Friday, December 14, 2012

A Quick Comment on Guns

When I am in a foreign country, people often ask me some variation on the question, "What is the deal with the guns?" All I can say is, that's how it is, it's never going to change, Americans think they need to have guns. I try to explain that it goes back to Revolutionary times, when people needed to be able to defend themselves from tyranny, and I usually lose them there.

For my own part, I had a gun when I was a kid, a .22, my dad and I went out shooting, I have fired pistols and shotguns but I would not have a gun in our house with kids. A neighbor had a tragedy too terrible to talk about, kids playing with dad's gun.

I understand that there are some rightwing conspiracy theorists who believe that President Obama is arranging all these mass shootings so that he can make a move to take everyone's guns away from them, and then, I guess, seize dictatorial power, I don't know why he is supposed to want that or how it could possibly succeed in his lifetime.

Today, the day of the Connecticut slaughter, there is another headline out there: China stabbing spree hurts 22 schoolchildren. When I was in China, we drove through a shady-looking neighborhood and I asked the translator if it was safe. He said you have to watch out for pickpockets but guns are illegal, and nobody has one. It wasn't even a matter of "only outlaws will have guns." Instead, even outlaws didn't have them.

For comparison's sake:
A Guangshan county hospital administrator said the man first attacked an elderly woman, then students, before being subdued by security guards who have been posted across China following a spate of school attacks in recent years. He said there were no deaths among the nine students admitted, although two badly injured children had been transferred to better-equipped hospitals outside the county.
They've got crazy people, same as us, but nobody died.

Too many people are killed by guns in the United States. Too many were killed today, never mind last week and last month and last year. The conversation needs to start there. It's too easy to get a gun, crazy and bad-intentioned people acquire them legally and easily. Nobody knows who has guns, or how many they have, you could never find them now to get rid of them, it is out of control.

It's a religion in this country. There are beliefs about the value of guns, faith in guns, with no reasonable justification but people are devoted to them. There is no sense to it, nobody needs to be armed to the teeth. The government is not going to come to your house to take your freedom away, that argument is absolutely absurd. A cooler argument could be made, that people need some protection from intruders, and hunting is a legitimate use of a rifle, it is not that guns are inherently evil, the problem is that our country is up to here in them, and crazy people are getting them and doing terrible things.

Discuss among yourselves. I have a gig.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

NRA Twitter goes silent

The powers that be at the NRA have so far been unable to utter a single word to anyone about the massacre of innocence yesterday.

Statement By President Obama On School Shooting In Newtown, Conn.

“This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation, and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families.

We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news I react not as a President, but as anybody else would — as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers — men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.

As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago — these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight. And they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans. And I will do everything in my power as President to help.

Because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need — to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.

May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.”

December 15, 2012 8:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

19 mass shootings in 5 years

1. December 14, 2012, Newtown, CT 27 dead
2. September 27, 2012, Minneapolis, MN, 7 dead, 2 injured
3. August 5, 2012, Oak Creek, WI, 7 dead, 4 injured
4. May 31, 2012, Seattle, WA 6 dead
5. July 20, 2012, Aurora, CO, 12 dead, 59 injured
6. February 22, 2012, Norcross, GA, 5 dead
7. October 12, 2011, Seal Beach, CA, 8 dead, 1 injured
8. January 8, 2011, Tucson, AZ, 6 dead, 14 injured
9. August 3, 2010, Manchester, CT, 9 dead, 2 injured
10. November 29, 2009, Parkland, WA, 5 dead
11. November 5, 2009, Fort Hood, TX, 13 dead, 30 injured
12. April 3, 2009, Binghampton, NY, 14 dead, 4 injured
13. March 10, 2009, Geneva County, AL, 11 dead, 6 injured
14. March 29, 2009, Carthage, NC, 9 dead, 3 injured
15. June 25, 2008, Henderson, KY, 6 dead, 1 injured
16. April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech campus, Blacksburg, VA, 33 dead, 23 injured
17. Febrary 7, 2007, Kirkwood, MO, 7 dead, 1 injured
18. December 5, 2007, Omaha, NE, 9 dead
19. October 7, 2007, Crandon, WI, 7 dead, 1 injured

December 15, 2012 10:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IT IS THE RESULT OF OUR CHANGING SOCIETY. VIDEO GAMES ARE TERRIBLE, PARENTS NOT LETTING THE CHILD PLAY COWBOYS AND INDIANS AND ARMY SO KIDS LEARN TO SEPARATE REALITY FROM FICTION. BOYS NEED TO LEARN THIS IMPORTANT LESSON. HOWEVER SAYING THIS, ALL THE SHOOTERS WERE MALE WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS.

December 15, 2012 10:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

AND EASY ACCESS TO GUNS, EVEN SEMIAUTOMATIC GUNS THAT WERE BANNED BY THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN, WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FROM 1994 UNTIL IT EXPIRED ON MARCH 2, 2004.

CAROLYN MAHONEY, D-NY, WHO WAS A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN BEFORE SHE RAN FOR CONGRESS AFTER HER HUSBAND WAS KILLED AND SON WAS SEVERELY INJURED IN A MASS MURDER (6 DEAD AND 19 INJURED) DEC. 7, 1993, ON THE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD COMMUTER TRAIN, HAS REINTRODUCED THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN IN EVERY CONGRESS SINCE, ONLY TO HAVE GOP MEMBERS IN CONGRESS VOTE AGAINST IT EVERY TIME.

December 16, 2012 7:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nearly 500 Guns Surrendered in Baltimore After Newtown Shooting

BALTIMORE, MD -- One day after a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Baltimore police collected more than 400 guns during the "Goods For Guns" initiative in the city.

A total of 461 guns were collected in exchange for approximately $50,000 in gift certificates to a local grocery chain, according to a release from City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young's office.

Young announced the initiative Wednesday at City Hall. On his Twitter account, Young said Saturday that planning for the program began before Thanksgiving, and that it took "a true team effort."

In a news release, Young said: "Today, I heard from a diverse array of people who just wanted to remove firearms from their homes. These people, both young and old, told me that they feared their guns winding up in the wrong hands and just wanted to avoid that possibility altogether."

Residents exchanged unwanted firearms for $100 gift certificates for Klein's ShopRite.

Klein's ShopRite Vice President Howard Klein said, "We did something meaningful on a day when a lot of people are experiencing terrible loss and tragedy. You can’t put a price tag on an event like this and we can’t wait to do it again."

The results of the program come amid reaction to a school shooting in Newtown, CT, where reports indicate a lone gunman murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday morning. The gunman reportedly started the rampage by shooting his mother at the home they shared in Newtown, and ended it by shooting himself.

The program, operated by UpLift Solutions, was modeled after a similar initiative in Philadelphia, according to the release.

Officers from the Baltimore City Police Department collected the firearms, which were transported to the Northeast District. The release said the guns will be melted down.

In Prince George's County, Laurel police collected more than 150 weapons Saturday.

December 16, 2012 5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The government is not going to come to your house to take your freedom away, that argument is absolutely absurd."

it's a little hard to take this comment seriously when you just held up China as an example of how we should deal with guns

a repressive government like China can ban guns and get away with it

here, we have freedom so even if we made it illegal, the bad guys would still have them because we can all move about freely without governmental monitoring

shooting children is against the law and that didn't stop this guy so why would making guns against the law keep him from having one?

"Too many people are killed by guns in the United States. Too many were killed today, never mind last week and last month and last year. The conversation needs to start there."

all the guys who have done this over the last few years were recognized as nuts by those who knew them

that's where we should start

"I understand that there are some rightwing conspiracy theorists who believe that President Obama is arranging all these mass shootings so that he can make a move to take everyone's guns away from them, and then, I guess, seize dictatorial power, I don't know why he is supposed to want that"

well, I don't think Obama is arranging mass shootings

but anyone with any intelligence can see that he seeks dictatorial power

his motivation is that he thinks we're an unjust society and that the government should insure economic equality and the same outcomes for all

see Marx

December 17, 2012 1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, good reasoning. We should not do something that works if China does it.

December 17, 2012 8:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if we're willing to sacrifice our rights, we could do all kind of things that "work"

problem is some of us consider freedom to be of intrinsic value

my point was that Jim would have more effectively argued his point by citing a society with gun laws that can still maintain liberty and dignity for its citizens

obviously,in a society where thought and speech is brutally supressed by the government, violence can be largely controlled

December 17, 2012 10:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No country in the civilized world allows indiscriminate access to lethal weaponry like us, and no country in the world comes anywhere near to American rates of gun violence per capita. If you think "freedom" means the freedom to kill people then you have an uphill battle to fight. If you think you need to be free to protect yourself then start making a modest case -- you don't need an assault rifle, and many more people are accidentally killed than are killed committing crimes.

December 17, 2012 10:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Show some respect, quit your bitching, put your money where you mouth is, and help out the survivors of this horror.

There are many organizations trying to help out the survivors -- pick your favorites and send them some money.

Connecticut Elementary School Shooting: How To Help

December 18, 2012 9:29 AM  
Anonymous Corporate evolution said...

In announcing the sale of the gun manufacturer, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management made clear that the decision stemmed from the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn. “It is apparent that the Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level,” Cerberus said in a news release.

The firm said it planned to sell the Freedom Group, which makes the .223 Bushmaster rifle used in the massacre. Cerberus acquired Bushmaster in 2006, later merging it with other gun companies to create the Freedom Group.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a statement from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, a large pension fund, that it was reviewing its investment in Cerberus in light of the firm’s holding in the Freedom Group.

Cerberus is one of several private equity firms that have holdings in gun manufacturers. Colt Defense, which was spun out of the maker of the .44-40 Colt revolver, is jointly owned by Sciens Capital Management, a fund advised by the Blackstone Group and another fund operated by Credit Suisse.

Separately, Dick’s Sporting Goods, a chain with more than 500 stores, said in a statement on its Web site that it was stopping all sales and displays of guns at its store closest to Newtown and was temporarily ceasing sales of modern rifles nationwide.

Walmart.com removed its information page on the Bushmaster .223, a semiautomatic model said to be used by the Newtown gunman, Adam Lanza. And Bass Pro Shop was not listing information about Bushmaster-brand guns on its Web site, though it had promoted the brand in a Black Friday special.

December 18, 2012 5:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"No country in the civilized world allows indiscriminate access to lethal weaponry like us,"

sure about that?

I guess by "civilized", you mean Europe, Japan and any Communist dictatorships

I guess by "lethal weaponry" you mean guns

here we control explosives and not guns, so our terrorists use guns to get attention

in the "civilized" world they use bombs

don't see a big difference

"and no country in the world comes anywhere near to American rates of gun violence per capita."

actually, if you remove certain high crime areas, we have a low rate of violence

the Newtown incident was in one of those safe areas but it still doesn't change the rates much,as horrible as it was

many more children of that age are killed in high crime areas every year and no one ever seems to care much

"If you think "freedom" means the freedom to kill people then you have an uphill battle to fight."

actually, no one thinks that

if you think freedom to own guns is the freedom to kill people, you don't know how to think

that's like saying freedom to own butcher knives is the freedom to hack people to death

"If you think you need to be free to protect yourself then start making a modest case -- you don't need an assault rifle, and many more people are accidentally killed than are killed committing crimes."

which just proves how generally safe America is

btw, since the Brady bill passed in 1994, there have been 70 school shootings in America

gun control doesn't work

locking up dangerous people would be more beneficial

better yet would be to ask the press to stop publicizing killers like folk heroes

I would love to see the press stop publishing the names of people who do this

attention is their motive

December 19, 2012 11:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

On Monday, the teachers and counselors in my children’s schools – and no doubt yours as well – talked with our kids about the atrocity that happened in Newtown, Conn., on Friday morning. They held town meetings and class discussions; they answered questions and offered hope. It was a continuation of the heartbreaking conversations we parents engaged in all weekend long with our sons and daughters, as we struggled to find words to explain the most unexplainable horror. But as the initial shock and sadness of the shooting begin to subside and we move forward, we’re going to choose how the tragedy will inform our lives. And we have a chance to not just console and reassure our kids, but to empower them.

Inspired by other “millions” marches of the past, a movement to hold a One Million Child march on Washington in February to lobby for “sane” gun laws has sprouted up on Facebook. It’s already garnered thousands of likes and RSVPs, because as the organizer, a father of two, asks, “Who could say no to a million kids? Not even Congress.” Aside from the fact that Congress has a long and storied history of flipping the bird at kids, minorities, the elderly, the disabled — you get the point – the march has the potential to become a galvanizing moment not just in the debate over guns, but in the lives of thousands of families. It’s an opportunity to teach kids the power of their voices, of their hope, of their love — and to show that power to the world.

Whether it’s an eighth-grader speaking out about sexism in Easy-Bake Ovens or a little boy turned eloquent advocate for same-sex unions, children now have unprecedented ability to have a say in the issues that directly affect them. And that’s how they learn to be kind, compassionate, fully engaged adults.

As it happened, on Friday my daughters were deeply engaged in the business of loss. We had a funeral to attend – for the father of a boy from their support group. I had, earlier in the week, hesitated to let the girls go, unsure about exposing them to even more loss and pain after a barrage of other parents’ deaths not long ago. Yet as familes sat together in that funeral home, on a day already so marked by grief, I was awestruck yet again at how gracefully children navigate through the most difficult of human experiences, if we give them the room to do so. How intuitively they find the grace within the pain, and touch each other’s hearts in a way that we adults can’t.

It is so, so hard to talk to our kids about sexism or homophobia or loss or violence. Our job as parents is to protect them from the worst things in the world. But the worst sometimes happens anyway. And when it does, the support and the strength that children can give each other are spectacularly unique and powerful. And while I’d much prefer to imagine a country where a million kids don’t have to come together to plead against violence, in the reality in which we live, it’s amazing to contemplate children standing together in a common cause. Children advocating on their own behalfs. And consoling each other through the storm.

December 19, 2012 8:07 PM  

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