the Kennedy Assassination - which did produce the Gun Control Act of 1968 banning mail order guns unless sold to a registered Federal Firearms dealer. What to do? The Public favors somewhat stricter gun controls, but nothing draconian. The NRA has a lot of influence.
In Maryland, no one can carry a firearm, loaded or unloaded, within 500 Feet of a Demonstration or public school. It is illegal to carry a pistol in your car unless you are on the way to a Shooting Range. It must be unloaded and in a case. Stopping any firearms from being carried in demonstrations or government buildings would be a nice start. Better than nothing.
I just re-read the 2nd amendment to the constitution. Indeed it says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Before that though, it says "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..." We seem to have forgotten that part, no? I think if you personally want to keep and bear arms, you should be in the militia, well regulated, with regular drills and training, keeping your firearms at the local armory in case you are called out to fight.
Lucian, you wrote: The only reason to have a gun is to be able to inflict death and bodily harm. It’s what guns do. They don’t do anything else. In fact, it’s not possible to use a gun for a truly “safe” reason. Lucian, you are so goddamned right about this in its basic simplicity that what blows my mind the most is that these words aren't ringing from the mountain tops, sea to shining sea. But then, no one has any time for rational observation, fixes, or solutions to any of it....
I have long argued the first six words of the Second Amendment..."A well-regulated militia being necessary..." has the controlling power. When written there was no standing Army, only local militia that drilled on village greens, commanded by local officers, usually the rich of the district, the "militia" being called out when war was threatened or happening. You brought your own weapon because there was no United States government that issued weapons for an army at that moment at time. Plain and simple....that's why there is a Second Amendment. It was a product of that time.
Think about the Third Amendment, no quartering soldiers in private homes, which is only there because what the British did in Boston in the 1770's.
"A well regulated militia" is not the same as every fool gets to buy an assault rifle or an Uzi. I have been making this argument for decades. And of course I changed a single mind. Not yet anyway. I hope you and your readers will help.
A firearm is a tool. In civilian hands, it can be used to hunt game for the freezer to feed the family. It can also be used to defend a farmer's livestock against predators. In the military, a different class of firearm is used for killing the enemy in battle. I've never known a hunter who needed an AR15 to fill a deer tag or deter a coyote. AR type rifles are weapons of war designed to efficiently kill people. I'm old enough to remember when the NRA was focused on marksmanship, hunter education, conservation, and safety, especially the Eddie Eagle children's safety program. Then the crazies took over and it changed beyond recognition. Please understand that the majority of sane, responsible gun owners support gun safety legislation such as universal background checks for all gun purchases. Open carry laws are an invitation to the type of violence we saw in Kenosha. Guys (and they are almost always guys) who walk around in public with AR15 type rifles seem to me to be using them to show everyone how macho they are. Kind of like little boys who are comparing penises. They need to grow up!
In Utah last summer, I saw a sign by a highway that stated "Zero fatalities is the only acceptable goal." It was right beside a shooting range. The Utah Dept. of Health reports "Over the last decade, the Utah firearm-related death rate was consistently higher than the national rate. Cases
peaked in 2017 which had an increase of 35% in Utah since 2009 compared to an increase of 19% in the U.S. This difference is likely due to the increase in Utah’s suicide rate over the past few years. Utah has had a higher prevalence of high school students reporting that they carried a gun at least one day in the past month compared to the U.S. since 2005." It's time to stop the gun insanity.
The second amendment makes no provision for ammunition. As cold medicine was regulated during the methamphetamine epidemic of the early 2000s, ammunition could be regulated in the same way. It could be licensed and require identification and a certain age to purchase. It could be tracked the same way any other controlled substance is. It could require insurance to purchase and a reason for purchasing it. It wouldn't touch the second amendment because it mentions nothing of ammunition. That's the only way forward. People talk about AR-15s but really they're just a Lego kit built around a lower receiver.
I was a juror in a murder trial. It was a drug deal gone bad. Both the buyer and the seller had guns and exchanged fire, wounding the seller. The buyer ran out into the parking lot where he encountered the innocent bystander and shot him in the head. The only question in the trial was whether or not the defendant was really the person who shot the victim. The circumstantial evidence was clear but the identification was a 3rd person who picked the accused out of a photo lineup while in a neighboring state. Photo lineups can be sketchy, especially if the "other 5" in the composite are carefully selected. I've run it over in my head countless times. But in the end, if neither the buyer nor the seller had guns on hand, there would have been no gun with which to kill the victim.
A perfect example of “why” my hope is waning…and my faith…and my trust in the august institutions supposedly there to protect and serve!
True and accurate on every count. Guns escalate every human situation. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Spent a week in Ireland about four years ago.
We had a driver who spent 30 years as a Dublin police officer.
He said that in his entire career he did not have a single encounter with an armed suspect.
The idea that a citizen would be carrying a gun was simply unthinkable to him.
Meanwhile here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, it’s becoming inadvisable to walk down the street to the supermarket or the pharmacy or the post office unarmed.
If only...… I fully agree with you that, "The American horror story is a perfect circle: we manufacture and sell to each other the things that we use to kill each other. The vaunted “right” under the Second Amendment is actually two rights: the right to own the gun that takes a life contains the right to have your life taken by a gun. You don’t get the one without the other." However, I do not see a solution that can feasibly work; the "perfect circle" cannot be broken with common sense gun laws unless we are prepared to forestall a nation wide Armageddon. Guns are one of the deadliest addictions in America.
It strikes me upon reading the GVA reports that these, and similar reports on MSM and in the news always frame the assassinations/murders in the passive voice: "was shot," "was injured," "was a victim." I don't advocate for grisly or graphic depiction of the facts - because most certainly that would become the new normal and further anesthetize this already sick nation - but how about turning the sentences around and actually say what's what.
"A man armed with an AR15 drove across the state of Texas and blasted his AR15 into a group of shoppers in a Walmart in El Paso. Using his assault weapon, the murderer shot countless rounds of bullets into the bodies of mothers, children, and grandparents. A man armed with a loaded pistol, used it to shoot and killed his girlfriend and then killed himself. An armed man walked inside a church and aimed his assault weapon at parishioners, blowing them to bits as they prayed."
Whether or not it's the gun doing the killing or the man holding the gun, in my opinion, the onus is on both and the horrific destruction they foist on humanity should not be a "passive" thing that happens and then disappears from the headlines until the next one occurs. I know I'm being picky, but "was shot" just seems about on par with "was nervous."
Here's an idea for SCOTUS: If the justices in their wisdom (such as it is) decide to expand the meaning of the 2nd Amendment to remove all restrictions on the right to (open or concealed) carry firearms, they should not exempt their building from its provisions. All metal detectors should be removed from the entrances. They should, in other words, subject themselves to the same conditions to which they are subjecting, e.g., bank or store clerks, family members of abusers, and anyone who showed up to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Do they really want to live in a world where anyone with a grievance can show up with a firearm and "even the score"? Somehow I don't think so.
You write Truth. As a former cub newspaper reporter assigned to write obituaries, I'm thinking the young up and comers may find themselves penning mass obituaries post public events: concerts, parades or citizens accessing their right to free speech. Undertakers may offer mass graves. Not so intended consequences of mis-interpreting the Second Amendment.
It is astounding that everyone reading this column can legally buy an AR15 or a concealable 9mm pistol unless they have a felony conviction. Stranger yet we have Right Wing Loons stockpiling ammunition. People can complain all they want. Nothing will change in the USA. Perhaps a dozen Sandy Hooks -back to back- will change the USA ownership of firearms. Yes people will write great columns like this one.
Congress and the Courts have done little since the Kennedy Assassination - which did produce the Gun Control Act of 1968 banning mail order guns unless sold to a registered Federal Firearms dealer. What to do? The Public favors somewhat stricter gun controls, but nothing draconian. The NRA has a lot of influence.
In Maryland, no one can carry a firearm, loaded or unloaded, within 500 Feet of a Demonstration or public school. It is illegal to carry a pistol in your car unless you are on the way to a Shooting Range. It must be unloaded and in a case. Stopping any firearms from being carried in demonstrations or government buildings would be a nice start. Better than nothing.
Good luck wishing and hoping the wing nuts on the SCOTUS will actually think rationally about anything. Illogic is their modus operandi.