AndyS
AndyS's JournalIt's a constant now and it doesn't have to be.
Yesterday 9 people killed in San Jose. In Dallas/Fort Worth and environs three police officers killed in a standoff, a man was shot by police while holding a woman at gunpoint, three people were killed in a domestic argument and I'm only mentioning the headlines not the mundane everyday violence. Mundane everyday violence? Yeah, it's a thing now.
What the fuck is wrong with us? Texas just passed an open carry law that allows anyone 21 years and over to openly carry a loaded handgun with no permit, no training and no background check joining 19 other states. I repeat, What the fuck is wrong with us?
It doesn't have to be this way. Even without confiscating most of the guns in civilian hands (my preferred approach) IT CAN BE FIXED.
Expand background checks to include ALL gun transfers. Open background checks to include violent misdemeanors as well as felonies. Extend those checks to local law enforcement to include social media content, interviews with family and employers/fellow employees. Require this background check to receive a 'permit to purchase' with a three month expiration date. Include in that permit to purchase a requirement for mandatory safety training and proof of liability insurance before purchase.
None of this is unconstitutional. The gunner argument against this is that it inconveniences 'Law Abiding Citizens'.
Well, I've got some news for ya, Gunner. It's damned inconvenient to stop your everyday life and plan a damn funeral.
Can somebody please explain this to me? Anybody?
The Israeli Palestinian conflict has raged for 9 days.
They are at war with each other using rockets, missiles and other weapons of mass destruction. Deaths have reached more than 200.
Meanwhile in America about 750 people have been killed with guns.
President Biden is calling for a cease fire in the Middle east region. Can we have a cease fire here in America?
I just don't understand how two Peoples at open war with each other using weapons of mass destruction can only manage to kill 200 while we here in America can kill three times that with easily available civilian guns while we are at peace.
Can somebody please explain this to me? ANYBODY??
(because somebody will ask for a link to support my numbers, JUST GOOGLE IT FOR GOD'S SAKE)
How background checks for guns should work.
I'd like to see some serious reform of the background check system. As it is a search of the FBI data base for felony crimes and a search for involuntary mental care is about all there is.
This is how I'd like to see the background checks be made more effective:
Include a 'permit to purchase' issued by the nearest local law enforcement department. These people are nearest to the purchaser and if there are concerns they will be the ones who know about them. Is this person a scofflaw, causes disturbances not rising to the level of felony, a repeat minor offender or someone who is often in the attention of law enforcement for disturbance of the peace? Shouldn't that be grounds for increased scrutiny and at least a temporary prohibition? Include interviews with relatives and others close to the person to see if there are concerns about maturity and stability in that 'permit to purchase' process.
Include a search of public social media. How many times have we heard of a 'Manifesto' or outright threats found on social media AFTER a tragedy? Shouldn't a threat to 'put a bullet' in the head of Nancy Pelosi be grounds to refuse sales and temporarily remove firearms from someone?
Expand mental health prohibitions to anyone treated for a condition that would indicate a possibility of harm to themselves or others even if not rising to the level of an involuntary committal for care.
Beyond that those who know me know I favor the prohibition of all semi automatic firearms that have interchangeable magazines of any size. I see that as the only way to reduce the volume of deaths and injuries--make it harder to shoot fast and reload fast. If we can't prevent people from killing other people shouldn't at least make it inconvenient to kill a lot of them?
One bad apple spoils the barrel.
The whole barrel.
Like, every damn apple in the fucking barrel.
So, Police Officers, if you don't like being painted with that broad brush, stop covering for the BAD APPLE.
If a fellow cop holds racists beliefs, you know it and you know HE AIN'T YA' BROTHER.
If a fellow cop trades sex for a traffic ticket HE AIN'T YA' BROTHER.
Get the fuck over it and clean up your house.
You know who they are. You know what to do.
I live in a small N Texas town, usually votes R by 70%.
I have a Tarrant Co. Dems t shirt and a Moms Demand Action shirt. I don't wear them in public 'cause I just don't need the aggravation. However today I was wearing my MDA shirt, not planning to go out, and had to make a quick trip the pharmacy.
As I expected I was confronted---by a woman who asked where she could get a shirt like it! Didn't see that coming.
Contact info for Texas Legislators.
Governor Gregg Abbott
https://gov.texas.gov/contact
Speaker of the House Dade Phelan
https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/email/?district=21&session=87
Find your state and national legislators.
https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
After the freeze and once I got electric and internet back I sent missives to every one of those in elected office.
A paraphrase of my missive to Gregg Abbott:
'It is time to re-think the policies of the last two decades. Our approach to energy, regulation and the national grid has resulted in the deaths of Texans. Let that sink in. Texans have died for the sake of energy producer's profits.
We must rejoin the national grid with any regulation that goes with that. As the founders said, "We must hang together for surely we will all hang separately." Don't leave Texas hanging alone.'
Why we can't have nice things
======
When National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre says things like, “The guys with the guns make the rules”, or politicians and elected officials say, “We will rely on second amendment remedies”, what they mean is that people with guns will, in fact, set the political agenda and settle political disputes. That is a profoundly undemocratic idea. As Abe Lincoln famously said, “Any appeal from the ballot box to the bullet box must fail.” We are a country based on the rule of law. Guns don’t make you a super citizen with the ability to make special rules or have special political influence because you happen to be armed.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/18/guns-are-a-way-to-exercise-power-how-the-idea-of-overthrowing-the-government-became-mainstream
I have heard this 'insurrection theory of the 2nd Amendment' argued right here on DU. I have yet to have anyone explain to me just why the founders would go to such pains to create a government of, by and for the People and then espouse the possibility of destroying it through violent revolution. Nor have any of them explained to me why, if they believed such overthrow might be advised, they included Article III Section 3 in the document that created it.
Regardless of any reasoned explanation to the contrary it is a widely held belief fostered by every gun rights advocate and furthered by the marketing by gun makers.
As the sign in the mall says, You are here. What can be done to counter this insurrection inspiring dogma that has adherents wearing combat gear into government buildings and plotting the kidnapping and murder of heads of state?
I suggest that the best place to begin is to ban the manufacture, import, sale, transfer and possession of any semi automatic weapon that accepts interchangeable magazines.
This is not who we are . . .
I keep hearing this.
A Muslim ban, this is not who we are . . .
Children in cages, this is not who we are . . .
George Floyd, this is not who we are . . .
Nazis in Charlottesville, this is not who we are . . .
White supremacists storm the Capital, this is not who we are . . .
THIS IS EXACTLY WHO WE ARE.
Who we always have been.
If we, the white, privileged, moderate, mainstream Americans don't realize and embrace this, THAT THIS IS WHO WE ARE, it is who we will always be.
Martin Luther King tried to show us the way. We killed him. John and Bobby tried to show us the way. We killed them. Abraham Lincoln tried to show us the way. We killed him.
WE DID THIS. The white, privileged, moderate, mainstream Americans.
Trump has shown us who we are. If it weren't Trump it would be someone else.
The only question remaining is, now that we've been shown will we see? Will this upheaval that pulled the curtain aside, that held the mirror to our face and exposed us to ourselves will we seize this as an opportunity for redemption or quietly settle back into who we are?
I fear the answer.
Why we can't have nice things
It's been said that, at it's most base, the job of the Military is to tear things up and kill people. Of course that's an over simplification and definitely not a primary mission but in there somewhere is that last option.
In the implementation of that last option the Military has a LOT of guns and a LOT of people well trained to use them. So, how does the Military treat guns which are so vital to it's mission?
Why don't do what James Fallows, a reporter for the Atlantic, did and ask an Army Officer:
. . .
In the Army, firearms are stored under lock, key, and sometimes guard, and god help you if one goes missing—the post shuts down and a frenzied search bordering on a religious quest begins. After basic training, soldiers are required to go through a few hours of refresher training with practical drills before they are even allowed on a range for individual shooting qualification. These are ranges that are heavily monitored, with a monumental emphasis on safety.
. . .
Can many of the gun-rights advocates be heard seriously advocating for hours and hours of training and qualification by competent authorities before a civilian is allowed to own the same weapon soldiers carry? Perhaps, but I am not aware of it….
. . .
To put a final twist on Oscar Wilde, even in the niche of American gun culture we are living with both extreme barbarism and extreme decadence, with only a precarious sliver of civilization in between.
There is so much more context in the article and it's a good read. Four paragraphs are very limiting so I hope you take the time to at least scan it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2018/03/an-army-officer-says-regulate-weapons-just-like-we-do-in-the-military/554816/
From another article in the series:
. . .
The AR-15 was developed specifically as a military weapon to replace the M-14. It was probably one of the first major weapons systems to be privately developed following the DOD's decision to privatize the design and development function. This function had heretofore been carried out by publicly funded government operations, most notably, in the case of military small arms, the Springield Arsenal.
. . .
Only after civilian manufacturers like Colt's made boatloads of money producing M16A1's and selling them to the government did someone (I believe it was Colt's Firearms) decide to make and sell a semi-automatic-only version of the weapon for civilian sale. It was, of course, known as the AR-15.
. . .
Like Eugene Stoner, whose mission was producing better equipment for the military, I do not believe that there is any place in the civilian world for a family of weapons that were born as an assault rifle. I am a staunch supporter of properly equipping our nation's military but also of effective gun control for weapons available to civilians, to include banning those which are inappropriate outside a military context.
As with the first article this one has much more context and is is worth the read or at least a scan.
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/11/why-the-ar-15-was-never-meant-to-be-in-civilians-hands/545438/
These articles are part of series with the other parts linked at the end. I anticipate that I'll be posting from them as well assuming the assembling militias in our state capitols don't preempt me.
I ask again, is it time to talk about the free access to guns in American society?
In light of recent events and warnings of pending events . . .
There are more than 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States, or enough for every man, woman and child to own one and still have 67 million guns left over.
About one in three Americans owns all these guns.
About one third of gun owners own 5 or more.
Just about 5% of gun owners who are not collectors of curios and relics own 15 or more.
Two thirds of gun owners cite protection (presumably from other people with guns) as reason for owning a gun.
There are 285 pages of safety regulations that apply to cars. None for guns.
Deaths from autos has steadily declined since the 1960s, from guns a steady increase.
Last year 40,000 people died from gunshot in the United States, three times that (120,000) were injured.
80% of mass shootings happened with legally purchased guns by people who qualified as law abiding before they slaughtered fellow Americans.
2020 saw yet another record set in gun sales.
The FBI, after the seditious attack on the Nation's Capital, warns that similar protests are planned for ALL 50 STATE CAPITALS.
Is it time yet to discuss the easy access to guns in the United States?
Disclaimer: as a former Federal Firearms Licensee for Curios and Relics I own more than five guns, all but one designed before WWI and one before WWII. As such I was background checked by the ATF, State and local law enforcement and probably by the Animal Control Officer in my city.
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Gender: MaleHometown: Pelican Bay, TX 76020
Home country: United States
Current location: home
Member since: Thu Jan 20, 2005, 02:07 PM
Number of posts: 14,559