That’s stupid. If a jihadist cuts the throat of someone with a kitchen knife will you place 100% of the blood on the hands of Julia Child?
The blood is 100% on the hands of the psychopath who pulled the trigger.
“What is your plan to stop mass shootings?” Is the question we should ask everyone running for every office. I don’t care if it’s the state treasurer, I’m going to need an answer.
The only other course of action I can see is leaving the country. Which makes me very sad.
If only the only victims of these maniacs were those who supported unrestricted gun ownership. Let them kill each other.
Unfortunately, the rest of us are not immune to their paranoia and viciousness.
I just read this tweet
Are we only country dealing with this? Why?
As long as people believe that the intent by our forefather who wrote the second amendment about the arms available then we to also protect the right to own automaticand semiautomatic weapons with long rang capability, nothing will change.
@SouthJerseyChessMom , you might find this article interesting.
“If you don’t accept the carnage, what are you doing to oppose it? Besides denouncing it on the internet?”
I call Congresspeople, I donate to candidates who are pro gun control and I ask every candidate who comes to my door asking for my vote how they stand on this issue and several other issues - even the candidates running for my suburban town’s board. It makes a difference even at that lowly level as, for an example, they recently voted to make our town a sanctuary city.
"That’s stupid. If a jihadist cuts the throat of someone with a kitchen knife will you place 100% of the blood on the hands of Julia Child?
The blood is 100% on the hands of the psychopath who pulled the trigger."
There is only one reason we don’t have stricter gun control laws and everyone knows why.
There are other reasons people own kitchen knives then to use them to kill someone/something. The only function of a gun is to kill someone or something. That is its sole purpose.
I am sick and tired of people parroting the excuse that “criminals will get guns anyway.” People have been repeating this for decades, as the country is flooded with more and more and MORE guns.
If a pipe bursts and your basement floods, you don’t say “Oh, no point in fixing it. The basement is already flooded anyway.” At some point we have to turn off the spigot. Eventually, gradually, the flood waters will recede.
However, I think that a huge part of the problem NOW is that guns have become part of the culture wars. They have become part of many people’s political identity, closely linked to the carefully cultivated and induced paranoia that makes those people easier to control. Guns are now like a dog whistle.
Last night, I learned that my D’s friend’s mom was at the concert in Las Vegas. When the shooting started, she ran for cover and called her D “to say goodbye”. Her D called her sibling, who is also away at college to be “together with their mom” on a conference call. They kept her on the phone for over an hour. She was crying saying she was splattered with blood. This family, like many more, will be dealing with this for a long time to come.
Fine. You can legally own a handgun to be able to defend yourself from someone who directly threatens you or a loved one. But it is not ok to be able to legally obtain a semi automatic gun designed to kill scores of people by raining bullets across the street from the 32nd floor of a hotel. That people can’t see this is not an all or nothing issue just infuriates me. Weapons of War have no place in the hands of American civilians.
“However, I think that a huge part of the problem NOW is that guns have become part of the culture wars. They have become part of many people’s political identity, closely linked to the carefully cultivated and induced paranoia that makes those people easier to control. Guns are now like a dog whistle.”
Agreed and along those lines, here’s an interesting article:
https://newrepublic.com/article/145001/nra-new-scare-tactic-gun-lobby-remaking-itself-arm-alt-right
I keep seeing all these random stats on how many mass shootings there are - for their purposes, what constitutes a “mass shooting”?
@doschicos That article is scary.
Maybe we should stop calling them mass shootings and call them massacres. It more accurately describes them.
People buy kitchen knives for food prep. People buy automobiles for transportation. Most people buy pressure cookers to cook with. Some incidents occur with knives and vehicles, but that is not the primary purpose/function of these items. Some whackjobs buy pressure cookers to make bombs and hurt/kill people. People buy guns “for self protection”, or sport. or other rationalized reasons to kill/hurt other living beings.
To the people who started counting on reddit, it is 4 or more people shot and/or killed. The Gun violence archive also uses this method.
To the FBI however, a mass murder needs at least 3 people killed (not just shot and surviving) and they don’t have to be shot. That would leave out the mass shooting in a Lafayette movie theater since only 2 people were killed (plus the shooter).
The chart I posted back in post #106 has this statement which defines there definition of mass shootings:
“Data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive reveals a shocking human toll: there is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident, not including the shooter – every nine out of 10 days on average.”
A potential massacre averted
I live in the congressional district that was represented by Carolyn McCarthy who got into politics after her husband was killed and her son shot on the Long Island Railroad. Whenever any candidate is on my train platform in the morning their stance on gun control is the first question I ask. The same when any pollsters call or questionnaires arrive in the mail.
I strongly believe in voting with your feet. By that I mean do not patronize retailers that sell guns… such as Walmart and many others. I’ve never been in Walmart but on principle (for that reason and other policies of their company that I object to) I would never shop there. The same for Hobby Lobby, not that I had ever heard or seen one of these stores. The same goes for Chick-Fil-A. As a result of Amazon’s policies towards authors and essentially forcing eveyone to pay for prime, I no longer shop at Amazon either. My life has not been tragic because of that decision by any means.
You can take steps to make certain that any of your 401K funds are not investing in stocks owned by gun manufacturers or other types of businesses you don’t approve of. Those with long memories will recall the effect of such actions upon companies/funds that did business in South Africa during apartheid.
To check your mutual funds:
Mine are clean but H’s new retirement fund is with Vanguard and is going to need some rearranging.
Thank you for posting link on gun stocks. I think I need to advance to talking with my money.
Someone should write and report a shaming article on largest gun retailers so people can boycott and dump their stock. For example, I don’t know Hobby Lobby but they might be owned by a larger corporation. And then we work our way through businesses who make money from NRA such as PR firms, Advertising Agencies, etc