Grieving Parent Richard Martinez Battles Gun Lobby

[GGJohn]

He lost his son, Christopher, in the Isla Vista, CA shooting near the UCSB campus, where he was a sophomore. Richard Martinez said soon after the shooting, "Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the (National Rifle Association). They talk about gun rights -- what about Chris' right to live?" How many times now have grieving parents had to come to grips with a loved one's death due to gun violence? It's vast but in each case it comes down to two things: a gutless Congress and the National Rifle Assn. (NRA). Unwilling to pass the gun control laws that will make this stop. However, Martinez has thrown down the gauntlet exclaiming:


"I have chosen to make this my life’s work. In choosing to do so, I was aware that the path to changing laws and minds would be challenging. I was still surprised to see how entrenched the gun lobby is with certain state legislators and the dangerous degree to which it pushes bills that endanger public safety."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-one-grieving-parent-taking-the-gun-lobby

X-posted from the other group but without the blog link.

While I feel sympathy for his loss, he's wrong about it being a "gun problem", a gun is an inanimate object that can't act on it's own, it has to have human interaction to operate, ergo, it's the human that determines how that inanimate object is used either legally or illegally, responsibly or negligently.

[NYC_SKP]

1. We live in a society that sees less and less security, wealth, and opportunity.

Unless you're among the 1%, there's very little hope.

It's this lack of hope and health and opportunity that breeds the fear and depression that become gun violence.

But attacking that, the root causes, would upset those in power, so all we do is talk about it and blame the gun.

New gun laws will do little too reduce the violence and nothing to reduce the underlying despair.

Treating the despair, however, will lift us all and reduce the violence, all without moving more toward a police state.

This has been my position since high school in the 1970s.

The Second Amendment is vital, but those in power see it as an impediment to their ability to control the working poor and everyone else.

[Duckhunter935]

3. Good take on it, thanks nt

[GGJohn]

5. A hearty +1000. eom.

[Shamash]

9. Agreed

[appal_jack]

16. Well-said NYC_SKP (& GGJohn's OP too). k&r, nt.

[Duckhunter935]

2. Yes, it is much more a people problem

A much bigger impact would be better health care and especially mental health treatment. Really none of the proposed legislation would have stopped what happened. The purchases and weapons were legal in California, even with the extra strict laws there.

[Electric Monk]

4. Ignoring the blog link for the moment, you also forgot the MSNBC link that was included

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-one-grieving-parent-taking-the-gun-lobby

[GGJohn]

6. There is no MSNBC link in the thread.

Unless it's on his blog, which I refuse to click on.

[Electric Monk]

8. Yes, there is. It's embedded in the words "Martinez said". nt

[Duckhunter935]

10. You are correct

[GGJohn]

11. Ok, I'll include it.

[libdem4life]

12. Even though a different situation, I am profoundly reminded of the power of a parent who has lost a

child and makes it his life work. It does not involve a gun, but I lived a couple of miles from where Polly Klaas' kidnapped body was found. Her father, Marc Klaas, ended up developing an entire system of disappeared children and made it his life's work. I would imagine his site and perhaps he would be a good place to start...maybe offer some ideas or even help. Good luck.

http://www.pollyklaas.org/

About Us

We have helped more than 9,000 families with missing children by counseling and locating

[Shamash]

13. Best illustrated by

substituting in anything else that kills a lot of people and seeing how well it works. An obesity-related death could be “craven, irresponsible politicians and the fast food industry”, or drunk driving would be the result of a Congress “unwilling to pass the alcohol control laws to make this stop”.

In neither case would we consider it sensible to blame the object for the death, but somehow "guns are different". I have yet to see the dead make this distinction, however. A preventable death is a preventable death. A set of reasons good for reducing one type should also be just as ethical for reducing another.

P.S. Would someone ask Richard Martinez what his position on craven, irresponsible politicians is regarding the sharp and pointy thing industry? If memory serves, the first three fatalities in that mass murder (i.e. half of them) were stabbed to death.

[ileus]

14. My best friend killed himself last fall....gun problem? Nope mental health problem.

Sad but true...

You can't blame objects for misuse....no not ever.

[GGJohn]

15. So sorry about your loss.

You're correct, mental health would greatly reduce firearms deaths by appox. 2/3rds.

[Straw Man]

17. Three were shot and three were stabbed ...

... yet it's "the Isla Vista shooting."

"Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the (National Rifle Association). They talk about gun rights -- what about Chris' right to live?"

So who do we blame for the three who were stabbed to death? Why did they die?

[Big_Mike]

18. And what about the folks he ran down with his car? N/T

[Duckhunter935]

19. They forget about that little thing

facts matter. I feel sorry for this father but is he going after the knives as much? Sorry to say the three that died after being stabbed are just as dead and I am sure they have families.

[Eleanors38]

20. It is so sad this father has lost a son. He remarks that he "surprised" at the "entrenchment

of the gun lobby."

What he is discovering is that the Second Amendment is a fundamental individual Right, and readily defended by American citizens. The "lobby" is made up of millions of Americans who pay dues, make contributions, send e-mails, and fill council chambers. ANY group purporting to be a movement for change would give anything for the activist base of 2A defenders. One cannot wish away or stigmatize such a phenomenon by calling it merely a "lobby."

Many here on DU don't wish to concede this fact or what it means.