Dear readers, I ask you: how many of these stories have I written about mass shootings in my Substack column? I lost count some time ago and cannot remember the last one. Was it the shooting in Nashville, when a 28-year-old gunman killed three nine-year-old children and three adults at a private school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church using two AR-15 rifles, one of them configured as a pistol with a folding stock so it could be easily concealed? Or was it Uvalde, when 19 children and two adults were killed at the Robb Elementary School by an 18-year-old who had bought two AR-15 rifles soon after he reached the age when it is legal to buy such firearms in Texas?
Have you seen the photo of the new speaker of the house? Grinning like a fool with all of his GOP flying monkeys surrounding him? Did you happen to notice? They are all wearing A.R. 15 pins on their lapels? The asshole actually had the stones to offer thoughts and prayers, and he got laughed at, but laughing at him won’t solve the problem. It’s an utter disgrace, and yet it’s where this country is been going and will keep going because the NRA and the big money don’t really care about your average human being. I mean, on his wish list is ending Medicare and Social Security. They’re only interested in stuffing their pockets
Why AJ, look what that fine reprehensible, I mean representative from Looooo-zeee- Anna have sent little ole me, he is 'splaining his Corruption, er, Christian goals for savin' the nation, lookee hyar:
Mike Johnson for Congress
Fellow American,
The most important things in life are faith, family, and freedom. That's not just a slogan, these happen to be the foundations of our great country. That is why I am fighting every day to preserve them.
Faith. Our nation began with the bold declaration that all men are created equal by God, and that our rights derive from Him and not the government. The founders insisted that faith must remain central to our national identity because, as George Washington summarized, "religion and morality are indispensable supports" of our republic. Like so many American households through the generations, in our house we instill faith in the hearts of our children, serve God, and serve people.
Family. Stable, happy families are the basis of any thriving society, and public policy should always acknowledge this obvious truth. Strengthening the nuclear family should be a top priority, and government should get out of the way and respect parental rights. Kelly and I have been very intentional about passing along the values of hard work, honor, and sacrifice to our children, just as our parents passed them along to us. For nearly two and a half centuries, this has been the American way.
Freedom. It is a self-evident truth that God endows all of us with inherent freedoms, such as the natural and unalienable rights to life, liberty, conscience, and the ability to pursue happiness, own property, build wealth and defend ourselves and our families. The purpose of government is to secure these rights, and the ideas we advance should always aim to maintain and increase the liberty of the American people. I've devoted my life and career to fighting for those fundamental freedoms and traditional values, first in the courts as a constitutional law attorney, and now in the Congress.
This is a simple truth: America is the freest, most powerful, most successful nation in the history of world – but we cannot maintain that status if we are led by politicians who hate the very foundations that made us who we are!
SUPPORT MIKE JOHNSON >
Right now in America, children are being taught in many schools to be ashamed of their country and themselves. The pledge is being taken out of school because it mentions God. Free speech is being censored and silenced right before our eyes. Democrats are fighting for the right to elective abortion right up to the moment of birth. Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats are seeking control of almost every aspect of our lives.
This is simply un-American, and we must stop the madness.
We must elect more leaders who make decisions based on American values with an emphasis on God, family, and country. It's the only way to preserve the blessings we have been given here.
Today, to continue to help lead this critical fight, I need your financial support - to restore our country and defend our values. Can you make a donation immediately?
DONATE TO SAVE AMERICA >
Fellow American, we have a chance to save our country from the radical Left that is aiming to destroy it, but we're running out of time. I'm not sure what version of America we will leave to our kids if we continue down this path. We simply must make a change before it's too late.
I made a promise when I was first elected to do what is best for our country, and for Louisiana, and I intend to keep that promise. It's why I have been a trusted ally of President Donald Trump, who selected me for critical positions and endorsed all of my campaigns. It's also why I was elected by my colleagues to serve as Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference - one of seven elected leadership positions for Republicans in the House - and to chair the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Liberties in the prestigious Judiciary Committee.
We are working in Congress every day to defend our conservative way of life and lead the fight for freedom, but we cannot do it alone.
If you are committed to keeping the House from the radical Democrats who are self-serving and want to turn America into a socialist country, then I need your support today.
CHIP IN >
The path we're on currently will lead us to destruction. But that outcome is not inevitable. We still have the ability to turn this country around-- IF conscientious conservatives across America will stand up RIGHT NOW.
We MUST act, and we must do so today.
Can you pitch in right now to help save our country, Fellow American?
Thank you for all you do, and God bless.
***** Why land o' mercy, I was afraid o' some "Antebellum woist o' the Deep South Bible-thumpin' snake-handler jumpin' keep the women barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen cookin' gumbo r' sumpin' ain't no call fer book larnin,' jest the Holy Woids o' GAWD ALMIGHTY in the
Scripture with Last Days a' comin', Sparin' no rods fer keepin' the children in line, hallelujah and can I get an Amen for our sacred Trump, I mean Constee-too-shun, Yowza!" spiel, but this is right civilized and polite, even when he asks for money over and over, it's to save the nation from the Democrat socialists and radical leftists out to destroy America, what say you, MORE-TAHN?
Speaker Johnson's 2013 endorsement of "18th Century Values" is indicative of he selectively uses quotations from George Washington and John Adams, and likely other "Founding Fathers," to claim the United States was never committed to, never meant to separate Church and State, there's an OMG claim, no pun intended:
The First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
First Amendment and Religion
The First Amendment has two provisions concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment clause prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion. The precise definition of "establishment" is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.
Today, what constitutes an "establishment of religion" is often governed under the three-part test set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971). Under the "Lemon" test, government can assist religion only if (1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.
The Free Exercise Clause protects citizens' right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of a "public morals" or a "compelling" governmental interest. For instance, in Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944), the Supreme Court held that a state could force the inoculation of children whose parents would not allow such action for religious reasons. The Court held that the state had an overriding interest in protecting public health and safety.
Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict. The federal courts help to resolve such conflicts, with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter.
Check out similar cases related to Engel v. Vitale that deal with religion in schools and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In effect the goal of Mike Johnson and the rest of his contingent of feckless
reactionaries is a theocracy:
A theocracy is a form of government in which priests or religious leaders rule in the name of a deity or deities.
Serving their divine leader or leaders rather than the citizens, theocracies are often oppressive in function, with harsh punishment for rule-breakers.
There is no separation of church and state in a true theocracy and the open practice of only the country’s prevailing religion is allowed.
There is no room for democracy and all decisions of a theocracy’s leader are unquestionable.
Btw www.thoughtco.com is a very useful website, as I am sure you will immediately realize!
"There is no room for the processes of democracy in a true theocracy. For the population to abide by and respect the will of the ruler and, by extension, that of the deity, those who disagree with or fail to abide by the laws and the dictates of the religion are often repressed and persecuted. Issues like marriage, reproductive rights, civil rights, and punishment of criminals are also defined based on religious text. Under a theocracy, residents of the country typically do not have religious freedom and are not able to vote on governmental decisions."
I'll try to track down the Washington and Adams quotes IN CONTEXT to see if either of them is endorsing some kind of established (Christian) religion, or just passing along standard political praise of religion and morality, presumably a religion not involving human sacrifices and who knows what else, and a morality that respects the rights of citizens to be represented within any government that taxes them...
I was glad to hear a local regular late morning - noontime talk show host on the CBS-affiliated WCC0-AM radio, 830 on your AM dial, Chad Hartman (whose father Sid Hartman covered sports in the Twin Cities for something like sixty years, he was a "legend in his own time") really excoriate the people, (paraphrasing) "not the hunters, I must have seventy or eighty hunters among my friends, not the legal gun-owners who have a firearm for self-defense, we are NOT `coming to take your guns away'" but, continuing, the gun-owners who buy one assault rifle and then end up owning six, the ones who alter the semi-automatic firearm so it's full automatic, the ones who end up stockpiling firearms and thousands of rounds of ammo, and most of all, as in the case of alleged shooter Robert Card, people who clearly, absolutely, should not have any kind of firearm.
He also debunked the "Too early to talk about the gun reform laws now! Pray for the families" bit, because he added, in two weeks that changes to "Why are you bringing up the past?"
Thanks LKTIV for hammering on this, it's a national scandal on multiple levels and you always clarify why we cannot allow ourselves to grow numb to the entirely avoidable and entirely predictable carnage.
"A national scandal" is a good description. It's insane that products like bullet-proof backpacks actually exist. Thoughts and prayers have solved nothing.
Months ago Robert Card was released, local radio host I mention in another comment, asked about that episode in the summer: "What went on after he was released, after having been in there for two weeks? Hearing voices, it was a serious thing, not exactly like the sort of mental health therapy so many of us go in for (mentioning marriage and job issues, etc.) what was the follow-up?"
I know the state of Maine has in recent years voted down ballot initiatives for tighter gun laws, background checks, and so on. Votes or non-votes have consequences, hard to see how making it tougher for people coming out of a "mental health crisis" to buy or retain weapons with so few barriers can possibly violate the Second Amendment, but with this Supreme Court...
I am baffled that observers of his behavior in the national guard didn’t think to notify those responsible for acting on red flag laws (are there such laws in Maine?). Though likely as not he would have found access to a weapon in Maine, this seems as if it may have made yesterday turn out differently.
My guess is that these events are typically rare there, a result of low population and a tradition of hunting (which I’m going to assume instills responsibility in young people). But why not red flag laws? So illogical.
Because we don't have crazy people, don't you know. There are a lot of people who have been raised with guns, and they vote.
Those who don't want any regulations for guns outnumber the ones who do.
That's the way it is in Maine. Do not ever get into an argument with the gun owners here. They will not ever allow regulations. They objected so strenuously to any in the past that there are very few to begin with.
I live in the adjacent city of Auburn, literally a stone's throw from our house across the Androscoggin River. Returning home from a walk at Bates College around 6:30 we received the alert to shelter in place. You know the rest of the story. The suspect Card is still on the loose.
IV, you've always been right about the M-16 and its successors. I mentioned months ago about the damage and destruction this weapon is capable of after returning from Vietnam with images that can't be erased. I'll say this for the umpteenth time, no civilian should have in their possession an M-16 or its variant, ever. Now I may upset some great folks on this Substack; some 20 or 30 something men have a very perverted notion of masculinity. The need for a weapon like this is incomprehensible to me. I don't possess a hybrid, cockamamie rifle to feel like a man.
One solution to this madness is to bury every last right winger holding a federal, state or local office position with overwhelming democratic votes. If these people aren't defeated in '24 then we have ourselves to blame.
I was trained as a Green Beret weapons specialist and fought with a Ranger Company in VN, I know what that gun is capable of doing. I carried one of those things in VN, and while I hunted and shot competitively for many years after, never with an AR-15. My cousin owns 4 of them with 10,000+ rounds for each. I have zero interest in owning one, they are really good at what they were designed to do, which is to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, why anyone would want one if they weren't planning on killing people is beyond me. Most of my competition shooting was done with single shot pistols and hand loads at ranges between 50 and 200 meters, and iron sights, no scopes. You can have fun with guns, they are part of our history, without having the ability to kill 50 people in less than a minute. I taught both of my daughters to shoot my hand cannons when they were young, they kicked like mules, but always at bullseye targets never silhouettes of people, neither owns a gun today. Just like I taught them to drive, driving a race car, neither of them race today but they understand car control, so too they understand what guns can do and will maybe be safer because of it. We need to ban all assault weapons, they have no place in sports, that can't be done better by something far less deadly to our fellow citizens. Back in the day I enjoyed competing, I haven't shot a gun in over 20 years now. What we are witnessing today is madness and we will be judged later for how we have dealt with it, we owe it to our heirs to fix this.
Almost the entire State has closed down. My son and daughter-in-law and several good fiends live in and around Portland, miles from the shooting, but the schools have closed down. Maine has miles and miles of woods where the gunman can hide. Sooner or later he must find food and shelter. He must be found and the whole State is on the lookout, but still no sight of him his car or truck.
My nephew and his wife in Portland - and one of my oldest friends in Lewiston. He sisters large family all nearby. So many people whether we know or love them or not. All targets.
No one needs are AR-15 type weapon unless they have been fully vetted. There is no need. The SCOTUS stretched the concept of the 2nd Amendment by tossing in the 14th Amendment. It is a MAGA court. We must not allow trump to win.
I have no words but that's what the NRA and Russia want. I just wrote my Congressman, Ken Calvert, to ask him to do something, but since he's a dyed in the wool MAGAT he won't do anything.
My views are totally consistent with Lucien’s with the possible exception of his assessment of the M-14 rifle. But I want to emphasize a point I made on one our earlier blogs. Every one of the shooters in every one of the cases he highlights is a man. Women simply don’t engage is mass shootings. I don’t disagree at all with the need to deal with the firearms issue, but I think we also need to deal with this gender disparity. What is it that causes these men (some young, some a little older) to kill large numbers of people with firearms?
Men are slackers. We cover with bravado. The perhaps 50% of men with an actual functional brain know that. Women are getting hip to the ruse though, so there's hope.
I’m in Maine right now, and was driving through Augusta when a state police car came screaming though at top speed. Later last night I heard the news and knew where that cop had been going. We came home, locked all our doors, and turned on the motion detectors - something we normally don’t do. This murderer is still at large, last seen about 20 miles from here. Schools, banks, and other public institutions are closed. The toll in human life and injury is tremendous. The financial costs too - they’ll largely be borne by tax payers. I mention that for any of those dumb fucking 2nd Amendment worshippers who also hate the state and the taxes that pay for those trying to pick up the pieces after such mayhem. This particular mass murderer had had multiple run in with law enforcement for spousal abuse and had recently been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. Yet he was allowed free to grab his automatic weapons and kill men, women and children. What a fucked up country we live in. It’s a shame these psychopaths never target the politicians, lobbyists and judges that got us here.
The number for this one is #565 by all the mass shootings that have happened this year.
We join the merciless and unending parade of corpses, prayers, thoughts and useless verbiage that has marked our rise in gun deaths.
We can't remember the last one either. And we certainly didn't expect to be part of it, either.
But it goes without saying that anyone who thinks that guns don't kill hasn't seen the body that has been ripped apart by an AR 15.
As we in Southern and Central Maine sit waiting for word that the suspect has either been captured or 'neutralized' we are sadly reminded that there is no safe space any more.
The man who heard voices in his head, was a shooting trainer for the National Guard, and who decided to go to two places with other human beings and blow them away for no discernible reason other than he believed people were talking about him (this information comes from the DB and the NY Times) was the one who made Maine join the never-ending parade of statistics.
I'm sick of this, and I've been screaming about gun control forever.
It doesn't do any good. The bastards in Congress get slipped a few million from the NRA and they ignore the problem.
Thousands of people are dead because they don't care enough.
They're more invested in electing fundamentalist Christians who deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
So another day, another shooting. 18 more names to notch up on the list.
And an entire state is in shock, mourning the loss of our innocence in the hands of a man who should never have had a gun in the first place.
You couldn't be more correct Mary, thoughts and prayers my ass. Please stay safe, I enjoy reading your thoughts, the whole nation needs to see this as clearly as you do. I am so over reading about these shootings.
These Republicans are more like a Mean Girls Club than a real political party. Like a bunch of high school girls they rigidly enforce conformity, wear matching pins, espouse the same nonsense views, and claim the right to own AR-15s is sacrosanct. We're actually at the point where Sean Hannity can urge everyone to have a "personal safety plan" to stay safe in their bunkers rather than adopt any sensible gun laws. Thomas and Alito must be so proud.
Unfortunately, we don't stand a chance against dark money, super pacs, weapons manufacturers, bought politicians, the NRA, industry lobbyists to bring about sane gun laws in the US. And with the purchased SC, I only see rules being loosened. God help us...
Have you seen the photo of the new speaker of the house? Grinning like a fool with all of his GOP flying monkeys surrounding him? Did you happen to notice? They are all wearing A.R. 15 pins on their lapels? The asshole actually had the stones to offer thoughts and prayers, and he got laughed at, but laughing at him won’t solve the problem. It’s an utter disgrace, and yet it’s where this country is been going and will keep going because the NRA and the big money don’t really care about your average human being. I mean, on his wish list is ending Medicare and Social Security. They’re only interested in stuffing their pockets
Why AJ, look what that fine reprehensible, I mean representative from Looooo-zeee- Anna have sent little ole me, he is 'splaining his Corruption, er, Christian goals for savin' the nation, lookee hyar:
Mike Johnson for Congress
Fellow American,
The most important things in life are faith, family, and freedom. That's not just a slogan, these happen to be the foundations of our great country. That is why I am fighting every day to preserve them.
Faith. Our nation began with the bold declaration that all men are created equal by God, and that our rights derive from Him and not the government. The founders insisted that faith must remain central to our national identity because, as George Washington summarized, "religion and morality are indispensable supports" of our republic. Like so many American households through the generations, in our house we instill faith in the hearts of our children, serve God, and serve people.
Family. Stable, happy families are the basis of any thriving society, and public policy should always acknowledge this obvious truth. Strengthening the nuclear family should be a top priority, and government should get out of the way and respect parental rights. Kelly and I have been very intentional about passing along the values of hard work, honor, and sacrifice to our children, just as our parents passed them along to us. For nearly two and a half centuries, this has been the American way.
Freedom. It is a self-evident truth that God endows all of us with inherent freedoms, such as the natural and unalienable rights to life, liberty, conscience, and the ability to pursue happiness, own property, build wealth and defend ourselves and our families. The purpose of government is to secure these rights, and the ideas we advance should always aim to maintain and increase the liberty of the American people. I've devoted my life and career to fighting for those fundamental freedoms and traditional values, first in the courts as a constitutional law attorney, and now in the Congress.
This is a simple truth: America is the freest, most powerful, most successful nation in the history of world – but we cannot maintain that status if we are led by politicians who hate the very foundations that made us who we are!
SUPPORT MIKE JOHNSON >
Right now in America, children are being taught in many schools to be ashamed of their country and themselves. The pledge is being taken out of school because it mentions God. Free speech is being censored and silenced right before our eyes. Democrats are fighting for the right to elective abortion right up to the moment of birth. Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats are seeking control of almost every aspect of our lives.
This is simply un-American, and we must stop the madness.
We must elect more leaders who make decisions based on American values with an emphasis on God, family, and country. It's the only way to preserve the blessings we have been given here.
Today, to continue to help lead this critical fight, I need your financial support - to restore our country and defend our values. Can you make a donation immediately?
DONATE TO SAVE AMERICA >
Fellow American, we have a chance to save our country from the radical Left that is aiming to destroy it, but we're running out of time. I'm not sure what version of America we will leave to our kids if we continue down this path. We simply must make a change before it's too late.
I made a promise when I was first elected to do what is best for our country, and for Louisiana, and I intend to keep that promise. It's why I have been a trusted ally of President Donald Trump, who selected me for critical positions and endorsed all of my campaigns. It's also why I was elected by my colleagues to serve as Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference - one of seven elected leadership positions for Republicans in the House - and to chair the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Liberties in the prestigious Judiciary Committee.
We are working in Congress every day to defend our conservative way of life and lead the fight for freedom, but we cannot do it alone.
If you are committed to keeping the House from the radical Democrats who are self-serving and want to turn America into a socialist country, then I need your support today.
CHIP IN >
The path we're on currently will lead us to destruction. But that outcome is not inevitable. We still have the ability to turn this country around-- IF conscientious conservatives across America will stand up RIGHT NOW.
We MUST act, and we must do so today.
Can you pitch in right now to help save our country, Fellow American?
Thank you for all you do, and God bless.
***** Why land o' mercy, I was afraid o' some "Antebellum woist o' the Deep South Bible-thumpin' snake-handler jumpin' keep the women barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen cookin' gumbo r' sumpin' ain't no call fer book larnin,' jest the Holy Woids o' GAWD ALMIGHTY in the
Scripture with Last Days a' comin', Sparin' no rods fer keepin' the children in line, hallelujah and can I get an Amen for our sacred Trump, I mean Constee-too-shun, Yowza!" spiel, but this is right civilized and polite, even when he asks for money over and over, it's to save the nation from the Democrat socialists and radical leftists out to destroy America, what say you, MORE-TAHN?
Oh. My. God.
Speaker Johnson's 2013 endorsement of "18th Century Values" is indicative of he selectively uses quotations from George Washington and John Adams, and likely other "Founding Fathers," to claim the United States was never committed to, never meant to separate Church and State, there's an OMG claim, no pun intended:
The First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
First Amendment and Religion
The First Amendment has two provisions concerning religion: the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment clause prohibits the government from "establishing" a religion. The precise definition of "establishment" is unclear. Historically, it meant prohibiting state-sponsored churches, such as the Church of England.
Today, what constitutes an "establishment of religion" is often governed under the three-part test set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971). Under the "Lemon" test, government can assist religion only if (1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.
The Free Exercise Clause protects citizens' right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of a "public morals" or a "compelling" governmental interest. For instance, in Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944), the Supreme Court held that a state could force the inoculation of children whose parents would not allow such action for religious reasons. The Court held that the state had an overriding interest in protecting public health and safety.
Sometimes the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause come into conflict. The federal courts help to resolve such conflicts, with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter.
Check out similar cases related to Engel v. Vitale that deal with religion in schools and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
SOURCE:
https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/first-amendment-and-religion
In effect the goal of Mike Johnson and the rest of his contingent of feckless
reactionaries is a theocracy:
A theocracy is a form of government in which priests or religious leaders rule in the name of a deity or deities.
Serving their divine leader or leaders rather than the citizens, theocracies are often oppressive in function, with harsh punishment for rule-breakers.
There is no separation of church and state in a true theocracy and the open practice of only the country’s prevailing religion is allowed.
There is no room for democracy and all decisions of a theocracy’s leader are unquestionable.
https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-theocracy-721626
Btw www.thoughtco.com is a very useful website, as I am sure you will immediately realize!
"There is no room for the processes of democracy in a true theocracy. For the population to abide by and respect the will of the ruler and, by extension, that of the deity, those who disagree with or fail to abide by the laws and the dictates of the religion are often repressed and persecuted. Issues like marriage, reproductive rights, civil rights, and punishment of criminals are also defined based on religious text. Under a theocracy, residents of the country typically do not have religious freedom and are not able to vote on governmental decisions."
Thank you for this excellent analysis, Richard. May I share?
Of course, it's from this website!
www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources - that will get you there
or click on the link.
https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/first-amendment-and-religion
I'll try to track down the Washington and Adams quotes IN CONTEXT to see if either of them is endorsing some kind of established (Christian) religion, or just passing along standard political praise of religion and morality, presumably a religion not involving human sacrifices and who knows what else, and a morality that respects the rights of citizens to be represented within any government that taxes them...
Presumably!
I was glad to hear a local regular late morning - noontime talk show host on the CBS-affiliated WCC0-AM radio, 830 on your AM dial, Chad Hartman (whose father Sid Hartman covered sports in the Twin Cities for something like sixty years, he was a "legend in his own time") really excoriate the people, (paraphrasing) "not the hunters, I must have seventy or eighty hunters among my friends, not the legal gun-owners who have a firearm for self-defense, we are NOT `coming to take your guns away'" but, continuing, the gun-owners who buy one assault rifle and then end up owning six, the ones who alter the semi-automatic firearm so it's full automatic, the ones who end up stockpiling firearms and thousands of rounds of ammo, and most of all, as in the case of alleged shooter Robert Card, people who clearly, absolutely, should not have any kind of firearm.
He also debunked the "Too early to talk about the gun reform laws now! Pray for the families" bit, because he added, in two weeks that changes to "Why are you bringing up the past?"
Thanks LKTIV for hammering on this, it's a national scandal on multiple levels and you always clarify why we cannot allow ourselves to grow numb to the entirely avoidable and entirely predictable carnage.
"A national scandal" is a good description. It's insane that products like bullet-proof backpacks actually exist. Thoughts and prayers have solved nothing.
If prayers worked a whole lot of folks would still be alive…so sick and tired of cowards
If logic and humanity worked as they should we wouldn’t have to quash down fear when we dropped our young ones off at school.
At this point I will give to those organizations who fight for gun responsibility, and to overturn Citizens United.
Two excellent choices in my view, Patris.
Yes!
80 percen of the worlds population haven't figured out that the gods dont care!
Months ago Robert Card was released, local radio host I mention in another comment, asked about that episode in the summer: "What went on after he was released, after having been in there for two weeks? Hearing voices, it was a serious thing, not exactly like the sort of mental health therapy so many of us go in for (mentioning marriage and job issues, etc.) what was the follow-up?"
I know the state of Maine has in recent years voted down ballot initiatives for tighter gun laws, background checks, and so on. Votes or non-votes have consequences, hard to see how making it tougher for people coming out of a "mental health crisis" to buy or retain weapons with so few barriers can possibly violate the Second Amendment, but with this Supreme Court...
I am baffled that observers of his behavior in the national guard didn’t think to notify those responsible for acting on red flag laws (are there such laws in Maine?). Though likely as not he would have found access to a weapon in Maine, this seems as if it may have made yesterday turn out differently.
I stand corrected. Reports say it was his fellow guardsmen who recognized his mental distress and urged him into treatment.
My guess is that these events are typically rare there, a result of low population and a tradition of hunting (which I’m going to assume instills responsibility in young people). But why not red flag laws? So illogical.
Because we don't have crazy people, don't you know. There are a lot of people who have been raised with guns, and they vote.
Those who don't want any regulations for guns outnumber the ones who do.
That's the way it is in Maine. Do not ever get into an argument with the gun owners here. They will not ever allow regulations. They objected so strenuously to any in the past that there are very few to begin with.
I live in the adjacent city of Auburn, literally a stone's throw from our house across the Androscoggin River. Returning home from a walk at Bates College around 6:30 we received the alert to shelter in place. You know the rest of the story. The suspect Card is still on the loose.
IV, you've always been right about the M-16 and its successors. I mentioned months ago about the damage and destruction this weapon is capable of after returning from Vietnam with images that can't be erased. I'll say this for the umpteenth time, no civilian should have in their possession an M-16 or its variant, ever. Now I may upset some great folks on this Substack; some 20 or 30 something men have a very perverted notion of masculinity. The need for a weapon like this is incomprehensible to me. I don't possess a hybrid, cockamamie rifle to feel like a man.
One solution to this madness is to bury every last right winger holding a federal, state or local office position with overwhelming democratic votes. If these people aren't defeated in '24 then we have ourselves to blame.
True hunters need to vote, the ones who left the NRA in disgust. Only 1 bullet to hunt a deer. Hunting people is illegal.
I was trained as a Green Beret weapons specialist and fought with a Ranger Company in VN, I know what that gun is capable of doing. I carried one of those things in VN, and while I hunted and shot competitively for many years after, never with an AR-15. My cousin owns 4 of them with 10,000+ rounds for each. I have zero interest in owning one, they are really good at what they were designed to do, which is to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, why anyone would want one if they weren't planning on killing people is beyond me. Most of my competition shooting was done with single shot pistols and hand loads at ranges between 50 and 200 meters, and iron sights, no scopes. You can have fun with guns, they are part of our history, without having the ability to kill 50 people in less than a minute. I taught both of my daughters to shoot my hand cannons when they were young, they kicked like mules, but always at bullseye targets never silhouettes of people, neither owns a gun today. Just like I taught them to drive, driving a race car, neither of them race today but they understand car control, so too they understand what guns can do and will maybe be safer because of it. We need to ban all assault weapons, they have no place in sports, that can't be done better by something far less deadly to our fellow citizens. Back in the day I enjoyed competing, I haven't shot a gun in over 20 years now. What we are witnessing today is madness and we will be judged later for how we have dealt with it, we owe it to our heirs to fix this.
Dick, good minds think alike. Bravo from a former jarhead.
Almost the entire State has closed down. My son and daughter-in-law and several good fiends live in and around Portland, miles from the shooting, but the schools have closed down. Maine has miles and miles of woods where the gunman can hide. Sooner or later he must find food and shelter. He must be found and the whole State is on the lookout, but still no sight of him his car or truck.
My nephew and his wife in Portland - and one of my oldest friends in Lewiston. He sisters large family all nearby. So many people whether we know or love them or not. All targets.
( hugs )
I have friends in Surry, to the west, and they are still sheltering in place. He could be anywhere.
So horrible
Possibly he was in a state of complete lack of the will to live and has already ended this in that sense, too.
Scared someone's going to take their guns along with their precious superiorism.
And scared of just about everything else out there from a trans kid to books, immigrant families, Medicare, Bud Lite and getting vaccinated.
What aren't they afraid of?
And we're the fucking snowflakes.
Go figure.
No one needs are AR-15 type weapon unless they have been fully vetted. There is no need. The SCOTUS stretched the concept of the 2nd Amendment by tossing in the 14th Amendment. It is a MAGA court. We must not allow trump to win.
Not EVEN if they’ve been fully vetted! Not one citizen needs an automatic weapon that can tear the heads off of children’s bodies. Not a one!
I have no words but that's what the NRA and Russia want. I just wrote my Congressman, Ken Calvert, to ask him to do something, but since he's a dyed in the wool MAGAT he won't do anything.
Keep at it! Write everyday, call!
The only answer is to vote out anyone without the guts to stop this idiocy.
My views are totally consistent with Lucien’s with the possible exception of his assessment of the M-14 rifle. But I want to emphasize a point I made on one our earlier blogs. Every one of the shooters in every one of the cases he highlights is a man. Women simply don’t engage is mass shootings. I don’t disagree at all with the need to deal with the firearms issue, but I think we also need to deal with this gender disparity. What is it that causes these men (some young, some a little older) to kill large numbers of people with firearms?
‘
A white man, by the way. That’s the large majority of these sociopaths.
Men are slackers. We cover with bravado. The perhaps 50% of men with an actual functional brain know that. Women are getting hip to the ruse though, so there's hope.
I’m in Maine right now, and was driving through Augusta when a state police car came screaming though at top speed. Later last night I heard the news and knew where that cop had been going. We came home, locked all our doors, and turned on the motion detectors - something we normally don’t do. This murderer is still at large, last seen about 20 miles from here. Schools, banks, and other public institutions are closed. The toll in human life and injury is tremendous. The financial costs too - they’ll largely be borne by tax payers. I mention that for any of those dumb fucking 2nd Amendment worshippers who also hate the state and the taxes that pay for those trying to pick up the pieces after such mayhem. This particular mass murderer had had multiple run in with law enforcement for spousal abuse and had recently been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. Yet he was allowed free to grab his automatic weapons and kill men, women and children. What a fucked up country we live in. It’s a shame these psychopaths never target the politicians, lobbyists and judges that got us here.
Yet the Army kept him as a sergeant...
I am your subscribed reader who lives not 40 minutes away from Lewiston Maine.
I wrote a piece myself this morning about it.
https://fmhilton.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/mass-shooting-565/
The number for this one is #565 by all the mass shootings that have happened this year.
We join the merciless and unending parade of corpses, prayers, thoughts and useless verbiage that has marked our rise in gun deaths.
We can't remember the last one either. And we certainly didn't expect to be part of it, either.
But it goes without saying that anyone who thinks that guns don't kill hasn't seen the body that has been ripped apart by an AR 15.
As we in Southern and Central Maine sit waiting for word that the suspect has either been captured or 'neutralized' we are sadly reminded that there is no safe space any more.
The man who heard voices in his head, was a shooting trainer for the National Guard, and who decided to go to two places with other human beings and blow them away for no discernible reason other than he believed people were talking about him (this information comes from the DB and the NY Times) was the one who made Maine join the never-ending parade of statistics.
I'm sick of this, and I've been screaming about gun control forever.
It doesn't do any good. The bastards in Congress get slipped a few million from the NRA and they ignore the problem.
Thousands of people are dead because they don't care enough.
They're more invested in electing fundamentalist Christians who deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
So another day, another shooting. 18 more names to notch up on the list.
And an entire state is in shock, mourning the loss of our innocence in the hands of a man who should never have had a gun in the first place.
Thank you Mary for your news about Maine.
You couldn't be more correct Mary, thoughts and prayers my ass. Please stay safe, I enjoy reading your thoughts, the whole nation needs to see this as clearly as you do. I am so over reading about these shootings.
These Republicans are more like a Mean Girls Club than a real political party. Like a bunch of high school girls they rigidly enforce conformity, wear matching pins, espouse the same nonsense views, and claim the right to own AR-15s is sacrosanct. We're actually at the point where Sean Hannity can urge everyone to have a "personal safety plan" to stay safe in their bunkers rather than adopt any sensible gun laws. Thomas and Alito must be so proud.
Don’t forget Scalia. Hope he’s got a hotfoot right now. If Hell exists. Because I suspect it’s right here.
He certainly did his best to create Hell in the US of A.
Unfortunately, we don't stand a chance against dark money, super pacs, weapons manufacturers, bought politicians, the NRA, industry lobbyists to bring about sane gun laws in the US. And with the purchased SC, I only see rules being loosened. God help us...
My wife was born in Lewiston, she was 3rd generation. She’s hurting right now
It’s a lovely town