Willie Escalade
12-16-2012, 11:00 PM
...To Gun-Toting, Tyranny-Fighting, ‘Kindergarteners Need To Carry Guns’ Preaching Americans
NOT MY WORDS...just an article passed to me.
http://samuel-warde.com/2012/12/open-letter-to-gun-toting-tyranny-fighting-kindergarteners-need-to-carry-guns-to-school-preaching-americans/
--------------------
The U.S. has experienced sixty-two mass shootings in the last 30 years at the average rate of two per year since 1982. However, twenty-five of those shootings occurred in the last six years and seven mass shootings this year alone.
The problem is escalating and there are clear reasons why and an objective understanding of those reasons will bring us answers.
For starters, the increase in firearms has far exceeded population growth in recent years. Back in 1995 there was an estimated 200 million guns in the hands of private citizens. Today, that number has increased at the rate of 50% to around 300 million. However, the U.S. population only increased by 20% during that same period. At this rate, by 2020 there will be a gun for every man, woman and child – if not sooner.
Additionally, of grave importance are the recent roll backs of gun restrictions across the United States. In the past 4 years alone the NRA and its political backers has pushed through 99 laws making guns easier to own and carry in public across 37 states. At the same time the NRA has been able to roll back laws enabling government to track guns.
Currently 8 states allow private citizens to take their firearms with them to bars and in Missouri, intoxicated individuals are allowed to shoot to kill, so long as they believe they are “acting in self-defense”. In Louisiana, citizens are allowed to take their guns to church and most alarming (considering the events of last week) Kansas allows ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons inside K-12 schools. Earlier this year the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons on college campuses making it the 5th state to allow firearms on campuses.
80% of our states now recognize gun permits from other states, creating grave concern over lax states such as Virginia where applicant need only complete a brief online course to obtain a weapons permit. Due to the ease of obtaining a permit in Virginia, the state is now being flooded with out-of-state applicants effectively making their regulations – or lack thereof – the law of the land in a majority of our country’s states.
The increase in firearms, coupled with the decrease in governmental regulation should be decreasing the number s of firearm deaths and mass shootings as gun advocates would have us believe – correct? In reality, the rates of firearm murders are not decreasing over the course of the past 30+ years, nor as shown above has the rate of mass shootings, To the contrary these numbers are increasing with the exception of the period of time the U.S. had a ban on assault rifles.
I’ve heard gun-toting friends claim, “It’s too bad one of the teachers wasn’t carrying.” What about that?
A recent study found one striking pattern in the data: “In not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. [...] And in recent rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed”.
The report goes on to note:
“Armed civilians attempting to intervene are actually more likely to increase the bloodshed, says [Dr. Stephen] Hargarten [a leading expert on gun violence and emergency medicine], ‘given that civilian shooters are less likely to hit their targets than police in these circumstances.’ A chaotic scene in August at the Empire State Building put this starkly into perspective when New York City police officers confronting a gunman wounded nine innocent bystanders.”
So the problems are clear – and the solutions rather obvious.
Mass shootings and deaths by firearm are not unique to the United States. However, what is unique is our inability to work towards any meaningful solutions.
Back in 2001 around 3,000 people were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center and the United States embarked on an ongoing global “War on Terrorism” which has cost literally tens of thousands of lives. Yet more than 10,000 people are being killed annually by firearms at home, but we are not allowed to even discuss solutions.
When automobiles, toys or other manufactured goods are deemed unsafe they are recalled. New laws and regulations put into place. When food items, drugs or medical procedures are deemed the same – there are quick solutions put into effect. Yet when tens of thousands of persons are killed by handguns over an incredibly short period of time with numbers escalating significantly in just the last few years – we are somehow deemed un-American for daring to ask questions, for asking for some sort of national dialogue on the matter.
To me, the problem seems to be a lack of clarity and vision by the gun lobby and other gun proponents. They consistently see things in terms of black and white. “I want my guns unfettered or restrained by any government regulation or oversight. You can pry my dead fingers off the trigger if you try in implement any control whatsoever.”
This attitude is contrasted by those of us on the other side of the fence who merely want to talk about solutions. I have never talked or written of going into people’s homes and seizing their guns. Nor have I ever spoken of taking away the right to bear arms. But there is a need for meaningful look at laws and regulations in light of the overwhelming evidence that what we currently have in place is simply not working.
And don’t be fooled by the claims of the gun lobby that private citizens do not want meaningful gun-control laws in place. They love to point to polls such as a recent one conducted by Pew that found only 45% of Americans favor the broad idea of stricter gun laws. However, polls asking more specific questions consistently paint a completely different picture.
For example, take a look at these figures:
88 percent want to prohibit those on the terror watch list from buying guns (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
86 percent believe in further background checks, regardless of where a gun is purchased (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
69 percent want to limit the number of guns a citizen can buy in a period of time (April 2012 Ipsos/Reuters poll)
66 percent want a National gun registry (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
63 percent want a ban on high capacity clips (January 2011 CBS News poll)
p.s.
1. For those of you wanting to whimper about Mexico, its ban on firearms and failure to curb gun related deaths, don’t forget that a huge majority of those firearms come from the USA. That Mexico stands as a shining testament to the fact that our overly lax gun laws are not only killing our own countrymen and women – they pose a threat to the stability of the entire continent.
2. For those of you wanting to whine about tyranny – in the words of my dearest friend:
“To all of you John Wayne wannabe douchewagons who think you need guns to protect us all from tyranny:
I would love to see any one of you have a go at the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, CIA, FBI, ATF, Border Patrol et al with their tanks, unmanned aerial drone, Hellfire missiles, Apache helicopters, F18s, B2 bombers and armored Hummers with 50 caliber roof-mounted fully automatic machine guns etc. with whatever you have in your gun cabinets. That is a stupid, antiquated argument that makes as much sense as trying to put out a fucking firestorm with a thimble full of water, you delusional lunatics.”
3. For those of you who are still not convinced that the whole problem with the mass shooting of 20 innocent children last week was a lack of more firearms on the scene, take a look at the videos included below you fucktards.
4. For those of you shrieking: this is not about guns – it is about mental health. Fuck-off. It is about guns. What person in their right mind want one who just “flew over the cuckoos nest” to be packing a weapon capable the literal annahiliation of dozens of people in mere seconds. And all you right-wing gun-packing Kool-Aid swilling fruitloops want to use a lack of proper health services as an excuse for the mass killing of children and not guns, how about we erect a mental asylum in your backyard? What was that? NIMBY? “Not in my backyard”? That is what I thought. And if you really believe that proper care is the answer, why are you lying awake a night worry about the socialistic, Nazi, facist, Marxist, communist Kenyan healthcare system???
5. And for all you liberals out there sitting there all smug, wrapped up in righteous indignation – don’t think for an instant that we are letting you off the hook just yet.
As we all know, GUNS KILL PEOPLE and it’s not politicizing anything to talk about it. Common sense dictates we do no less. WE DEMAND it stop right now. How long are we going to keep letting this happen and how many more people have to die before we cease allowing the lunatic-fringe conspiracy theorists, my pea-shooter is going to protect American from the imminent onslaught of tyranny, and NRA gun nuts run this country with their archaic arguments and fear-mongering nonsense?
If we are complacent about these horrors and continue to let Wayne LaPierre and his NRA cronies push us around, we have blood on our hands, too. It should be at least as difficult to legally own a gun as it is to legally drive a car.
WE NEED MORE GUN REGULATIONS NOW!
(Don’t forget, it’s working out pretty damn well for the rest of the planet.)
CCW permit holders don’t protect innocent people. They kill them.
NOT MY WORDS...just an article passed to me.
http://samuel-warde.com/2012/12/open-letter-to-gun-toting-tyranny-fighting-kindergarteners-need-to-carry-guns-to-school-preaching-americans/
--------------------
The U.S. has experienced sixty-two mass shootings in the last 30 years at the average rate of two per year since 1982. However, twenty-five of those shootings occurred in the last six years and seven mass shootings this year alone.
The problem is escalating and there are clear reasons why and an objective understanding of those reasons will bring us answers.
For starters, the increase in firearms has far exceeded population growth in recent years. Back in 1995 there was an estimated 200 million guns in the hands of private citizens. Today, that number has increased at the rate of 50% to around 300 million. However, the U.S. population only increased by 20% during that same period. At this rate, by 2020 there will be a gun for every man, woman and child – if not sooner.
Additionally, of grave importance are the recent roll backs of gun restrictions across the United States. In the past 4 years alone the NRA and its political backers has pushed through 99 laws making guns easier to own and carry in public across 37 states. At the same time the NRA has been able to roll back laws enabling government to track guns.
Currently 8 states allow private citizens to take their firearms with them to bars and in Missouri, intoxicated individuals are allowed to shoot to kill, so long as they believe they are “acting in self-defense”. In Louisiana, citizens are allowed to take their guns to church and most alarming (considering the events of last week) Kansas allows ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons inside K-12 schools. Earlier this year the Colorado Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons on college campuses making it the 5th state to allow firearms on campuses.
80% of our states now recognize gun permits from other states, creating grave concern over lax states such as Virginia where applicant need only complete a brief online course to obtain a weapons permit. Due to the ease of obtaining a permit in Virginia, the state is now being flooded with out-of-state applicants effectively making their regulations – or lack thereof – the law of the land in a majority of our country’s states.
The increase in firearms, coupled with the decrease in governmental regulation should be decreasing the number s of firearm deaths and mass shootings as gun advocates would have us believe – correct? In reality, the rates of firearm murders are not decreasing over the course of the past 30+ years, nor as shown above has the rate of mass shootings, To the contrary these numbers are increasing with the exception of the period of time the U.S. had a ban on assault rifles.
I’ve heard gun-toting friends claim, “It’s too bad one of the teachers wasn’t carrying.” What about that?
A recent study found one striking pattern in the data: “In not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. [...] And in recent rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, they not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed”.
The report goes on to note:
“Armed civilians attempting to intervene are actually more likely to increase the bloodshed, says [Dr. Stephen] Hargarten [a leading expert on gun violence and emergency medicine], ‘given that civilian shooters are less likely to hit their targets than police in these circumstances.’ A chaotic scene in August at the Empire State Building put this starkly into perspective when New York City police officers confronting a gunman wounded nine innocent bystanders.”
So the problems are clear – and the solutions rather obvious.
Mass shootings and deaths by firearm are not unique to the United States. However, what is unique is our inability to work towards any meaningful solutions.
Back in 2001 around 3,000 people were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center and the United States embarked on an ongoing global “War on Terrorism” which has cost literally tens of thousands of lives. Yet more than 10,000 people are being killed annually by firearms at home, but we are not allowed to even discuss solutions.
When automobiles, toys or other manufactured goods are deemed unsafe they are recalled. New laws and regulations put into place. When food items, drugs or medical procedures are deemed the same – there are quick solutions put into effect. Yet when tens of thousands of persons are killed by handguns over an incredibly short period of time with numbers escalating significantly in just the last few years – we are somehow deemed un-American for daring to ask questions, for asking for some sort of national dialogue on the matter.
To me, the problem seems to be a lack of clarity and vision by the gun lobby and other gun proponents. They consistently see things in terms of black and white. “I want my guns unfettered or restrained by any government regulation or oversight. You can pry my dead fingers off the trigger if you try in implement any control whatsoever.”
This attitude is contrasted by those of us on the other side of the fence who merely want to talk about solutions. I have never talked or written of going into people’s homes and seizing their guns. Nor have I ever spoken of taking away the right to bear arms. But there is a need for meaningful look at laws and regulations in light of the overwhelming evidence that what we currently have in place is simply not working.
And don’t be fooled by the claims of the gun lobby that private citizens do not want meaningful gun-control laws in place. They love to point to polls such as a recent one conducted by Pew that found only 45% of Americans favor the broad idea of stricter gun laws. However, polls asking more specific questions consistently paint a completely different picture.
For example, take a look at these figures:
88 percent want to prohibit those on the terror watch list from buying guns (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
86 percent believe in further background checks, regardless of where a gun is purchased (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
69 percent want to limit the number of guns a citizen can buy in a period of time (April 2012 Ipsos/Reuters poll)
66 percent want a National gun registry (January 2011 American ViewPoint/Momentum Analysis poll)
63 percent want a ban on high capacity clips (January 2011 CBS News poll)
p.s.
1. For those of you wanting to whimper about Mexico, its ban on firearms and failure to curb gun related deaths, don’t forget that a huge majority of those firearms come from the USA. That Mexico stands as a shining testament to the fact that our overly lax gun laws are not only killing our own countrymen and women – they pose a threat to the stability of the entire continent.
2. For those of you wanting to whine about tyranny – in the words of my dearest friend:
“To all of you John Wayne wannabe douchewagons who think you need guns to protect us all from tyranny:
I would love to see any one of you have a go at the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, CIA, FBI, ATF, Border Patrol et al with their tanks, unmanned aerial drone, Hellfire missiles, Apache helicopters, F18s, B2 bombers and armored Hummers with 50 caliber roof-mounted fully automatic machine guns etc. with whatever you have in your gun cabinets. That is a stupid, antiquated argument that makes as much sense as trying to put out a fucking firestorm with a thimble full of water, you delusional lunatics.”
3. For those of you who are still not convinced that the whole problem with the mass shooting of 20 innocent children last week was a lack of more firearms on the scene, take a look at the videos included below you fucktards.
4. For those of you shrieking: this is not about guns – it is about mental health. Fuck-off. It is about guns. What person in their right mind want one who just “flew over the cuckoos nest” to be packing a weapon capable the literal annahiliation of dozens of people in mere seconds. And all you right-wing gun-packing Kool-Aid swilling fruitloops want to use a lack of proper health services as an excuse for the mass killing of children and not guns, how about we erect a mental asylum in your backyard? What was that? NIMBY? “Not in my backyard”? That is what I thought. And if you really believe that proper care is the answer, why are you lying awake a night worry about the socialistic, Nazi, facist, Marxist, communist Kenyan healthcare system???
5. And for all you liberals out there sitting there all smug, wrapped up in righteous indignation – don’t think for an instant that we are letting you off the hook just yet.
As we all know, GUNS KILL PEOPLE and it’s not politicizing anything to talk about it. Common sense dictates we do no less. WE DEMAND it stop right now. How long are we going to keep letting this happen and how many more people have to die before we cease allowing the lunatic-fringe conspiracy theorists, my pea-shooter is going to protect American from the imminent onslaught of tyranny, and NRA gun nuts run this country with their archaic arguments and fear-mongering nonsense?
If we are complacent about these horrors and continue to let Wayne LaPierre and his NRA cronies push us around, we have blood on our hands, too. It should be at least as difficult to legally own a gun as it is to legally drive a car.
WE NEED MORE GUN REGULATIONS NOW!
(Don’t forget, it’s working out pretty damn well for the rest of the planet.)
CCW permit holders don’t protect innocent people. They kill them.