What the hell is going on with the recent spate of so-called accidental shootings? The shootings are being called accidental because the victims did something everyone alive has done at least once, and probably more than once: they went to the wrong house or approached the wrong car by accident.
All of this would be prevented by an accurate reading of the second amendment. We are living in chaos “freedom” lacking any aspect of “well-regulated” or “militia”. It’s a distorted reading of rights distorted out of historical context. ENOUGH. when will we march on capitals and demand reasonable regulation, training, and licensing and periodic relicensing.
I shuddered when each of these incidents happened. How many times in my whole driving life I used a total stranger’s driveway (albeit only a scant foot or two of it) to make a uturn because I turned down the wrong street.
I don’t remember going to the wrong house ever. But I do remember as a Girl Scout going door to door at total strangers homes to sell cookies. We live in a strangely different world. One that gets innocent people shot!
This is such a good column about the assignment of a word - like "accidental" to an incident. It becomes common parlance, but what does it imply versus what really happened? Since I have never even held a firearm, I appreciate hearing from you who were trained in their care and use in the military. I won't bore everyone with stories of the fearful idiots in my family who insist on having guns around. I just wish we had a buy-back program for all 400 million guns lying around people's homes and in their cars and trucks. Thank you, LKTIV.
What can one say? All of this is so true. The culture of paranoia is pervasive and makes us less safe in a lovely little rural village then we are on NYC streets or subways. At least in the city, we know where we shouldn’t go! Not to say we’re totally safe, but we would all be safer if Fix Noise stopped scaring the daylights out of people, and Congress members stopped having their pockets lined by the NRA! I’ll bet ND Gov Noem isn’t the only one with a 2 year old grandchild with guns. Appalling!
My Dad always had a couple of rifles in the house. He liked to hunt sometimes. We were taught from the toddler stage to respect guns and always consider them loaded. I shot at the rifle range when I was ten (I'm a girl). There was never any weirdness about guns. No fondling or worship of guns. Guns were guns and they do what they do and you have to treat them with respect. We had no fear. My husband recently sold all of our several guns because he decided that we didn't need any potential accidents. He is a rational man with no fear.
As someone like you Lucian that was trained by the Army in the use of these weapons, and indeed fought in a war using them, hunted with them and competed at the national level with insanely accurate versions of single shot pistols, I find this news to be dispiriting, in fact that's how almost all news feels. If convicted each of those shooters needs to go to prison for a very long time, it will give them something to think about as the days of their wasted lives pass slowly by. These "stand your ground", "open and concealed carry" laws, are an invitation to the events we are witnessing, with an uneducated and untrained public the results are predictable. Who knows how many people that are walking around today who will be dead before year's end, it will be more than 1, I can confidently predict, even 1 is too many. The level of factual ignorance in our country is horrifying, all actions have consequences that can reverberate for decades, just because you have the money to buy one of these things doesn't mean you should own one.
Even in the military there is unfortunately gun violence. The week before I arrived at Camp Hovey in Korea in 1962, a young trooper shot his sergeant as he came out of the orderly room, and then calmly went to the arms room and turned his weapon in. Then half the company jumped on him. Another young soldier went up in the hills with a rifle and ammo and shot at anything that moved until he ran out of ammo. Didn't hit anybody, thankfully, but even training can't always work.
Alec Baldwin taught us a tad about how " Treat all guns as if they are Loaded" ...
If you shoot a human you are likely on your way to trial for a felony unless you can persuade the police and States Attorney that you had no choice. This event was reasonably seen as an imminent threat on your life or family. We live where American gun ownership is in the millions. The danger is that if your only tool is a hammer - every problem is a Nail. So too with guns. Years of trouble for unwise use of a firearm.
In a split second your life has changed.
If you want to buy one, keep it locked up. That is what I do...
Thank you so much for this column. I've been reading, seeing and hearing about this, and I sincerely believe that Fox News (or what it thinks is news) is 50% responsible for these shootings-in the case of Ralph Yarl, almost 90% because the man who shot him was described by his nephew as "“spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume," and also "his grandfather had frequently made anti-Black, anti-gay, and anti-immigrant remarks, and that he become estranged from his grandfather when Lester began spouting right-wing conspiracy theories. "
Now, where else would an 84 year old man be getting this kind of reinforcement of his racism? Fox, who are also scaring him to death with their reporting of whites "being replaced" and shit like that.
He should not have had a gun, and I have no pity for him.
The fear is from the GOP and 'conservative outlets' making everyone convinced that the boogeyman is out to get them, and they'd best be armed to fend the hordes of illegal immigrants coming in to replace them in their jobs.
Which is why Fox should have gone through that trial, but they knew instinctively that if they did, their hypocritical stance on everything would be exposed for the world to see and that would never have done.
So they paid off Dominion, and they'll pay off the rest of them. They can afford to.
But they should not be able to repeat lies day after day without being held to account for them.
I do miss the "Fairness Doctrine" insomuch as it kept the garbage being spewed during elections to a small dumpster fire instead of having garbage throwing during debates.
This just isn't the same country I was born in and I'm despairing of it ever changing to one that has regained its' sanity.
Because the Republicans don't want that-they want everyone scared shitless.
Yet the so called centrist media went all in about the Kansas shooter being scared. He opened the heavy main door and shot a child through the glass door. Had his hand on the handle, it is obvious with the bullets going through the door that it wasn’t open so hand on the handle is suspect. Then he shot him again.
Then no one would help him.
It wasn’t fear it was hate.
Fox uses fear to generate hate. This man wasn’t fearful he was a racist hater.
He is not in jail for shooting a child while everyone says democrats let criminals out on bail.
Point of order, LKT IV: There are accidental shootings, as shown by the recent news about how the SIG Sauer P320 pistol firies without the trigger being pulled (link to WaPo article on this below). Though some 80 people have been, yes, accidentally shot by these pistols, no one has died yet. If/when that does happen, it would disprove the inane old gun nut saw about how guns don't kill people, people do.
A couple of months ago, I went to the car wash. I had a lot on my mind. The car was being dried and detailed on one of the first nice days in March. I was zoned out when I saw “my car” driven out of the facility for me to pick up. I jauntily walked to it and was about to get in when a voice behind me said “excuse me?” It was the very similar looking to my car’s owner. I was embarrassed and apologetic all at once. Thankfully he wasn’t a gun nut and was very nice about it. Honest mistake. Honest apology. My car came out two minutes later and I was off. I thought about the worst that could have happened the entire way home. What a sad place we all must live in these days. It was the type of thing that was humorous but it was overshadowed by fear.
The other day after telling someone I'll be traveling in the UK this summer, they asked me if I wasn't afraid to be "overseas". Sadly, the answer is "NO" - I feel much safer in the UK or EU where I know there aren't 400 million guns hanging around!
All of this would be prevented by an accurate reading of the second amendment. We are living in chaos “freedom” lacking any aspect of “well-regulated” or “militia”. It’s a distorted reading of rights distorted out of historical context. ENOUGH. when will we march on capitals and demand reasonable regulation, training, and licensing and periodic relicensing.
I shuddered when each of these incidents happened. How many times in my whole driving life I used a total stranger’s driveway (albeit only a scant foot or two of it) to make a uturn because I turned down the wrong street.
I don’t remember going to the wrong house ever. But I do remember as a Girl Scout going door to door at total strangers homes to sell cookies. We live in a strangely different world. One that gets innocent people shot!
Untrained and overly fearful people with loaded weapons. It should come as no surprise when they open fire on innocent people.
This is such a good column about the assignment of a word - like "accidental" to an incident. It becomes common parlance, but what does it imply versus what really happened? Since I have never even held a firearm, I appreciate hearing from you who were trained in their care and use in the military. I won't bore everyone with stories of the fearful idiots in my family who insist on having guns around. I just wish we had a buy-back program for all 400 million guns lying around people's homes and in their cars and trucks. Thank you, LKTIV.
What can one say? All of this is so true. The culture of paranoia is pervasive and makes us less safe in a lovely little rural village then we are on NYC streets or subways. At least in the city, we know where we shouldn’t go! Not to say we’re totally safe, but we would all be safer if Fix Noise stopped scaring the daylights out of people, and Congress members stopped having their pockets lined by the NRA! I’ll bet ND Gov Noem isn’t the only one with a 2 year old grandchild with guns. Appalling!
My Dad always had a couple of rifles in the house. He liked to hunt sometimes. We were taught from the toddler stage to respect guns and always consider them loaded. I shot at the rifle range when I was ten (I'm a girl). There was never any weirdness about guns. No fondling or worship of guns. Guns were guns and they do what they do and you have to treat them with respect. We had no fear. My husband recently sold all of our several guns because he decided that we didn't need any potential accidents. He is a rational man with no fear.
As someone like you Lucian that was trained by the Army in the use of these weapons, and indeed fought in a war using them, hunted with them and competed at the national level with insanely accurate versions of single shot pistols, I find this news to be dispiriting, in fact that's how almost all news feels. If convicted each of those shooters needs to go to prison for a very long time, it will give them something to think about as the days of their wasted lives pass slowly by. These "stand your ground", "open and concealed carry" laws, are an invitation to the events we are witnessing, with an uneducated and untrained public the results are predictable. Who knows how many people that are walking around today who will be dead before year's end, it will be more than 1, I can confidently predict, even 1 is too many. The level of factual ignorance in our country is horrifying, all actions have consequences that can reverberate for decades, just because you have the money to buy one of these things doesn't mean you should own one.
Even in the military there is unfortunately gun violence. The week before I arrived at Camp Hovey in Korea in 1962, a young trooper shot his sergeant as he came out of the orderly room, and then calmly went to the arms room and turned his weapon in. Then half the company jumped on him. Another young soldier went up in the hills with a rifle and ammo and shot at anything that moved until he ran out of ammo. Didn't hit anybody, thankfully, but even training can't always work.
Alec Baldwin taught us a tad about how " Treat all guns as if they are Loaded" ...
If you shoot a human you are likely on your way to trial for a felony unless you can persuade the police and States Attorney that you had no choice. This event was reasonably seen as an imminent threat on your life or family. We live where American gun ownership is in the millions. The danger is that if your only tool is a hammer - every problem is a Nail. So too with guns. Years of trouble for unwise use of a firearm.
In a split second your life has changed.
If you want to buy one, keep it locked up. That is what I do...
In Canada no one worries if their child will come home from school.
You don’t see weapons of war carried in shopping malls. Yet there is plenty of excellent hunting opportunities if that is your desire.
Oh you don’t lose your health coverage when you lose your job either. Dam socialist.
Thank you so much for this column. I've been reading, seeing and hearing about this, and I sincerely believe that Fox News (or what it thinks is news) is 50% responsible for these shootings-in the case of Ralph Yarl, almost 90% because the man who shot him was described by his nephew as "“spent considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume," and also "his grandfather had frequently made anti-Black, anti-gay, and anti-immigrant remarks, and that he become estranged from his grandfather when Lester began spouting right-wing conspiracy theories. "
Now, where else would an 84 year old man be getting this kind of reinforcement of his racism? Fox, who are also scaring him to death with their reporting of whites "being replaced" and shit like that.
He should not have had a gun, and I have no pity for him.
The fear is from the GOP and 'conservative outlets' making everyone convinced that the boogeyman is out to get them, and they'd best be armed to fend the hordes of illegal immigrants coming in to replace them in their jobs.
Which is why Fox should have gone through that trial, but they knew instinctively that if they did, their hypocritical stance on everything would be exposed for the world to see and that would never have done.
So they paid off Dominion, and they'll pay off the rest of them. They can afford to.
But they should not be able to repeat lies day after day without being held to account for them.
I do miss the "Fairness Doctrine" insomuch as it kept the garbage being spewed during elections to a small dumpster fire instead of having garbage throwing during debates.
This just isn't the same country I was born in and I'm despairing of it ever changing to one that has regained its' sanity.
Because the Republicans don't want that-they want everyone scared shitless.
Yet the so called centrist media went all in about the Kansas shooter being scared. He opened the heavy main door and shot a child through the glass door. Had his hand on the handle, it is obvious with the bullets going through the door that it wasn’t open so hand on the handle is suspect. Then he shot him again.
Then no one would help him.
It wasn’t fear it was hate.
Fox uses fear to generate hate. This man wasn’t fearful he was a racist hater.
He is not in jail for shooting a child while everyone says democrats let criminals out on bail.
So well written!!!
Point of order, LKT IV: There are accidental shootings, as shown by the recent news about how the SIG Sauer P320 pistol firies without the trigger being pulled (link to WaPo article on this below). Though some 80 people have been, yes, accidentally shot by these pistols, no one has died yet. If/when that does happen, it would disprove the inane old gun nut saw about how guns don't kill people, people do.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/11/sig-sauer-p320-fires-on-own/
A couple of months ago, I went to the car wash. I had a lot on my mind. The car was being dried and detailed on one of the first nice days in March. I was zoned out when I saw “my car” driven out of the facility for me to pick up. I jauntily walked to it and was about to get in when a voice behind me said “excuse me?” It was the very similar looking to my car’s owner. I was embarrassed and apologetic all at once. Thankfully he wasn’t a gun nut and was very nice about it. Honest mistake. Honest apology. My car came out two minutes later and I was off. I thought about the worst that could have happened the entire way home. What a sad place we all must live in these days. It was the type of thing that was humorous but it was overshadowed by fear.
This is spot on!
Prepare for it to get worse as "leaders" like Gov DeInsane approve laws that allow concealed carry without any permitting or firearms training needed:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-concealed-carry-no-permit-ron-desantis/
The other day after telling someone I'll be traveling in the UK this summer, they asked me if I wasn't afraid to be "overseas". Sadly, the answer is "NO" - I feel much safer in the UK or EU where I know there aren't 400 million guns hanging around!