My only comment is look at the photo in the last blog posting by Stan. The US is hell bent on destroying itself from within. The rest of the world looks on with amazement and a sense of WTF.
Unfortunately, most in the US currently worship the "Christian" Jesus who slew his enemies and created an abundance of wealth for his followers- in other words, a false god of their own creation.
Well I guess you have forgotten the lessons the good Sisters tried to teach you ;). All the carnage was in the old testament. With Jesus it was peace and love. It is the perversion of His word in the new testament by many American churches that allows these morons to do harm to others in the name of their Americanized Jesus. Really the way Americans who call themselves Christians (not all of course) act towards others is not really all that different than radical Muslims. There seems to be some genetic predisposition to violence in Americans. Not sure where it came from.
This coming Monday we stop to commemorate our original mass murdering gun nut and spreader of the faith, no less than The Most Honorable Christopher Columbus.
All cheap shots aside, I feel the NRA should be listed as a terrorist organization. Don't allow them to fund any politicians in any manner whether it be directly or through arms length organizations like super PACs. They should not be allowed to contribute to negative campaigns against politicians that do not support their position. Plus make it illegal for any public servant to benefit from any consideration given to them by the NRA or any of their lackeys. When you take into consideration that since 2001, 406,496 people have been gunned down in the US compared to 3,380 US citizens being killed by terrorists any thinking person would deduce that the US government should be waging a war on gun violence on their own soil rather than wasting money on no win campaigns overseas. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-gun. Quite the contrary. What I am against is the hysteria created and amped up by the NRA within the US population. Their message is all we need is more guns, ever more gun, to combat this rising tide of mass shootings and general gun violence. The NRA are experts at creating an atmosphere of fear and I dare say racial tensions. They pray on the Billy-Bobs out there and the disenfranchised. People need to remember their soul objective is to support the arms industry by generating more and more gun sales. They have no interest in the long term safety and well being of the general US population. I am sure the federal politicians would love to put a financial muzzle on the NRA so they could actually represent the majority of their constituents who want something done about this unhealthy attitude towards personnel safety and guns that the NRA is directly festering.
A terrorist organization- let's see... They certainly are fanatics who can't be reasoned with (no doubt there), have on more than one occasion resorted to not so veiled threats of armed violence if they don't get their way, and unquestionably hold both politicians and public alike hostage! Interesting...
Seriously, short of confiscating and banning all guns, what kind of legislation would effectively drop the per capita rate of gun-related deaths in the US to the levels that we see in the rest of the so-called civilized world? And, what kind of legislation would have any effect at all against attacks and mass murders by deranged shooters?
I'm not looking for an argument, Stan. I just don't see this problem as something that can be solved, or even partially curtailed by any sort of legislation. To my mind, this clearly a cultural problem. As a society, we venerate violent criminals. We're entertained by violence—in the movies, on TV, in the video games kids play.
Until the reasons for our societal fascination with violence, and the association between violence and power are uncovered and reversed, I don't see much point in debate over gun laws. Yes. Restricting access to guns and ammo might force a small number of people to seek other, less convenient weapons but the effect will be virtually negligible.
I think that the effective approach is going to turn out to be something similar to the factors that have dramatically reduced tobacco use: education. Education and brutally graphic ad campaigns; ad campaigns funded by high taxes collected by the gun and ammo industry. At the same time, the lip service liberals in the movie industry need to get off their collective fat asses and start policing themselves. Rating systems need to be revamped, with more emphasis placed on rating gun violence, and less weight on sex and nudity. They pulled it off with smoking—you rarely see a cigarette in a movie any more, and you almost never see it on TV. Yet, guns are blazing left and right, and they're portrayed almost universally as icons of power. Violence sells tickets, and it's far easier produce than a good story line.
Then there's the issue of accidental gun deaths. In addition to the ad campaigns (bloody fucking ads), there needs to be legislation mandating gun safety courses for every new gun owner. I don't advocate licensing, or even registration, but I do see a need for safety training. It ought to also be a required course in every elementary school, middle school, and high school—again, with brutally graphic materials, much like the curricula that's included in drivers' ed.
We are so ass-backward. Our fucking puritanical roots "protect" us from the "evils" of the human body, yet they have nothing to say about violence. Be all you can be! Support the troops! Fight the war on drugs! It's Rome all over again. As political and economic power become more concentrated, the rest of us seek power vicariously on the screen, and at home in the gun cabinet. When this happens, any device with ultimate power that can be handheld becomes very attract to a large number of people.
Sorry for the rant. I'm just sick and tire of seeing our asshat politicians posturing every time some lunatic decides to go on a shooting spree. They're all wrong, both liberals and conservatives. This isn't a political issue. It's a cultural, societal, psychological problem, and it needs to be addressed in the way that the CDC classifies it; as a public health issue.
Money isn't the root of all evil. The love of money is. The same goes for guns.
First, I'm not completely anti-gun myself, it's definitely not me or my lifestyle, but I can see owning one: if you live in the middle of the sticks (for home safety) where law enforcement is miles away (or in a high crime neighborhood that you can't afford to get out of- and law enforcement might as well be miles away), if you hunt legally (for food only), even for sport (ie- target shooting- inanimate objects only).
But I do see a need for licensing and/or registration, and possibly even insurance- pretty much as with cars. Yes, we currently do have plenty of sound gun control laws on the books... in some states- but neighboring states with extremely lax laws and gun shows with practically no restrictions or requirements whatsoever make a complete mockery of those existing laws. And yes, mandatory safety classes should be... mandatory!
No doubt, the overall glorification (deification?) of violence in American society is, in fact, the underlying pathology that makes guns so particularly insidious in this land of the so called free. Unfortunately, that's an even bigger hurdle to address, let alone resolve...
8 comments:
My only comment is look at the photo in the last blog posting by Stan. The US is hell bent on destroying itself from within. The rest of the world looks on with amazement and a sense of WTF.
Unfortunately, most in the US currently worship the "Christian" Jesus who slew his enemies and created an abundance of wealth for his followers- in other words, a false god of their own creation.
Well I guess you have forgotten the lessons the good Sisters tried to teach you ;). All the carnage was in the old testament. With Jesus it was peace and love. It is the perversion of His word in the new testament by many American churches that allows these morons to do harm to others in the name of their Americanized Jesus. Really the way Americans who call themselves Christians (not all of course) act towards others is not really all that different than radical Muslims. There seems to be some genetic predisposition to violence in Americans. Not sure where it came from.
This coming Monday we stop to commemorate our original mass murdering gun nut and spreader of the faith, no less than The Most Honorable Christopher Columbus.
All cheap shots aside, I feel the NRA should be listed as a terrorist organization. Don't allow them to fund any politicians in any manner whether it be directly or through arms length organizations like super PACs. They should not be allowed to contribute to negative campaigns against politicians that do not support their position. Plus make it illegal for any public servant to benefit from any consideration given to them by the NRA or any of their lackeys. When you take into consideration that since 2001, 406,496 people have been gunned down in the US compared to 3,380 US citizens being killed by terrorists any thinking person would deduce that the US government should be waging a war on gun violence on their own soil rather than wasting money on no win campaigns overseas. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-gun. Quite the contrary. What I am against is the hysteria created and amped up by the NRA within the US population. Their message is all we need is more guns, ever more gun, to combat this rising tide of mass shootings and general gun violence. The NRA are experts at creating an atmosphere of fear and I dare say racial tensions. They pray on the Billy-Bobs out there and the disenfranchised. People need to remember their soul objective is to support the arms industry by generating more and more gun sales. They have no interest in the long term safety and well being of the general US population. I am sure the federal politicians would love to put a financial muzzle on the NRA so they could actually represent the majority of their constituents who want something done about this unhealthy attitude towards personnel safety and guns that the NRA is directly festering.
A terrorist organization- let's see... They certainly are fanatics who can't be reasoned with (no doubt there), have on more than one occasion resorted to not so veiled threats of armed violence if they don't get their way, and unquestionably hold both politicians and public alike hostage! Interesting...
Sure we can't solve this with more guns???
Seriously, short of confiscating and banning all guns, what kind of legislation would effectively drop the per capita rate of gun-related deaths in the US to the levels that we see in the rest of the so-called civilized world? And, what kind of legislation would have any effect at all against attacks and mass murders by deranged shooters?
I'm not looking for an argument, Stan. I just don't see this problem as something that can be solved, or even partially curtailed by any sort of legislation. To my mind, this clearly a cultural problem. As a society, we venerate violent criminals. We're entertained by violence—in the movies, on TV, in the video games kids play.
Until the reasons for our societal fascination with violence, and the association between violence and power are uncovered and reversed, I don't see much point in debate over gun laws. Yes. Restricting access to guns and ammo might force a small number of people to seek other, less convenient weapons but the effect will be virtually negligible.
I think that the effective approach is going to turn out to be something similar to the factors that have dramatically reduced tobacco use: education. Education and brutally graphic ad campaigns; ad campaigns funded by high taxes collected by the gun and ammo industry. At the same time, the lip service liberals in the movie industry need to get off their collective fat asses and start policing themselves. Rating systems need to be revamped, with more emphasis placed on rating gun violence, and less weight on sex and nudity. They pulled it off with smoking—you rarely see a cigarette in a movie any more, and you almost never see it on TV. Yet, guns are blazing left and right, and they're portrayed almost universally as icons of power. Violence sells tickets, and it's far easier produce than a good story line.
Then there's the issue of accidental gun deaths. In addition to the ad campaigns (bloody fucking ads), there needs to be legislation mandating gun safety courses for every new gun owner. I don't advocate licensing, or even registration, but I do see a need for safety training. It ought to also be a required course in every elementary school, middle school, and high school—again, with brutally graphic materials, much like the curricula that's included in drivers' ed.
We are so ass-backward. Our fucking puritanical roots "protect" us from the "evils" of the human body, yet they have nothing to say about violence. Be all you can be! Support the troops! Fight the war on drugs! It's Rome all over again. As political and economic power become more concentrated, the rest of us seek power vicariously on the screen, and at home in the gun cabinet. When this happens, any device with ultimate power that can be handheld becomes very attract to a large number of people.
Sorry for the rant. I'm just sick and tire of seeing our asshat politicians posturing every time some lunatic decides to go on a shooting spree. They're all wrong, both liberals and conservatives. This isn't a political issue. It's a cultural, societal, psychological problem, and it needs to be addressed in the way that the CDC classifies it; as a public health issue.
Money isn't the root of all evil. The love of money is. The same goes for guns.
First, I'm not completely anti-gun myself, it's definitely not me or my lifestyle, but I can see owning one: if you live in the middle of the sticks (for home safety) where law enforcement is miles away (or in a high crime neighborhood that you can't afford to get out of- and law enforcement might as well be miles away), if you hunt legally (for food only), even for sport (ie- target shooting- inanimate objects only).
But I do see a need for licensing and/or registration, and possibly even insurance- pretty much as with cars. Yes, we currently do have plenty of sound gun control laws on the books... in some states- but neighboring states with extremely lax laws and gun shows with practically no restrictions or requirements whatsoever make a complete mockery of those existing laws. And yes, mandatory safety classes should be... mandatory!
No doubt, the overall glorification (deification?) of violence in American society is, in fact, the underlying pathology that makes guns so particularly insidious in this land of the so called free. Unfortunately, that's an even bigger hurdle to address, let alone resolve...
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