Dear America - I weep for you

[malaise]

Guns kill

[Rex]

1. I don't weep, I am fucking pissed off!

A lot of good, innocent people died yesterday. We have a Congress that refuses to listen to 92% of the American population. We have a problem and it starts with Con-gress. I am personally cringing every time I see Obama get up on stage and start crying and begging for help. It distresses me to see the POTUS do that.

It is really pissing me off how all we can do is say shit like CALL CONGRESS RIGHT FUCKING NOW! as a joke. And to learn all they do all day long is beg for money so they can start the race all over again.

America, we need to talk. Congress, pull up a chair we need to have that serious adult conversation. America has something to say.

[malaise]

2. Rex if this doesn't change attitudes

nothing will. I remember the slaughter of the little ones - and they did nothing. Now it's the police.
I remembered Colorado where people called the cops about this man with a rifle and were told they couldn't do anything about it because of open carry. Then he slaughtered people. And they buried them and had flowers and prayers and candles and teddy bears.

It's the guns that kill.

But there is irony - the two black men killed weren't allowed that open carry right. And the first person they were looking for last night - he was a suspect because he was doing what all the white men can do - open carry.

It's the guns - but it's also institutional racism most foul.

[malaise]

32. Huh? n/t

[Rex]

61. Agree 100%

It is the guns.

[chillfactor]

3. and what will Congress do today about gun control?

NOTHING! They are too wrapped up in emails and perjury to worry about innocent people dying.

[pinboy3niner]

4. They're outraged over (c) but couldn't care less about (c)arnage

As long as those NRA buck$ keep coming.

[brer cat]

15. +1 nt

[malaise]

5. They willtalk about thoughts, prayers

and have one minute of silence

[pinboy3niner]

6. Their minutes of silence are now eating up almost as much time as their recesses. nt

[malaise]

8. LOL

Yep - over and over and over and over

[Mira]

33. You made me laugh out loud

In the midst of all the pain

[malaise]

50. pinboy3niner hsd perfected the art

of using humor to keep us sane while making profound points

[pinboy3niner]

67. Thankyou, malaise

I do try to do that.

But sometimes it's just my profound fart jokes.

[malaise]

68. I try hard not to miss your posts

[Albertoo]

7. Terrorism is rising and terrorists will always find guns.

Hardly the right time to disarm American citizens.

[pinboy3niner]

11. WTF? It's the PROLIFERATION of guns in America that leads to gun tragedies and carnage

On all levels.

[Albertoo]

12. There has been a PROLIFERATION of islamist terrorist attacks worldwide this Ramadan

There's been a spike of killings from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia (where there's gun control).

Have you already forgotten about San Bernardino and Orlando? Brussels and Paris?

Example of a control on firearms with terrorist attack: Saudi Arabia:

In Saudi Arabia there is no legal market for firearms.

However, many types of firearms are available on the black market, from 22lr pistols to fully automatic light machine guns like RPD and RPK. Their prices in the black market are approximately four or five times the average market price. The price for an AK47 ranges between $2,500 to $10,000 depending on the type and manufacturer.

[pinboy3niner]

16. I never, ever would have even guessed YOU would be eager to pin this on Muslims

Never in a brazillion years.

[malaise]

20. LOL

Perfect

[Albertoo]

24. It's absolutely perfect to brush aside the question of islamic terrorism?

OK, no problem. Maybe in Jamaica.

[AntiBank]

35. Jamaica????? wtf,are you trying to go stupid and racial cuz Malaise has a Marley avatar???

wtf wtf

[malaise]

37. I live in Kingston

Jamaica

[AntiBank]

38. ahhh , did not know that. my ex wife is from St. Elizabeth.

[malaise]

52. I know St Bess well

[AntiBank]

56. I miss her cooking the most. my God did she make the best food

mannish water, run down, jerk pork cooked over pimento wood, homemade patties with koko bread, cow cod soup

we always took turns cooking but my slop was a fail, lol

[malaise]

57. Love it

[AntiBank]

39. I apologise for the stupid post. I own my mistakes.

[Albertoo]

43. Apology accepted

I'm not here to fight

[AntiBank]

46. me neither. sorry for the kneejerk on my part.

[Albertoo]

48. It's all good

[Albertoo]

23. I just mentioned disarming isn't sensible when foreign/ideological attacks increase

Now, if you want to think islamist terrorism isn't a growing problem that needs to be alerted about, suit yourself.

[Rex]

62. He wants to arm everyone with guns.

Lost cause imo.

[pinboy3niner]

64. Gunz and Islamophobia. I can think of some sites where that is popular.

[Rex]

66. You know it.

Right on the money. Two things that go hand in hand imo.

[Skittles]

70. paranoid gun humpers are EVERYWHERE

[malaise]

19. FFS - stop and think

When did all this shit start?

[Albertoo]

26. Which shit? Islamic terrorism? Somewhere around 615AD

When Muhammad started attacking peaceful Arab caravans from/to Mecca

(sometimes during the then 'holy' month, contrarily to the customs of the times)

[morningfog]

31. What the actual fuck does Islamic terrorism have to do with the police killings of black men and the

sniper killings last night?

[Albertoo]

45. The answer is in post #23

[morningfog]

49. That makes no sense.

[Albertoo]

53. Try googling the (long) list of worldwide islamist terrorist cases in recent months

Attacks on soft targets (public gatherings) mostly in countries with gun control

Sorry, I think it's wiser to stick to guns while this trend isn't stemmed.

[morningfog]

30. Yeah. We need a bunch of terrorist-shootin' bravados to fix this! MORE GUNS!

[Albertoo]

47. Your answer is totally off topic re: what I wrote

You simply are not addressing the fact terrorism is on the rise, targetting soft targets, and that eliminating random weapons from these soft targets enables the terrorist butchers.

See Paris, Istanbul Airport, Bardo museum in Tunis, etc, etc,

ad nauseam.

[morningfog]

51. YOUR entire angle in this thread is off topic.

I am not at all afraid of islamic terrorism. I am much more concerned with anyone, including your boogey men, having easy access to firearms.

[Albertoo]

54. Well, I congratulate you for your optimism

I do not share it.

In practical terms, I wish the owners of the Pulse disco in Orlando had had one or two guns.

[Quantess]

9. This is a tragic day for the USA.

I feel bad saying so, but right now I am glad I don't live in the US anymore.

[malaise]

10. Another tragic day in America

The more guns, the more tragedies - no one could pay me to live in the USA

[Albertoo]

13. Where do you live and how is gun control safer there?

[malaise]

17. I live in one of the murder capitals

of the planet. Most murders are committed with guns from the USA which find their way onto this island by a variety of means. Just like in America, there is little outrage about the level of inner-city slaughter.

Your lack of gun control does not help anyone on our planet.

[Albertoo]

21. Let me see I understand: the crime rate in your country is the fault of the USA, right?

[Marengo]

44. How strict is gun control in Jamaica?

[Quantess]

25. Handguns are illegal where I live

and there is definitely far, far less gun violence here.

[Albertoo]

27. We already discussed that point

Your point of view is short term. I take the longer view: wars/civil wars frequently happen when you count in centuries.

After all, it would have been technically possible for the Japanese to invade Australia if they had focused their WWII efforts on that goal.

In this scenario, an Australian populace with the Second Amendment would have meant a Japanese failure. A disarmed Australian population, not so.

[Quantess]

34. Each country's situation is different.

Sweden hasn't been directly involved in any wars since... well... I don't even know which war that would be. I'll have look it up.

Guns are exclusively for hunting, here.

Edit to add: 1814 indepence from Denmark and Norway

[AntiBank]

36. Sweden's last war was 1814, with Norway. 19 days long

Swedish-Norway Union was the result.

[Albertoo]

40. Sweden today is busy committing suicide. Without guns.

Riots, rapes, all this is skyrocketing.

But hey, how could it go wrong?

[Quantess]

59. That's a bit off-topic, but hey, knock yourself out.

Today my thoughts are with the USA having to deal with this tragedy.

[pinboy3niner]

63. When he doesn't mention Muslims or "Islamist radicals" we count our blessings

[Albertoo]

71. Sure. And Hitler was not a danger in 1925.

[Albertoo]

72. What off topic? I was answering you about security in th ecountry you mentioned.

As for your suggestion to knock myself out, I doubt it's quite civil.

[barbtries]

14. we are a sick country.

will have to wait to see if this latest mass shooting results in any action like prohibiting military weapons in the hands of civilians, but i have little hope (actually none). a country in which millions think donald trump would or ever could be a suitable leader. where police murder civilians on a regular basis especially if they are black men. a country where money is more valued than life.

my country tis of thee just ain't no more. the media sucks, and the NRA rules along with the MIC. endless war at home and abroad, and they love it because they're just piling up the cash.

even turning on a live stream to find out what's up in Dallas results in a few commercials before i can watch. and the political coverage jeezus please.

thank you Malaise. what would it take to move to jamaica?

[malaise]

18. It's truly sad to watch barbtries

We have an illegal gun problem here and we also have some trigger happy cops who kill with impunity.

That said the vast majority of those murdered in Jamaica know why they were killed and knew their killer.
Domestic violence is also high.

It doesn't take much to live here and with our dollar at 124 and change to one US dollar, money does go far (if you have dollars).

Most countries have issues but the NRA power over politicians and the media in America is 'exceptional' and must be addressed or America is over.

[drray23]

58. Maybe this tragic incident in Dallas which involved officers

Will prompt congress to act. Apparently they did not care about little kids or lgbt people being massacred, maybe they will about police officers given the Gop attitude. Since they are all about order and such it could be hard for them to block bills banning assault weapons especially given that the majority of citizens already want it. If police organizations also say that these assault weapons should not be in the hand of civilians, it may be enough to tilt the scales.

[Calculating]

65. Assault weapons don't belong in the hands of police either

I'm more afraid of the police than dying to some random nut while out shopping.

[barbtries]

73. one can hope,

but considering that they're owned by the NRA, and the only thing the NRA wants is more money and more profits for the industry, I have little to no hope.

[HipChick]

22. Sadly...nothing will change

Just another day in America..

[malaise]

69. Not sure this time

Maybe they should address the issues raised by Vets.

[nruthie]

28. Let us all pray.

[AntiBank]

41. religion is part of the problem, not the solution

IMHO

[tonyt53]

55. I fear that we as a country, have hit a point that we can never cross back over.

Gun deaths are skyrocketing, and what do many people do? Go out and buy more guns. We have the NRA dictating policies on guns. We have a presidential candidate that is talking hate about many groups except white people. We have white people blaming blacks for not being able to stop killing other blacks in places like Chicago. We have false "charts" being put out showing the number of cops killed by blacks that is blatantly false. We have blacks being killed by cops over very minor offenses. We have already passed the number of police shooting deaths for all of last year.

What does all of this have in common? Guns, the easy access to guns. Toss in fears of all types and we get to where we are. Hell, we can't even get people on fly-watch lists banned from buying guns.

There is no turning back. There WILL be killings of blacks protesting the shooting deaths of blacks by cops. That is a done deal. We can't stop it. There WILL be retaliation killings by blacks over those killings. That is a done deal. We can't stop it. HOW THE HELL DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN????????? Near unfettered access to guns of all types and yet we do nothing. I blame ALL of us.

[sofa king]

60. I am saddened.

As a person who has studied history his whole life, none of this is particularly new to me, and that makes it all the more tragic. These are the things I think I know:

* Both the violence of the state and the violence against the state naturally increases with the perceived gap between the poor and the wealthy.

* The well-publicized violence of this week is an escalation exactly like that which touched off the ongoing violence in Syria. We are no different from they in all important respects. The process has a "logic" to it which is simple and brutal, and once triggered it requires a collective effort from all sides to stop it in its tracks. We must succeed in doing this, or lose everything.

* We all have a choice, right now, in the things we say and do. We all either contribute to the problem or help solve it. Those who do nothing are automatically siding with the forces that eventually win, usually with violence and oppression if people of conscience fail to intercede and moderate.

* The only way to ratchet things down is to go forth, be a good person to others, and try to be unafraid. The vast majority of people are good people who are worth knowing, and knowing them reduces misunderstanding and violence. Go out and make friends, right now.