Just Bring On the Apocalypse?
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In the days after the horrific massacre in Newtown, Conn., where a young man named Adam Lanza shot out a window in an elementary school and proceeded to kill 20 first-graders, along with six adults who tried to protect them, I thought I was holding together pretty well.
But then I saw a story online about the plethora of companies that have sprung up in recent years selling body armor for children.
Let me repeat that. Body armor. For children.
For instance, there's a company out of Salt Lake City called (of course) Amendment II that sells a line of backpacks lined with "carbon nanotube" armor.
"Basically, there's three models," Mother Jones magazine quotes company president Derek Williams as saying. "A SwissGear that's made for teens, and we've got an Avengers and a Disney Princess backpack for little kids."
Another company making similar gear provides a handy diagram showing the kids how to properly cower behind their armored backpacks while the maniac slaughters their less-prepared classmates.
Friends, this sort of stuff would normally be just catnip to me. It would provide me endless fodder for mockery. But it's just so sad, I can't even make fun of it. It truly made me wonder if I wanted to live anymore in a country where some people consider that a reasonable response to the murder of children is sending them off to school armored like grunts in Afghanistan. Or, as I've heard some people suggest, arming schoolteachers.
It's a sign of just how insane we've gone that people can even say this with a straight face and not immediately be committed for psychological observation.
Let's leave aside for a moment the question of how school systems that are already being strangled by budget cuts are going to buy weapons for teachers. I've met a lot of teachers in my life, folks. Very few of them impress me as potential Dirty Harrys and Harriets, nor, I wager, do they want to be. And I wouldn't trust the ones that do with a butter knife, much less a Glock.
No, a country where all the teachers are packing heat and all the kids have to be ready at a moment's notice to throw their backpacks up in front of them to stop a bullet is not one where I want to live. But frankly, I don't really want to move. All my stuff and everyone I love is here.
So let's talk about solving the underlying problem, which is this: How do we keep weapons of mass killing out of the hands of crazy people? The answer would seem obvious: fewer weapons of mass killing, or fewer crazy people, or both.
Let's take the second one first. We need to stop treating government support for mental health evaluation and treatment as if it's a luxury. I see so many people, every day, of all ages, who need some sort of mental health intervention, and who are being "served" by fewer and fewer providers, because whenever we have a budget crisis, mental health care is the second thing on the chopping block, behind education. It's as much a security issue as law enforcement or prisons, and it needs to be treated as such.
As for regulation of weapons, let us consider the words of that screaming leftist, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: "Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."
So what regulations might help limit, if not entirely eradicate, future Newtowns (or Auroras or Oak Creek, Wisconsins)? One very practical proposal I've heard from two senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mark Warner of Virginia (both of whom have received an "A" rating from the NRA), is limiting the size of magazines.
"I don't know anybody that needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting," Manchin told an interviewer, noting that he and his family had just returned from a hunting trip. And as for home defense: Pal, if you need more than six rounds to put down an intruder, you're probably fighting a werewolf or something similar, so you're screwed anyway. Run and hope he stops to eat the other guy. If there is no other guy, see "you're screwed," above.
There are other gun control measures that will no doubt be discussed in these pages and elsewhere in the coming weeks. But it's clear we have to do something to keep weapons of war out of the hands of the deranged and the enraged. Otherwise, all of us - men, women, children, pets and livestock - just need to armor up and bring on the apocalypse.
Dusty Rhoades lives, writes and practices law in Carthage. Contact him at dustyr @nc.rr.com.
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Comments
fugitiveguy 5 months ago
DR, this is one of your best columns in my opinion. I am a gun owner (5 shot pump shotgun) but not what you'd call a gun person (not that theres anything wrong with that). I think the smaller quantity magazines is an idea worth looking at. I do wonder if assault type weapons should be further restricted. It goes without saying that we need to be doing far better with mental health treatment. I do wonder why you and others feel the need in reference to arming select teachers feel the need to demagogue that notion by using such terms as "dirty harry" and having "all" teachers packing heat which is a clear exagerration of anything anyone has proposed. If we all want first and foremost for the children to be safe then we wouldn't be so quick to write off ideas that make us uncomfortable. We should be looking at all options.
justpassingby2 5 months ago
Of course you forgot to mention the border agent killed by an obamarifle. To be fair that was when assault rifles weren't a problem as long as they were being handed out by our government. Forget about the right wing gun nuts finally getting on board, the true miracle is obama, madcows, mathews and the sheep that have finally figured out we have a problem! I do give you credit for admitting that the Newtown blood on your hands really hurts.
scottish 5 months ago
well put DR. A sensible article. Thank you.
Yukonjohn 5 months ago
l do see a problem that the President now has a problem with assualt rifles, but when it was his DOJ handing them out, it was not such a problem.
OldPilot 5 months ago
Good column. The solution according to the NRA is to put more firearms into schools; given that one definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes expecting better results this is clearly an insane idea. Add more firearms to the mix, more killings, add more firearms to the mix, more killings, repeat endlessly. The mantra according to the NRA: "The only answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"; insane (see above) and stupid, how about keeping the firearm(s) away from the bad guy(s) in the first place? Who will one bent on mass killing go for first? The armed guard! Teachers with handguns! Would armed teachers have more success than the FBI: lost 2 of seven trained but lightly armed agents killed and several others wounded when they confronted two heavily armed bad guys in Miami years ago, endless numbers of trained police officers killed by bad guys. As a general rule if you need more than a couple of rounds to solve a problem the solution to the problem isn't a firearm. For the hunters: bolt action rifles & shotguns with three round magazines, small bore pistols with max 6 rounds, ideal for hunting, poor tools for fast mass killing. All that said time will pass, heels will be dragged, the issue "discussed" to death, nothing will change. NRA "wins" again....to the tune of about 10,000 killed every year.
fugitiveguy 5 months ago
I believe the NRA's idea is to put a police officer in every school. I really find it hard to come up with a better and quicker measure to insure the safety of our kids. But, what the heck why miss a chance to take a shot at one of the lefts favorite boogie men. How disingenuous to post "The solution according to the NRA is to put more firearms into schools" According to OP, a gun in the hand of a lunatic bent on mass murder is equivalent to a gun in the hand of a trained officer of the law which makes no sense.
skylinefirepest 5 months ago
OP hasn't a notion of what to do so he simply joins the voices of the left who are hollering for the blood of NRA members. Yeah, our politicians can simply ban something and the problem is feelgood solved...until the next time.
dustyrhoades 5 months ago
fugitiveguy, scottish, OP, thank you.
And to all of you, even the haters, Merry Christmas!
Yukonjohn 5 months ago
DR, My friend, even though we disagree on lots of things, I hope you and yours will have the Merriest of Christmas' and a very Happy New Year!!
OldPilot 5 months ago
No, the blood of NRA members doesn't begin to solve anything. What would solve many problems is to get semi-automatic clones of military assault rifles and high capacity clips out of common circulation. Hardly the weapon of choice for hunting anything except people. Really, what respecting hunter needs a semi-automatic .223 AR-15 or M-16 clone, or a 7.62mm parabellum round AK-47 with a 30 round clip to hunt anything...except people. Who is going to pay for an armed security guard in every school? The NRA? Firearms manufacturers? If there were any real justice in the world it would be both, and heavily, but then again one security guard per school armed with a handgun is nothing more than the first target for any determined person hell bent on multiple killings. Columbine had an armed security guard (a police officer) and a second police officer arrived within minutes after it started. Maybe it cut down on the body count? 12 students and one teacher dead, 21 injured, 2 shooter suicides. Highest body count in a school shooting to date, prior to Sandy Hook. The FBI lost 2 of 7 trained but lightly armed agents KIA in Miami, plus 2 wounded, in a firefight with 2 bad guys armed with assault weapon clones and shotguns. Lesson to be learned? One security guard/teacher armed with a handun, caught by suprise, is going to do better against a shooter armed with a high powered semi-auto assault rifle clone, fed with a high capacity clip, with the shooter wearing a kevlar vest? Sorry skylinefirepest, I have a very good idea of what to do, but the NRA/firearm manufacturers and their blood money, and their bought and paid for politicians will always block any effective change such as simply getting weapons that are no good for anything except killing people out of production and circulation. No one gives a hoot about bolt action rifles & shotguns with three round magazines and/or small bore pistols. Can they kill? Yes, but not in wholesale numbers.
fugitiveguy 5 months ago
OP, what steps would you advocate right now to insure the children are protected. Even if those things you speak of were banned, they would still be in circulation for a long time. I still say nothing could be put in place more quickly than select teachers (volunteer) with ccp recieving further training and being allowed to possess their firearm on campus. Or we could screw around until another one of these happens again. My guess is there is a fair amount of teachers that would prefer not to be completely defenseless if/when faced with a similar situation.
DannySteen 5 months ago
Police State! That will stop it all. Collect ALL guns then everyone will be safe. For about a week. While we are bouncing this all about the next "Newtown" is being planned or in the works. Newtown was just an example of all the holes in the cheese lining up.There have been many good suggestions thrown about by both, to use a simple term, sides. There have been some incredibly stupid suggestions as well. There will be nothing meaningful from the dunces in DC. They will come up with their solutions, go on what ever talking head show that likes their solutions and complain about the other sides solutions. They may come up with a bill that ultimately does nothing about the problem and wait to go before the cameras after the next "Newtown". There are multiple solutions and all needs to be looked at but what do you do in the mean time? What keeps tomorrow Aberdeen from being the next "Newtown"?
Thatcher 5 months ago
Well written column, DR. Your last post (1 hour 56 min. ago) pretty much sums up your view of the divide here, I guess. It's easy to say "Merry Christmas!" to my conservative and libertarian friends here, like Yukon, geoff, pack, TAP, MikeNC, Behan, fugitiveguy, and so many more conservatives here who from time to time agree with me (or I agree with them). To believe that those who disagree with you are "haters" I suspect is inaccurate. I'm sure geoff loves his kids as much as oldpilot loves his kids...they don't hate. They simply disagree about politics. And the same is true about liberals loving their kids and their country. So to you, DR, and to all other liberal posters here, I wish you all the most blessed Merry Christmas! And especially moonchild7...I'm not sure we could ever agree on much, but I believe you are a great mom, and you make me want to be a better dad. Merry Christmas to you and your son and your family! So for all the posters here, conservative or liberal, if I could say one thing at Christmas, I'd say this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv.... God Bless you all! Cheers!
njc17 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Dusty; interesting writing, and actually pretty good subject matter. Thoughtfully handled, and salient to the issues of the day. I agree that the children body armor and some of the other armor issues are pure idiocy, BUT then again???? could it have saved a few kids in SandiHook? We are in a culture of personal militarism in some areas, there are a few groups way off the edge as far as conspiracy addicts, but many folks do not trust this government any more. Probably started with the Nixon era. And in this day in age there is an upheavel of sorts regarding entitlements versus persnal responsibility, of religious acceptance versus religious bigotry versus religious demolition. The turmoil created these last few years with double digit unemployment, fiscal irresponsibility of government as well as certain business areas, has crippled the wellbeing of so many folks and in turn developed into a frustration of inability to act sometimes in a responsible way. There is also a serious problem , not addressed very often regarding the mental deviant throughout society. There are not that many but they are accumulating because of inactivity of the medical community to provide sanctuaries for them and the social network to identify them. There are no hard and fast answers but some things can be dealt with now, and further gun controls are not one of them. The laws on the books should be enforced much better than they are, BUT we do need to look more closey at the Adam Lanzas of the nation.
moonchild7 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Another very good column Dusty. It's been an enjoyable year and you've helped to make it managable. We'll hopefully not worry about another Apocalypse, End of Times, or End of Days. They tend to be manufactured by groups of very depressed, paranoid and just plain sad bunches of people. While I've enjoyed all of the "Mad Maxx" movies, I have no desire to live in a "Mad Maxx" World the way Mr. LaPierre of the NRA wants us to live. He's rather nutty and backwards in his thinking. His answer is to just put GUNS in EVERYONES hands? Actually anyone at anytime could probably snap and do something bad. Not as horrific as the shootings in Newtown, CT but something at least upsetting, so to have "Registries" of the Mentally Ill won't work. I don't think that would be legal. He mentioned the Adjudicated mentally ill, today on Meet The Press. Those who've been Adjudicated mentally Ill are a totally different group. I don't think any of the guys who've recentlly done these horrible shootings has been Adjudicated. I don't think many of them even went to Psychiatrists. Did they? So that just won't work. Banning these assault weapons and magazines of bullets is where we need to begin. That's just the only way we can perhaps prevent any future horrors from happening at this point. We'll need to look at our Mental Heath System and School Policing also. Thanks so much Thatcher for your kind statement. Looking forward for my son getting here tomorrow. Can't hardly wait. I'll be baking a Pumpkin Pie and making Christmas Sugar Cookies. I hope you're a great father also, but can I give you a bit of advice? Love your children and help them as much as you can but at the same time teach them how to be Independent. Don't lie to them either....about anything. Season's Greetings.
DannySteen 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Sorry Moon, I wish it was as simple as that to prevent any future horrors from happening. There will always be those who will intend ill upon the rest of us. Removing some guns will just cause them to use others. Take all guns and they will use something else. There are bombs, fire, pathogens and some we have not even thought of yet. I wish we could just change one thing and make it all better again. But, just as growing up and finding all things you thought were so wasn't, it can't be all better again. We have to accept that we live in a world where evil people live around us and hope we can catch them before they visit their evil on us. Do we take all our self defenses away in hopes that we will disarm evil or that our protectors can get to us in time? Do we arm everyone and hope that we cause enough fear in the evil to keep it at bay? What do you do then with those who want to die and take as many with them as they can? I wish the answer was as simple as some think it is.
justpassingby2 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Sorry moonie for the Newtown blood on your hands. Maybe now you will put your sensibilities before the democratic party. You were perfectly fine with assault rifles and magazines while your government was letting them be bought illegally. When obama and holder said there was no story there you said 'baaaaa'. When was the last time you spoke out about our part in the wars in the Middle East? How have you forgotten our people being killed over there only because they have oil? Hopefully you and the other sheep have learned how dangerous it is to blindly follow 'your' guys. It isn't that you just look really stupid, it is really dangerous.
JD 4 months, 4 weeks ago
To believe that those who disagree with you are "haters" I suspect is inaccurate.
Says the King Hater Potentate. Why not do like some of the people you listed (like racist Behan) and stop posting if your going to come in and wag your finger at a guy that wished a Merry Xmas.
Cheery Winter Solstice to you Thatcher!
OT: Good article DR and Jeebus help me I am happy to compliment Fugly on at least trying to talk about options for limiting clip sizes and incorporating restrictions to firearm ownership to those with mental health issues.
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Thanks, JD, Moon, and njc17. I'm ignoring the trolls and the people who enable them while wagging fingers at me.
Meanwhile, interesting stats here (you know, actual numbers from people who've actually studied the issue):
Home protection provides a common, all-too-understandable motive to buy a gun. Few things are scarier than the possibility that some violent intruder will break in when you and your loved-ones are home. This risk happens to be especially vivid for me. My gentle disabled cousin was beaten to death by two teenage burglars in his New York apartment thirty years ago. Yet having guns around bring risks, too. Practically speaking, it’s not the incredibly rare risk of mass homicide, but the everyday risks of injury, accident, domestic altercations, and suicide. The relative risks matter. And the fact is: lethal home invasions and burglaries are incredibly rare. You might not think so, since dramatic cases stick in your mind and tend to receive disproportionate press coverage. These cases are rare nonetheless. How rare? I asked researchers at the Chicago Police Department and my colleague Daniel Rosenbaum at the University of Chicago Crime Lab to track down some numbers. In 2011, Chicago experienced 433 murders. Precisely one Chicago homicide that year was listed under the motive of “burglary.” Another seventeen were listed as domestic altercations. Some of these might have involved a nonresident partner entering someone’s home. You get the point. These are really unusual crimes, even in a pretty tough city. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports about 100 homicides per year across America that happen in the course of household burglaries. That’s less than 1 percent of U.S. homicides. Yeah, that’s about one-180th of the 18,735 gun suicides that occurred in America in 2009. Many people who attempt suicide can be helped—unless they have immediate access to the most efficient and lethal method of self-harm. Then of course there are gun accidents and crimes committed by legal gun owners or by others who gain access to those same guns. We are so afraid of each of each other, more afraid than we actually need to be. These fears are especially tragic because they so lead us astray. Because we fear the wrong things, we make the wrong decisions. In guarding ourselves against remote and vivid dangers, we make ourselves more vulnerable to other dangers, closer to home, that are so much more likely to leave us dead.
moonchild7 4 months, 4 weeks ago
I find it beyond disgusting justpassingby2 to say what you did to me. FEAR MONGERER'S, PARANOID SCHIZOID'S, DEPRESSED CHILD-MEN and LOW INFORMATION WACKO'S are many of the reasons we are where we are. The TOP 8 countries ahead of America when it comes to GUN RELATED DEATHS are all in South and Central America. Most likely because of the AMERICAN DRUG WARZ. All drugs should be legalized and I've been saying that for over 40 yrs now. The Fast and Furious situation you talk about is a non-issue and I find all of that kinda stuff abhorrent. Don't get me started on Bush's DANGEROUS and STUPID Iraq WAR either. The OIL Industry is behind all of the "problems" we have with OIL and if anyone has BLOOD on their hands it's The Oil Industry, NEO-CONS (AGENTS of FEAR) and the Bushes. We must start somewhere guys in trying to help avert another horrible mass shooting. It will be in banning assault weapons. So stock up for Christmas guys. Get 'um while you can. I didn't want to comment but you really made me mad justpassingby2. Are you miserable this Christmas? Get some help if you are and ASAP. Guys, are your I.Q's about the same caliber as your guns? Not really feelin' for ya. I've gotta go now and bake some cookies. Shalom.
cooldaddy 4 months, 4 weeks ago
I repeat ...Those of you, (including the writer), who make the guns the issue, and not the people, are just lazy. You don't want to solve the problem, you want to pass a feel good law that will NOT work. You know that if you have any sense at all. US history has proven it. Prohibition anyone???Drinking increased, Taxes decreased, and the burden on law enforcement was incredible...with no revenue to support them unless they sold copper.My aunt was killed by a drunk driver on I 95. There are more deaths (by far) from vehicles than from firearms. You take the cars off the road, (or the alcohol away...again) and then write you stupid letter on how banning guns is an answer. In 3rd world countries there have been mass slayings...with machetes. Is that more your flavor? How about the boxcutters that killed 3000 on 911? Those weapons ok? Fertilizer (not your letter) but the livestock mixture and fuel oil that was used in Oklamoma City? Like that? They are all illegal to use to harm people. Enforce the laws we have now. Start giving REAL sentances for those who commit a crime with a weapon. Treat the mental illness. Do the reporting and bacground checks. Make the gunowners responsible for securing their weapons. Make training manditory for the firearm purchased...there is a lot that can be done without being so lazy as to believe a ban will work. Dusty gave a lot of scenerio's that nuts with weapons could run...so take those, and a host of other bad things that can happen, and work on the minds of the ill.
justpassingby2 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Read carefully moonie. ASSAULT RIFLES AND CLIPS THAT HOLD MUCH AMMO ARE BAD. THEY WERE BAD AND YOU AND THE SHEEP LIKE DUSTY KNEW THEY WERE BAD WHEN THE OBAMARIFLE KILLED A BORDER PATROL. OBAMA ALLOWED HUNDREDS OF THESE RIFLES TO BE BOUGHT BY CRIMINALS WHO WERE BUYING THEM EXPLICITLY TO KILL PEOPLE. YOU AND THE IDIOTS THOUGHT IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT TO PROTECT OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY THEN TO DO WHAT YOU ARE DOING KNOW, THE RIGHT THING. NOT ONE OF YOU HAVE GIVEN THE REASON WHY YOU WERE QUIET WHILE OBAMARIFLES KILLED HUNDREDS AND CONTINUE TO KILL. AND I REALLY AM SORRY THAT THE TRUTH OF WHAT I AM SAYING HAS BROUGHT SO MUCH PAIN TO YOU AND DUSTY. I WAS THE ONE THAT TRIED TO KEEP YOU FROM FEELING AS BAD AS YOU DO NOW.
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
oh, no, that ^^^ doesn't look unhinged and insane, not a bit.
Here's wishing you better mental health in the New Year, jpb.
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
One of the mental health tests I'd propose for gun ownership is: if you've ever typed a post in a thread about guns AND DONE THE ENTIRE THING IN CAPITAL LETTERS, you probably shouldn't be allowed near a firearm. Or any sharp objects for that matter.
mymindwanders 4 months, 4 weeks ago
JustpASSingby2-"sorry moonchild for the newton blood on your hands" Yeah that statement is going to win someone to your side. No matter her outlook on gun contol or fast& furious, there is no blood on her hands. I can not believe how you think being so mean is going to help In this situation. And no, i don't agree with everything she says, but she is entitled to her opinion as much as you are. Work on your debating skills.
moonchild7 4 months, 4 weeks ago
the cookies are baking in the oven, please get some mental health help soon justpassingby2. you're on the wrong side of the truth. i'm feelin' pretty good right now myself....you need to try it sometime. the cookies are about done. gotta go. feliz navidad
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Like many of the unhinged troll posts here, jpb's screed is causing much merriment (And a little concern) after I posted it on Facebook. You're an international star, jpb! But sadly, not in a good way for you...more like a funny FAIL video on YouTube. I do love spreading joy and laughter for Xmas...
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Meanwhile: Two Dead After Gunman Opens Fire on Firefighters Battling a Blaze
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/12/gunman-opens-fire-firefighters-battling-blaze-new-york/60294/
Guess we need to arm firefighters now.
dustyrhoades 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Whatever. I'm out. Carve the turkey, put the ballgame on...
Robert Earl Keene's Merry Christmas from the Family by RTannamal
moonchild7 4 months, 4 weeks ago
i just read that dusty, it's unbelievable and so so sad. armed firemen? armed garbage collectors? armed librarians? armed nuns? this violence must stop. blessed are the peacemakers.
JimRussell44 4 months, 4 weeks ago
In a related story, Tagg Romney said his dad never wanted to be president in the first place. So guess it's good we didn't elect him. I bring this up because it's the exact same crowd that backed Romney that are just as positive they are correct on this gun insanity. Now to further piss that crowd off, I wish them all "Happy Holidays".
DannySteen 4 months, 4 weeks ago
I just read an article about two firefighters killed when the pulled up to fight a fire. A fire which by the time they were able to get to had eventually burned four houses. I some will say arm firemen others will say take away all guns. But what will all of you say to the last bit in the article.
"Webster, a middle-class, lakeside suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.
Last Dec. 7, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, 16 and 12. His mother and 13-year-old sister escaped with injuries. He is being prosecuted as an adult."
SH59 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Good article Dusty. I agree with you that mental issues in this country are a very serious neglected problem. Those seemingly odd people in our communities are even more isolated because the rest of us are hunkered down at our desks on our computers or phone or watching TV and don't even know about the kid who lives next door with problems. I do think some of this is a social issue that we need to examine.
The other part of this issue is guns and how comfortable we are with them. When I was young and raising children there was a sense among the mothers that any play with guns is wrong and children should never have anything to do with them. This was in the 70's and I'm not sure why people started thinking that way but it has lead us on a path of ignorance about fire arms. I have a good friend in his 70's who grew up here in NC a small town where every kid at 12 owned their own gun. He would go on camping trips with his friends and they would all have their own guns with them without any parent around. He was taught at a young age how to respect a gun and how to be safe with it and all the parents felt comfortable with them. Sure they did some wild things but no one ever got hurt.
My question is whether our fear is out of our ignorance about guns and wouldn't it be better if everyone had a chance to go to a gun range and learn how to use them? We are afraid of what we don't know and react out of that fear.
skylinefirepest 4 months, 4 weeks ago
JD, OldPilot,DR, Moonie, JimRussell and to all the others who hate my Conservative guts....MERRY CHRISTMAS and may we have a happier New Year one and all.
DannySteen 4 months, 4 weeks ago
According to NPR the lowlife that killed those firemen was on parole. It seems he was sent to prison in the 80s for killing "HIS GRANDMOTHER"! He was not supposed to have a gun. Yet a felon was illegally able to obtain a gun. What gun law would have stopped that? Lowlife will always find ways to have an advantage. They will either ignore the laws or go into politics, and pretty much still ignore the laws. Even taking all guns away from law abiding citizens will not stop the lowlife from being lowlife. It will eventually turn once law abiding citizens into lowlife. Sort of if you can't beat them. So how do you stop low life who ignore present laws from ignoring any new laws. Also, what do you do about the kid who burns down the house around his family? What will you ban? And not only did the parolee kill two firemen and wounded others, the count for homes destroys was 7. According to NPR.
dlb 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Why do we need two political parties? China gets along very well with just one. And they have modern airports, rapid transit, hydroelectric power the list just goes on.
Yukonjohn 4 months, 4 weeks ago
dlb, The Constitution spells out when and how we will have elections. I don't care for either party, and would not care if there were ten, but we will continue to have elections.
I am not a NRA member, or even care for them. Somewhat like a criminal, I will exercise my 2nd Amendment Right. I heard the CEO Wayne LaPierre (sp) say "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun". I agree with him on this.
Courseaire 4 months, 4 weeks ago
A very Merry Christmas to you all, Courseaire
JD 4 months, 4 weeks ago
JD
Yay Pestilence gave me first mention. And I don't hate your conservative guts (I like conservative) I don't like your Teabagger guts :P .
Cheery Winter Solstice Pesty!
OldPilot 4 months, 4 weeks ago
skylinefirepest: No one "hates your Conservative guts". I feel sorry for you but don't hate you. Can't speak for others of course. It's your paranoia that makes the majority of Americans desire stringent firearm regulation and think you are nuts. 310 million American citizens held captive by 4 million NRA members? The NRA is 1.3% of the population and has the rest of us feeling like fugitives from the law of averages. And the NRA wants "armed guards" in every school? Who is going to pay for that? Volunteers? What do you suggest, thousands of George Zimmermans? At least he only killed one at a time. More firearms, in schools and elsewhere? Insanity: repeating the same behavior expecting different/better results. NRA says keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally disturbed/insane? Strikes me that the head of the NRA qualifies based on the common definition of insanity. So is Laperriere on behalf of the NRA suggesting that he and all other NRA members who agree with his position be denied firearm ownership, in the name of getting firearms out of the hands of the mentally disturbed? Sorry but the time of the NRA has passed. It, and it's members will go down as a postscript to history because they are on the wrong side of hstory. Their paid stooges in local, state and federal government are obsolete & will fall by the wayside. The 98.7% of the American populace who don't buy into the NRA kool aid will untimately prevail. A firearm is nothing but a tool, no different than a hammer, a saw or a slingshot. No one with a brain makes a religeon/cult out of owning a hammer, a saw or a slingshot.
njc17 4 months, 4 weeks ago
To the many I have had these discussions with, I thank you all for allowing me to voice opinions and I wish you all the merriest of Christmases and may God Bless you all.
Now that being said. LaPierre shot himself in the foot with his own semi-automatic. Now was NOT the time to voice opinions which flew in the face of conventional thinking. I am all for ythe second amendment, without changes, but LaPierre's gun roll was unfeeling, unthought out, unnecessaryand unneeded at this time. Liberal press everywhere had a field day with this and took so much of what he said way out of context, and skewed his message. But the damage is done. Because The Biden Factor will be all over this, there will be a massive push to disarm America, which is what the progressive wants. They might just win this one.
JimRussell44 4 months, 4 weeks ago
skylinefirepest: I don't "hate" anyone including you. I hate your message but not the messenger.
skylinefirepest 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Hey guys and girls, I'm not a teabagger though I am very Conservative. Why, because I see what Liberalism has done to this country and it stinks. OP don't feel sorry for me, I'm not paranoid in the slightest. I happen to have lived my life doing several things that allowed me to see there are bad people in this world and turning the other cheek simply means you'll get slapped on that one too. 310 million Americans held captive by over a hundred million gun owners, not four million NRA members, is that what you can't stand?? Your definition of insanity is the left loonies begging for more gun control that has never worked and will not work!! Didn't work the last time, guys and girls, why do you think it might this time. Semi auto rifles...not wmd, not machine guns, not sub-machine guns, not grenade launchers, just...simply....plain old rifles...that LOOK different. Y'all just can't seem to get through your heads. Call me someday and I'll take you out to the range and demonstrate to you that there is NO difference between my hunting rifle and an AR based platform. Except that the hunting rifle is a heavier caliber and will shoot further, more accurately. Njc17....seems that just a few years ago the left's womanizing hero, willy, slick willy, Clinton asked for money to put what...WHAT???? Armed policemen in schools, wow, who'd a thunk it?? Seems like the NRA is just repeating what the loony left wanted for a change!
Yukonjohn 4 months, 4 weeks ago
OldPilot, the US of A is not being held hostage by the NRA. If it is being "held hostage" it is by the Constitution!!! Our Constitution is what we want to uphold.
dogboy 4 months, 4 weeks ago
.....it seems that it is always a male that is involved in the heinous crimes, what stops females from committing mass murders?
mymindwanders 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Dogboy-Its probably their gift of a nurturing nature.
skylinefirepest 4 months, 4 weeks ago
Dogboy...you apparently don't remember theThelma Barfield? woman...seems like she killed about three of her husbands when she got tired of them.
Yukonjohn 4 months, 4 weeks ago
skylinefirepest, was she that woman in Florida? I remember something about her l think. Merry Christmas!!
Yukonjohn 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I had asked DR earlier about his opinion of the "supremacy clause" vs. the 10th Amendment. Which does he believe takes precidence? I am interested in others opinion and reading of these documents. I am a very firm believer in the 10th Amendment, but wonder how others feel about it.