Guns Gotta Go

The NRA, which is basically dissolved as a corporation due to rampant corruption and infighting, apparently still acts as a conduit for Russian counter-intelligence money.  Are they still considered too toxic to take on directly?

I don't believe they are toxic in the sense that so many people support them. I think politicians simply don't want to turn off the cash spigot.

History of the NRA, and the way things have been screwed up since Reagan.

Heather Cox Richardson

The original text of the Second Amendment makes it clear that an armed citizenry is a last resort -- possibly THE last resort -- against a despotic government.  For YEARS guns have been sold not only "for protection" but also as a hedge against government overreach.

Wayne LaPierre doesn't talk much these days about keeping the government in check.

And certainly the Founding Fathers never envisioned armed couch potatoes taking to the Capitol to stop the certification of a duly-conducted, certified fraud-free election.  The 2nd Amendment is now in danger of empowering militias to overthrow the democracy, and install a dictator who wants to be president-for-life.

The exact opposite of what it was for.  It needs to be clarified or rewritten.

Quote :

it remains unclear whether or not he had paid for the creamy spread.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-starbucks-waves-gun-police-chiefs-daughter

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Just because they're well-armed doesn't mean they're smart enough to be able to read a gas gauge.

I'm telling you, the rise of armed self-appointed militias in this country is going to be the next big threat to democracy. If not during the '22 mid-terms, then certainly by '24.

At a stoplight, I pulled up behind an ex-soldier (Army Infantry sticked on the rear window).  Also on the winder was a sticker:

Quote :

If guns killl people
Then pencils misspell words
Cars drive drunk
And spoons make people fat

To an extent, I agree.  A gun is just a tool: morally neutral, harmless in isolation, and useful in certain situations.

But a spoon never allowed a disaffected student to kill his classmates, a pencil never caused a toddler to accidentally kill his mother, and nobody ever used a car to hold up a bank. Guns may be morally neutral, but they're dangerous.

To intentionally (and shamefully) oversimplfy the issue of gun control is to deny there's a problem, a real and serious problem with gun violence in this country.  If you're of the opinion that guns are morally neutral, then you should be okay with a few controls to keep them out of the wrong hands:

• Yearly licenses
  
• Mandatory periodic safety training
  
• Unavailability of ammunition unless 1 & 2 are met
  

Liability insurance, for damn sure. And failure to have proof of insurance disqualifies you from having a gun, just as lack of car insurance costs you your ability to drive.

Quote :

A 17-year-old female "still remains in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest," Bouchard said. "So still looking for prayers and support for her and her family."

WHY WHY WHY do these people think their god will help a shooting victim when it wasn't anywhere to be found during the shooting? People!

It's about time parents start being held responsible for their underage child's behavior.

ESPECIALLY when they're bone-stupid enough to buy their troubled 15-year-old a gun.

A semi-automatic gun which is useless for hunting or target shooting.

Shooter deemed incompetent to stand trial

Shooter deemed incompetent to stand trial

Shooter deemed incompetent to stand trial

Shooter deemed incompetent to stand trial

Shooter deemed incompetent to stand trial

And yet, somehow, all these folks were deemed competent enough to buy a firearm.

• 30% of Republicans say that violence might be necessary for them to regain control.
  
  
• Republicans comprise 25% of America.
  
  
• The population of the USA is 333,891,075.
  

Therefore, there are approximately 25 million 41 thousand 831 gun nuts out there who want to kill you.

Darwinism, at its most basic, not only weeds out those unfit to reproduce, it also unfortunately sometimes weeds out the innocent children of those who never should have reproduced.

The miscarriages of justice in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial continue apace.

Quote :

On Friday, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger filed a proposed plea agreement. It suggested [Nick] Black would plead no contest to a pair of citations, and pay a $2,000 fine, and the felony counts would be dismissed.

A hearing is scheduled Monday morning. [Judge] Schroeder could reject the deal, or dismiss the original felony counts based on his ruling about the minors-with-firearms law in the Rittenhouse case.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dominick-black-gun-plea-deal-kyle-rittenhouse_n_61dae70de4b04b42ab80f34a

Guns Have Overtaken Cars as Leading Cause of Traumatic Deaths in the U.S.

Quote :

To find out, they sifted through the latest available mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2009 through 2018.
For most of this time period, yearly car deaths continued to outnumber firearm deaths. But by 2018, guns were on top. That year, nearly 39,000 Americans were killed by guns, while less than 38,000 died in a motor vehicle crash.

Owning a car requires that you:

1. Pass a driving test
   
2. Get a driver's license
   
3. Renew your driver's license every, what is it, 4 years now?
   
4. Carry insurance (liability + personal)
   
5. Drive a car that meets emission standards
   
6. Get your car tested every, what is it, 3 years?
   
7. Obey all rules of the road or face loss of license, impoundment of car, and/or fines & penalties
   

Owning a gun requires that you:

• Have money
  

Tennessee will make you a police officer for $100.

Quote :

Gun safety advocates have condemned Tennessee legislation which would designate some gun owners as police, allowing civilians to carry firearms in locations usually reserved for law enforcement.

The proposed law, introduced in the Tennessee house and senate this month, “expands the definition of ‘law enforcement officer’” to include civilians who hold an enhanced handgun-carry permit – earned by taking an eight-hour handgun safety course and paying a $100 fee.

Hensley’s plan has not just alarmed those who advocate for better gun safety. The Tennessee State Lodge for the Fraternal Order of Police, the state’s largest police union, said that it is “adamantly opposed to this bill in its current form.”

Shooter ruled incompetent to stand trial yet, once again, he was perfectly competent to BUY a weapon. What's wrong with this picture?

18-year old shooter shot up an elementary school in Texas today, killing 19 children and two teachers.

I believe Texas is one of those states where anybody can buy a gun without a background check.  I believe they can conceal the gun without a permit.  I believe they can carry the weapon anywhere, probably even into a schoolyard.

Dunno if this'll change anything.  Probably not.  Not unless a politician's kid was among the dead.

"But now is not the time to talk gun control," the NRA always preaches.

They'll outlaw abortion though.

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott are scheduled to speak at the NRA Convention in Houston starting tomorrow.

No words.

"The only remedy to a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun..."

...unless they're afraid to get shot.

The consensus among NRA-owned Republicans seems to be zeroing in on having only one, locked, door in and out of schools.

The Fire Department might have something to say about that.

NRA members seem to have broken sarcasm detectors.

Is it just me, or are "cute caskets" a new kind of unimaginable horror?

I've never seen a coffin I would call cute. I don't care what you paint on it.