New Yorker: We ask babies to have more courage facing guns than politicians facing gun lobby

[Tsiyu]

Last edited Fri Dec 14, 2012, 11:04 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/12/the-newtown-shooting-kindergarteners-and-courage.html


Some of the info is wrong here as to the father being shot, but Amy Davidson asks an important question:

"The contrast here is not only between the civility of the children and the cruelty of the shooter, but between what was asked of them at this moment and how little the public and elected officials ask of themselves when it comes to doing something about gun violence. *snip* How do we find ourselves asking kindergarteners to be more courageous in the face of a gunman than politicians are in the face of the gun lobby?"

From Reuters Michelle McLoughlin




Young Children wait outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after a shooting in Newtown.












Amy Davidson: you hit the nail on the head.

[Skittles]

1. but that is natural

the gun lobby represents cowards

[bettyellen]

2. selfish cowards and gun manufacturers. good read!

[Tsiyu]

4. That's my take away

been doing research for a book on dysfunctional "preppers" and arsenal owners.

They are scared chicken littles, petrified of the world, and I'm amazed how honest many of them are in admitting online how often they pee their pants while hunting or out in the woods because they "hear something scary." Honestly, the ones who claim to have the most weapons are the most timid and freaked out by the world.

Yet they have no problem when kindergarten students have to brave their way out of a gunman's sights. All they care about is they might not get to keep their security blankets - also known as arsenals big enough to take down small cities.

They are lily-livered chicken shit scum, and the politicians who fellate them are cowardly PIGS.

Small children are braver than the cowering, simpering NRA-licking politicians, who should all be ashamed to even show their poltroonish faces.

[UndahCovah]

7. I would ask you

to take back what you said about preppers. The world is a very dangerous, unpredictable place. Have you ever been to a third world country? Well guess what, I have.

Look at all the shit going down all over the world. Do you think America is impervious, protected, magically-untouchable? This country is headed for a fall. In my opinion, the foolish ones are the people who are unable or unwilling to see that, and refuse to make provisions for their safety.

Prepare, then prepare again. Don't stick your head in the sand and pretend that you are somehow going to be protected; protect yourself. I'm not referring to guns in particular, BTW.

[SunSeeker]

10. Stats prove having a gun in the house ain't gonna protect you; it will kill you.

You're 43 times more likely to be killed by your own gun than by an intruder's. You are unlikely to have an intruder. But you are very likely to get drunk, get depressed, get in a fight with someone in your house, or have your kid find your gun. That's how people get killed. Having a gun in the house makes it far more likely that you'll get your own head blown off.

That's why it is so crazy to suggest you should buy a gun for your own protection. I would imagine this woman knew her son had mental issues. Ironically, maybe she thought those guns would protect her from him.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/more-guns-more-suicides/

[UndahCovah]

11. As I said,

I'm NOT particularly referring to guns. General prepping for any kind of emergency is a wise choice, not a dysfunctional one. The truth is, this world IS a scary place to live, and a lot of bad shit can happen to a person. You can minimize or avert at least some of it by being prepared.

[tblue37]

12. You forgot to say "not." nt

[SunSeeker]

15. I keep an earthquake kit in my car, house and office.

But an earthquake kit ain't gonna kill me or anyone else. A gun, on the other hand, will make it more likely I or someone close to me will die.

[themandylion]

21. Cars kill, too

I'm not trying to kill intruders. I'm trying to persuade them to disengage and leave after filling their underwear, when they see and/or hear I am not a helpless victim.

There are thousands upon thousands of instances annually of home invaders leaving in a hurry when a gun is presented against them. No one dies BECAUSE of that firearm.

I'm not about to sit for several minutes "hoping" the police get to me before the home-invading goon makes it to my children or I.

[AllyCat]

25. Cars have some useful other function.

And require some actual testing and licensing to drive them. Cars and guns are not even close in argument.

[SunSeeker]

29. Your kids are 43 times more likely to be killed by your gun than a "home-invading goon."

Did you join DU just to tell us "cars kill too"?

Surgery kills people too, but like cars, the vast majority of the time, except for accidents, it serves its purpose of aiding us in living our lives. Guns are only built to kill. Guns don't help us live our lives. On the contrary, most of the time, a gun kills its owner rather than anyone else.

[ananda]

31. Cars are designed to roll fast and take you somewhere, not to kill.

Guns are designed for only one thing: to kill.

[Sheldon Cooper]

33. I love these narratives.

'leave after filling their underwear'. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? It's not enough that you have to scare off an intruder, you HAVE to include that you've made him shit his pants. So macho.

[magical thyme]

35. Welcome to DU.

Enjoy your visit. Keep it short, Mr. Cars Kill People Too.

[RetroLounge]

14. Oh, grow the fuck up

RL

[UndahCovah]

16. Whatever

I hope you never have to weather any kind of disaster.

[RetroLounge]

17. Fuck you.

_!_

RL

[smirkymonkey]

37. +1000

[UndahCovah]

39. Whats your problem?

[Cerridwen]

18. Do you have the courage of a kindergartener?

I would speculate...no.

I'd also speculate you made a wrong turn.

I'm weird that way.

Yannow, going under cover means not saying so. I'm just sayin'.

[lsewpershad]

22. WTH

are you talking about? Do you which country in the world has killed more people in the world?

[DainBramaged]

26. Prepare for the Gay takeover, war against the Constitution, invasion of the Liberals?

War on Christmas? FAUX news lies and people die?


What is this prepare you are so enamored with?


Remember, a vote for Romney was a wasted vote.

[_ed_]

32. "Have you ever been to a third world country? Well guess what, I have."

Wow, you need help.

[Tsiyu]

36. Guess I should have put "Dyfunctional" in quotes as it was the qualifier

I have no problem with those who prep, but the arguments some of them have over SHTF are absolutely stunning.

If I have to live in a world where I shoot a small child who comes to my door hungry, and live inside a bunker like a dog, and absolutely hate my fellow human beings over "stuff" I think I'd rather "die with the stupid masses" as some preppers might say.


There's a life to live right here and now, and people who need help right here and now, and stickpiling shit just pales in importance to that.

YMMV.

[myrna minx]

3. K&R -

[Iris]

5. Damn straight.

[riverwalker]

6. exactly

How do we find ourselves asking kindergarteners to be more courageous in the face of a gunman than politicians are in the face of the gun lobby?"

[Ilsa]

8. Gun nuts afraid of the nonexistent boogeyman cowardly

ask kindergartners to face the real boogeyman.

[horsedoc]

9. Nothing but tears today...

Our leaders have failed us time and again.

[DallasNE]

13. As A Parent The Last Sentences Really Strike Home

Here is how Amy Davidson concluded her article. It is so moving it needs to be repeated here.

Guns make it easier for a killer. They make it impossibly hard for parents who arrive, dazed and pleading, at the firehouse in Connecticut where the surviving schoolchildren were taken, and don’t find the one they were looking for there.

That would be sheer, unimaginable terror.

[Tsiyu]

38. Chilled me to the bone

There wil be arms aching to hold those little ones, aching to tell them how much they love them, and there will be courageous family and friends who must carry on with excrucuiating knowledge of the terror in those childrens' last moments.

But that's a worthy sacrifice the gun lobby doesn't have to make, nor the politicians who quake and quiver at their feet.

They want the babies and their families to be the brave ones.

[forestpath]

19. She sure did.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

23. No One Wants Your Guns in Our Schools

.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

24. Is Living without Fear of Gun Violence Also a Freaking Civil Right?

[SunSeeker]

30. Oy. Again with the "20 kids were stabbed in China"!

It takes a helluva lot longer to chase someone down and stab them to death than to shoot them. If that mentally ill nutbag in China had a gun or assault rifle, many more...probably many dozens...of kids would have been killed in the China incident--like that gun nut in Norway who mowed down 77 kids with his assault rifle.

My family were victims of both Stalin and Hitler as well. A gun did not protect my family and it would not have protected your family from Hitler and Stalin's bombs and tanks.

Take your bullshit somewhere else.

[Cha]

27. That is the way to state it..

What a compelling pic that is..

Thank you Tsiyu

[nolabear]

28. That's the shit right there. I wish I'd written it. You can be sure I'll share.

[Whovian]

34. K&R. Clear and to the point. n/t