January 11, 2021

Why we can't have nice things

This is the seventh in this series. I stopped numbering them at 5 because I realized that this is a never ending problem. For years the death rate attributed to guns has been about 30,000 a year and in the last few years has grown to more than 40,000. That's bad enough but along with those deaths goes 3-4 times that number in injured and damaged victims ranging from near vegetative state to simple (?) PTSD. That's as many as 160,000 people a year ranging in age from 2 to 90+ years old.

So, yeah, the Pandemic has taken precedent and deservedly so, but there is no vaccine to fix this.

So far I've devoted myself to discussing the fallacy of how we have attempted to suppress the level of carnage. I've pointed out that no matter how we try to compromise with gun extremists there will be no success because it's like pushing on a water balloon, no matter where we push it only expands elsewhere.

That is why, as a collector of antique and not so antique firearms and an avid shooter, I have come to the conclusion that we must ban the import, manufacture, transfer and possession of semi auto firearms that accept removable magazines. Period.

In earlier posts I've shown how the piecemeal approach to prohibitions and restrictions have failed because of the ingenuity of the gun industry. Today I offer an article from the gun rights side of the issue. Please take the time to read it to gain an understanding of how the industry responds to simplistic attempts to compromise with them in attempts to reduce, not eliminate, the daily carnage.

An excerpt:

The article:
https://www.explosion.com/138461/how-to-be-ready-for-the-next-potential-gun-ban-in-the-united-states/

I will continue along this line and expand it to answer some of the objections hurled at any attempt legislate these military inspired rapid fire death machines.

Previous posts can be fond in my journal.

January 8, 2021

More reasons we can't have nice things. Ban all semi auto guns with removeable magazines.

First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Second Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Do any of the pictures below conform to the emphasized portions of the Amendments above cited?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=916
Michigan

https://i.insider.com/5eac2453e3c3fb73644ccc22?width=2000&format=jpeg&auto=webp


North Carolina


Missouri


Virginia

?resize=770%2C513
New Mexico

https://www.click2houston.com/resizer/cEJymDE5K2VqWDMPvWh17MXFu8c=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/GC6VJTOPCRGN3HKXWZKZ3PLLIY.jpg
New Hampshire

?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-1.2.1&q=45&w=1260
Texas

?quality=80&strip=all
Clearly part of the 'Well Regulated Militia". My advice for him? Go ahead, pull the trigger and see what happens next.

January 4, 2021

Why we can't have nice things part 5.

Stand Your Ground laws, or as some have called them 'Shoot First' laws, are the darling of the 2nd Amendment absolutists. Made famous by Florida and subsequently passed by 33 other states SYG laws are a pox on the land (but only a Smallpox).

The right to self defense is deeply ingrained in English Common law which is the basis of US law. The concept is that a person has the right to respond to threats of physical harm or death with sufficient force to neutralize that threat including deadly force. Embedded in that right is the Duty to Retreat or the responsibility to avoid violence when possible. Who wouldn't want to avoid confrontation and violence? Apparently people who carry guns.

In the decade since Florida passed SYG murders have increased 22% and lawful homicides increased from 3.4% of that total to 8.7% or a 75% increase. Other crime, both violent and nonviolent, has remained flat. So the only thing that changed was the number of people getting shot. Whoda' thought?

“Both justifiable and unlawful homicides increased substantially after the law’s effective date, unlawful homicides made up the majority of that increase,”

From this I surmise that a lot of people carrying guns thought they could get away with shooting someone but were mistaken. Still, somebody's dead. Then there is this little tidbit:

“The difference between murder and justifiable homicide hinges largely on the self-reported and difficult to refute subjective feeling of being threatened prior to killing someone,”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-homicides-standyourground/murders-surge-in-florida-in-decade-after-stand-your-ground-law-idUSKCN1AU1QL

In other words he who survives gets to tell the story any way he wants. George Zimmerman was one of those 'justifiable homicides' until public outrage resulted in charges of second degree murder for which he was acquitted.

So, what has the gun rights movement and the SYG laws it fosters gotten us?

MORE DEAD PEOPLE.

These laws must be repealed. They do not decrease crime and do not decrease unlawful homicide. Evidence suggests that the increase in 'lawful' homicide is vastly exaggerated. They do not make anyone safer, quite the contrary.

This epidemic has no vaccine. It's up to us, you and me, to bring this insanity under control. Join an anti gun violence organization of your choice. Give money, join, go to meetings, write letters to the editor and your representatives. Make your voice heard.

Part 1 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213614

Part 2 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213620

Part 3 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213623

Part 4 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213627

January 2, 2021

Why we can't have nice things part 4.

Gun nuts all say that gun laws are stupid. Ya' know what? They're right. Look at this 6 minute video and I'm sure you'll agree. It's distasteful and insulting but bear with me because it points out the fallacy of how we go about regulating firearms and how gun nuts always find a work around.

Nobody sets out to write stupid laws. Nobody wrote a law that said, 'put a piece of plastic on a military inspired rapid fire death machine'. Somebody attempted to write a law that would make the military inspired rapid fire death machine less so without actually taking the military inspired rapid fire death machine from 'law abiding citizens'. The fact that the gun industry will use the letter of the law to thwart the intent of the law is the flaw in writing legislation to accommodate gun owner's tender feelings.

Time to say, “Fuck you and your gun fetish!” and legislate the lethality of guns.

What made the guns used at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Pulse and Las Vegas so deadly? The ability to fire bullets rapidly and reload instantly. A shooter's ability to kill and maim is limited only by the physical strength necessary to carry extra high capacity magazines. THAT is what must be legislated, not some esoteric description or line in the ATF handbook.

I propose, as a minimum, making the manufacture, import, sale or transfer of any semi automatic gun that uses removable magazines illegal. Period. Offer a one time 90 day buyback after which any illegal gun found will be confiscated and the owner punished with a fine and/or prison. Period.

Objections will begin with wild eyed screams of Second amendment!!11!! Sorry but no. The decision in Heller vs DC very clearly says that there is no right to own any gun for any reason by anyone and the State may regulate guns by type (it specifically mentioned the M16). The next objection will be Precedent to which the answer is Precedents are overturned all the time—Scalia ignored 200 years of Precedent in Heller. Besides, the SCOTUS has upheld state 'assault weapon' bans.

Some will say there are 300 million guns so a buy back is too expensive. Nope, not all fit the criteria and only about 1/3 of the rest will be sold back. The rest will be in one of two categories: hidden under the bed or in a closet where they will never hurt anyone or found when the 'militia' plays war games in the woods and confiscated. In any case we won't be seeing any pretend patriots in camouflage flaunting them at protests.

If all else fails the ATF can subpoena the NRA's data base and track them down. Yeah, the NRA has maintained a database of gun purchases with ownership data since the '70s. Gun dealers provided the information to them for marketing purposes.

This epidemic has no vaccine. It's up to us, you and me, to bring this insanity under control. Join an anti gun violence organization of your choice. Give money, join, go to meetings, write letters to the editor and your representatives. Make your voice heard.

Part 1 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213614

Part 2 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213620

Part 3 here:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/126213623