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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBBC reporter’s sobering advice to America: ‘Break’ the NRA or your mass shootings will never stop
On Wednesdays Morning Business Report, BBC presenter Adnan Nawaz pointed out that journalists still did not have all of the details about the shooting in San Bernardino.
There have been more mass shootings in the United States this year than there have been days this year, Nawaz noted. Were at about 330-odd days with 350+ mass shootings. And its becoming far too common as far as almost any sensible person including President Obama is concerned.
Words of true wisdom!
Amazing I have to go out of my country to learn real news and perspectives about my country.
The Roux Comes First
(1,279 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)Not to mention this SCOTUS that misinterpreted it.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)The right to bear arms does entail that some deaths will be caused by firearms.
However:
1- the overall crime rate in the US is not greater than the world average
2- the fact citizens owns weapons is a deterrent against invasion or tyranny
The issue has different aspects , but a BBC journalist alone certainly doesn't solve it.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Should every household run out and load up on military weapons? Why have Americans become so cowardly?
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)Democracies are young, imperfect flowers.
Never take them for granted.
imho.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)Check, it's there.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)to kill.
Never trust democracy and freedom are eternal.
I feel safer knowing there are checks and balances.
That's the main reason I am for the right to bear arms.
But I also like the fact it deterred a famous Japanese Admiral.
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)1- when citizens do not have weapons, it is possible
for a person to stay in power unopposed (Mugabe, rigging elections using police)
for a small, determined group to seize and hold power against the majority (Lenin in 17-22)
2- the quote by Admiral Yamamoto, while maybe apocryphal, does reflect something rather true. I don't think anyone, China included, could entertain any hope of holding the continental US.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)Skittles
(152,967 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)I suppose next you will claim other countries aren't as free as us.
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)I was talking about democracies in general.
And at 'Democracy Index' rankings, the US is never at the top.
Besides, where would you ever have detected nationalism in anything I ever wrote, I wonder.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Invasion from WHO?
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)But China itself was invaded and ruled by the Mongols.
Who is to say who would want to invade the US one day?
History grinds slowly but grinds exceedingly fine.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)Just to know.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)The second largest in the US Navy.
It's doubtful they'll go against each other outside of the gridiron.
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)But the US military predominance will be out in one or two decades.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)The fact the US will remain eternally as it is is presumptuous.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)Yorktown
(2,884 posts)Example: Califronia and Nevada secede to keep sole exploitation of mines of birchtonium which have been discovered in 2072 and is incredibly valuable (birchtonium being the primary additive to make zlapisctrum, as anyone knows)
To keep on to their riches, they invite in China which has turned ultracapitalistic and inclusive while the US East Coast is ruled by a US President which wants to levy a tax on birchtonium mines.
It's just one scenario. I don't know the future, but the chances of the USA having the same borders as today in 100 years time are historically doubtful.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They're the invaders.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)so we wouldn't have to pay any fucking attention to what the British say?
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)LibDemAlways
(15,139 posts)nonessential business travel to the US. If citizens of other countries stopped coming until stricter gun control measures were enacted, and corporate America suffered as a result, Congress might finally decide to act. Money is the only thing these assholes understand.
branford
(4,462 posts)ErikJ
(6,335 posts)to battle the gun industry in Washington.
MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)...that's just a symptom of the larger problem. We have to break the hold of monied interests in politics. They are now simply lobbyists for the gun industry. You cannot break that until you break the system that supports it.
flamingdem
(39,304 posts)They must see us as barbarians. There is no excuse. I wish they'd come save us, I will bow to the queen I swear!!!
elmac
(4,642 posts)rockfordfile
(8,682 posts)Boudica the Lyoness
(2,899 posts)I was chopping down ivy in my very elderly parent's garden and asked my 75 yr old uncle if he could sharpen the ax I was using. He said sure and put on the back seat of his car to take to his house to sharpen it. Suddenly his wife shouted in horror and he jumped out and put the ax in his trunk. They were afraid of getting arrested for possession of a deadly weapon.
You can't own pepper spray/mace, carry any sort of point sharp object. You can't hurt a criminal while they are in your house doing you mischief. Fuck the BBC.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)Because your uncle's wife thinks they could get arrested for having an axe on the back seat of the car? Or carry any sharp object? Please.
Perhaps you think we should all have automatic rifles over here so that we can take them with us when we go out grocery shopping? You know, just to prove how free we are and to settle any arguments over a parking space?
Boudica the Lyoness
(2,899 posts)And to you that sounds ludicrous, like it should. The offense weapon laws in the UK are the end result of taking away people's rights to defend themselves. They understand if a gun is a weapon so is a ax, hammer, screw driver. You can only carry those objects if you are performing your job that requires them.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)I couldn't agree more, except they carry lots of Star Trek and those occasional shows about big breasts.
Hekate
(90,202 posts)napi21
(45,806 posts)I however would modify it to BREAK THE STRANGLEHOLD THE NRA HAS ON OUR LAWMAKERS! There are lots of ways to improve the gun mess we now have WITHOUT infringing on the second amendment. The dumb asses in the Senate voted a good one down today! Why are you all so upset that omeone from another country pointed out our failure regarding guns? Truth hurts?
My hubby is a lifetime member of the NRA, but he's told them EVERY TIME THEY CALL that they are 100% WRONG in their stubborn position of "NO RESTRICTIONS" on guns. When he's not available I tell them the same thing. They called once trying to convince he how BAD Obama is. They hung up when he told them H thought he was doing a good job.
I understand that a lot of the members of the NRA feel the same as we do and are not afraid to voice their opinion. I want the patsies in congress to vote for what's best for the Country, their campaign contributions be damned!
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)There is no way to "dismantle" the NRA unless you want to trample the first, second, and fourth amendments.
And I'm not going to support that.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)I've been yelling it from the rooftops for 2 days. If you want to scuttle the NRA, join the NRA because then you can vote for leadership.
They only have 5M members and most of those people don't vote for their leadership. It wouldn't take a lot of effort to swamp-out their leadership by stacking the ranks with people that want real gun-control change. It doesn't require trampling the Constitution...it just requires planned action.
Join the NRA so you too can vote to fire Wayne LaPierre!
ileus
(15,396 posts)It's not a silly 5 million membership to a non-profit that's for sure.
But it's an easy target so the brits can go for it I suppose.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)It's not hard really. Most members of the NRA eligible to vote for their leadership don't vote.
I figure it would only take about 25,000 gun-control activists to swamp-out the NRA membership, nominate an alternate slate of board members and directors, vote for those alternates thus removing the hardliners from the board and kicking Wayne LaPierre out on his ass, advocate for sensible gun-control laws, and deprive the gun-nutters of both their largest war-chest and loudest mouthpiece. It wouldn't take as much to break the NRA as some people think.
It's a 9-figure war-chest and it would only take a bit of planned action to take it from the rabid gun-nuts forever.
The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)It's that whole Revolutionary War thing. They didn't forget.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)They are sooooo surprised at the difference in news coverage, from what gets covered to its depth and to the context it's placed.
They're even amazed at how different CNN covers the news from back home sweet home.
I've asked some if they feel like fish out of water, being journalists swimming around in a pool of falsehood, and they just stare back then look away.
patsimp
(915 posts)we'll see what happens to their support for their twisted version of the 2nd amendment.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)I don't think it was very smart to make that particular comment at this particular time.
Snobblevitch
(1,958 posts)not a question about guns in the U.S.
It is common in U.S. television to see reporters and anchors from the U.K. Is it common in the U.K. to see TV reporters and anchors who are from the U.S.? I have wondered about this for a while. (This is not about guns, I have a background in broadcasting.)
Township75
(3,535 posts).