A New Year - Lets Have a New Discussion
I said I was going to wait until after the holidays were
over to comment on Sandy Hook, so here it goes.
It is long, but please bear with me.
Of course, the public discourse now is on gun control–
should we enact more gun control measures? – should we ban assault weapons
again? There are points on each side and
they make some sense – sometimes nonsense – but they are opinions and in the realm
of public discourse the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech,
regardless whether or not the speaker actually has any merit.
Speaking of Constitutional Amendments, do you think that
pointing out for the thousandth time that the “the right of the people to keep and bear
arms, shall not be infringed” pertains to “A well regulated militia, being
necessary to the security of a free state”? That in the 209 years from the time George
Washington banned private gun ownership in certain areas of Pennsylvania during
the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 to the landmark decision of 2010 that no Supreme
Court ever ruled that Amendment II guaranteed private gun ownership? Probably not…it hasn’t worked the other times….
Anyway back to the merits of arguments I currently see in
the pages of Facebook and other web sites, some are laughable on their
face. Some think that posting armed
guards at each school is the answer, but one question…who is going to pay for
these new security measures, and why is it that the people I see advocating for
this solution are the same ones who want to cut government spending???
The worst has to be arming the students/teachers. Don’t teachers have enough trouble trying to
teach kids the necessary skills of reading, writing and arithmetic? I mean, come on….do you really think that the
answer to gun violence is more guns, especially in the schools? Are you nuts?
Which brings me to my point in this rant. What happened at Sandy Hook was a catastrophe
of epic proportions which happened by combining very effective weaponry with a
person who was clearly insane. We are
talking about documented insanity recognized by multiple people. So, why are we only talking about one aspect
of this tragedy and not the other? Why
are we only talking about gun control?
Why aren’t we talking about how we are treating mental illness in this
country?
The reason is pretty simple…it is the same reason that many
in this country blame the poor for our current economic troubles – they are an
easy target. It is because the insane
don’t have billions to throw at media campaigns or to pay lobbyists or to
contribute to political campaigns. They
don’t write long dissertations to be published in newspapers or make slick
videos to post on YouTube. They don’t
own media outlets – newspapers, radio stations or television networks – or have
well groomed, well spoken and well paid spokespeople like Ann Coulter, Sean
Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Bill O’Reilly, Chris Wallace or Rush Limbaugh.
That is why, when our country started it’s debate in the
late 1970s about the importance of corporate profits and investor returns
versus the value of social programs, the first victim was the funding of mental
health treatment. The result was massive
cuts in mental health programs and the closing of many if not most psychiatric
hospitals. The effect is that we now
have basically the same form of treatment for people like Adam Lanza, Jared
Loughner, James Holmes and Seung-Hui Cho as we do the bored housewife looking
for her Cymbalta refill.
So, how about this, fellow Americans….how about instead of
talking about whether or not those not in a well regulated militia should have
access and the right to own a weapon which can empty a 30-round magazines in 45
seconds (or so) and be reloaded with another in less than five seconds, let’s
talk about the bigger picture – taking care of Americans. All Americans. American people.
Let’s decide that in 2013 we are going to talk about how to
best care for insane Americans, poor Americans, sick Americans, indebted
Americans, unemployed Americans, and working Americans who are paying over half
of their income in taxes. Let’s not
worry about millionaire or billionaire Americans or American corporations for a
while….we have been doing that for over 30 years, and look at where we
are. The truth is that they will take
care of themselves very well without our help.
They have for centuries, and they will continue to do so.
It is Americans taking care of Americans and working
together for the common good while ensuring the rights of the individual which
made this country great. If we want to
continue with our greatness, then THIS is what we must do.
Let’s not just talk about why the dangerously insane have
access to guns, but why they have access to elementary schools. Let’s talk about why with the massive
advances in mental health treatment, these people were not getting the
treatment they needed to keep from being a menace to society and killing people
– and then let’s resolve to do something about it.
Don’t ask how or who is going to pay for it. We are Americans, we can make it happen. If we have enough money to post armed guards
in every classroom, we have enough money to treat the criminally insane.
It is a new year, so let’s have a new discussion. Let’s decide to put Americans first, to
protect our children, to take care of each other and to make this country
great, again.
Top Opinion
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☆astac☆ 2013/01/01 15:36:07
+52Wow, you really do not know much about the 2nd Amendment. And you are right it is a new year, so lets take some real action in protecting our children, the first thing we need to do is get rid of the progressives out of the public school system. The second thing we have to do, is undo the damage that your progressive ideology has caused.
For the record:
I put America first.
I want to protect our children.
Money should not be the issue in regards to Fixing stuff that is broken.
Gun control and the banning of all guns are two different topics and wanting to control people having WGM's or Automatic assault weapons is not taking all the guns away.
People are their own worse enemies in regards to imagined slights or curtailings of "freedom".
Peace.
Insanity can be cured - perhaps not in all cases, but with the advances in the treatment of mental illness, most can be turned into functioning people who are not a threat to society. The key to whether or not the insanity defense can be utilized is the question, did the person know what he was doing was wrong?
Anyway, thanks for contributing.
In your opinion...do you think today's video game world and internet world can influence the behavior of a kid growing up? I guess what I'm asking is can all that make a kid violent who otherwise would not be? I'm talking about a kid who has shown no violent tendencies and no obvious mental health issues.
That is something people don't get with video games.
They can have my guns when they pry them from my cold, dead hands.
"Guns don't kill killdees, people kill killdees." The Honorable Gov. Ann Richards...May she RIP.
Can Barack Obama?
Can Dianne Feinstein?
It is a meaningless term designed by people like Feinstein, who would prefer to ban all or most firearms, specifically to confuse the public.
Yesterday, Obama said on “Meet the Press” that he would work hard on banning “assault weapons” and what he calls “high-capacity magazines.”
Of course, definitions were in short supply.
So what is an “assault weapon”?
Quite simply, it’s whatever the government says it is.
Does that shock you?
In the past, so-called “assault weapons” have been banned for manufacture and sale to citizens of the U.S. merely on the basis of what they look like, not because they behave any differently from ordinary semi-automatic weapons that fire one round at a time.
Automatic weapons, which fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger, have been strictly regulated under gun control laws since 1934.
But in 1994, Congress took a step toward banning semi-automatic weapons, which represent the vast majority of firearms sold and purchased by citizens in the U.S., by adopting the meaningless term “assault weapons” based solely on how they look and how “scary” they sound.
That’s when certain models of AR-15s were banned, along with AK-47s, even though they are...
Can Barack Obama?
Can Dianne Feinstein?
It is a meaningless term designed by people like Feinstein, who would prefer to ban all or most firearms, specifically to confuse the public.
Yesterday, Obama said on “Meet the Press” that he would work hard on banning “assault weapons” and what he calls “high-capacity magazines.”
Of course, definitions were in short supply.
So what is an “assault weapon”?
Quite simply, it’s whatever the government says it is.
Does that shock you?
In the past, so-called “assault weapons” have been banned for manufacture and sale to citizens of the U.S. merely on the basis of what they look like, not because they behave any differently from ordinary semi-automatic weapons that fire one round at a time.
Automatic weapons, which fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger, have been strictly regulated under gun control laws since 1934.
But in 1994, Congress took a step toward banning semi-automatic weapons, which represent the vast majority of firearms sold and purchased by citizens in the U.S., by adopting the meaningless term “assault weapons” based solely on how they look and how “scary” they sound.
That’s when certain models of AR-15s were banned, along with AK-47s, even though they are simply semi-automatic weapons like most other rifles manufactured and sold. For instance, the 1994 law banned semiautomatic rifles with a pistol grip and a bayonet mount. In addition, the law also restricted some magazines that carried more than 10 rounds. In all, 18 firearms models were banned.
At the time, it wasn’t important to gun-grabbers that their action was a mere gesture. It served two purposes:
1) It set a precedent for future classifications of firearms as “assault weapons” that could be banned;
2) It allowed legislators to feel good about themselves and to suggest to their anti-gun constituencies that they were doing something to further their cause;
Now, here we are at the end of 2012, following the horrific massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and it’s time for phase two of the war on the Constitution’s Second Amendment.
Keep in mind, the choice of weapon by the shooter at the school would have made no difference. Little children and unarmed teachers and administrators would not have been able to stop the slaughter of those kids if he had come in armed with a shotgun or a revolver.
That’s where Obama and Feinstein intentionally insert confusion into the debate – along with their lapdogs in the media who parrot the term “assault weapons” as if it means something.
Just because a firearm looks like a military weapon doesn’t make it any more dangerous, even in the hands of a maniac or a serial killer, than any other gun that fires one round at a time.
So what motivates this “assault weapons” hysteria?
It’s very simple. It’s part of a plan to render the intent of the Second Amendment null and void.
What is the intent of the Second Amendment? Is it to protect hunters’ rights, as some suggest? Of course not. The founders understood that only a well-armed citizenry could ever hold its own government accountable and prevent it from achieving a monopoly on force – a necessary precedent for imposing tyranny.
That’s what happened in the Soviet Union. That’s what happened in Nazi Germany. That’s what happened in China. In fact, that’s what happened before all of the great government-sponsored genocides of the 20th century.
Maybe you don’t think that’s possible here in the good old USA. And maybe you’re right.
But one thing is certain: More guns equal less crime. That’s what all the statistical evidence reveals. Fewer guns equal more crime.
That’s because violent criminals intent on killing innocent people don’t care about obeying gun laws. Gun laws are only effective at preventing law-abiding citizens from getting firearms – firearms that prove to be a major deterrent to violent crime.
Do you think the sick, twisted monster who murdered those little schoolchildren in Connecticut would have been deterred by his fear of breaking a gun law? How absurd.
Here’s the point: Americans have an absolute, inalienable, God-given right to defend themselves – from criminals and from tyrannical government.
It’s time for freedom-loving, God-fearing Americans to stand up to their increasingly lawless government and mean it when they say, “You’ll take my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”
Edit: I couldn't find a picture that would post but you probably know the rifle I mean.
http://cdn2.armslist.com/site...
We probably don't have enough money to treat those who think he was born in Kenya.
As a society we have the right to govern ourselves. When the majority acts, and they will, and restricts access to these weapons the law will be tested in the courts for constitutionality. And that is as it should be.
Nevertheless, other measures are needed to address gun violence in our great country. Changes need to occur so that is not harder to get mental health care than it is to get an Bushwacker .223. We can fix that and we will.
Our founders had a great deal of disagreement. In fact, they disagreed as much or more so than we do. Democracy is a messy business. As Churchill said "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." (from a House of Commons speech on Nov. 11, 1947).
Under obama/holder's Fast & Furious... it was a PURPOSED and PLANNED means of those weapons being used to KILL Americans as a means of creating a need to present a "CRISIS" in the American media for Gun Reform laws! Unfortunately, two Texas border guards got wind of the blatant attempts and "Blew The Whistle!"
Would not surprise me one bit IF obama is behind some of these other killings as well?
Don't mess with me "justfred" when you do not KNOW the facts! Trying to join Bush & obama in this as the "same" program is ONLY showing me you watch Ed Schultz far too often! For I've seen him put out his lies no fewer than five times on this subject! YES.... I watch him! It surely does pay to "Know the Enemy!" :)
Reporting from Glendale and Rio Rico, Ariz. — In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.
For 15 months, Howard did as he was told. To customers with phony IDs or wads of cash he normally would have turned away, he sold pistols, rifles and semiautomatics. He was assured by the ATF that they would follow the guns, and that the surveillance would lead the agents to the violent Mexican drug cartels on the Southwest border.
When Howard heard nothing about any arrests, he questioned the agents. Keep selling, they told him. So hundreds of thousands of dollars more in weapons, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, walked out of the front door of his store in a Glendale, Ariz., strip mall.
He was making a lot of money. But he also feared somebody was going to get hurt.
"Every passing week, I worried about something like that," he said. "I felt horrible and sick."
Late in the night on Dec. 14, in a canyon west of Rio Rico, Ariz., Border Patrol agents came across...
Reporting from Glendale and Rio Rico, Ariz. — In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.
For 15 months, Howard did as he was told. To customers with phony IDs or wads of cash he normally would have turned away, he sold pistols, rifles and semiautomatics. He was assured by the ATF that they would follow the guns, and that the surveillance would lead the agents to the violent Mexican drug cartels on the Southwest border.
When Howard heard nothing about any arrests, he questioned the agents. Keep selling, they told him. So hundreds of thousands of dollars more in weapons, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, walked out of the front door of his store in a Glendale, Ariz., strip mall.
He was making a lot of money. But he also feared somebody was going to get hurt.
"Every passing week, I worried about something like that," he said. "I felt horrible and sick."
Late in the night on Dec. 14, in a canyon west of Rio Rico, Ariz., Border Patrol agents came across Mexican bandits preying on illegal immigrants.
http://articles.latimes.com/2...
We won't change JUSTFRED's mind though... he is really dead set on believing Ed Schultz! :(
I.............freaking.......... this analogy. PERFECT!
It won't let me say I love it. Is love a bad word now?