I agree with you, and I'm not particularly proud of our culture or our behavior at home or abroad.

With a few exceptions, our country more than most accepts crass, loud, vulgar, and often violent behavior embarrassingly easily.

There are two DU groups that discuss guns exclusively:

The Gun Control & RKBA group here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1172

and the Gun Control Reform Activism group here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1262

Both are reasonably good places to post your perspective for discussion, though I would say that there's more freedom to express individual points of view in the first group, Gun Control & RKBA.

Welcome to DU!

Reading the reviews led me to some articles of interest...

One worth bookmarking is from the Nation, The Rifle on the Wall: A Left Argument for Gun Rights

(snip)

I think we should have this discussion honestly. If the latter is your position, say it. If you want to eliminate the Second Amendment right, mount a forthright political campaign to do so. Do not pussy-foot around with “I am not against the Second Amendment. I do not want to take your hunting rifles and your shotguns, and your antique muskets,” when you really don’t like the Second Amendment at all, would love to see it repealed, and wouldn’t mind if everybody was forced to turn in every weapon that they owned.

‘Cause, guess what: You’re not fooling anybody. When your discourse reeks with intellectual and moral disdain for gun-rights and gun-rights advocates, when it never endorses, and indeed at best studiously avoids, the issue of gun ownership as a fundamental political right, it shows. And it certainly shows when you say outright that you’d love to confiscate all guns, no matter how you try to waffle on that later. Despite what’s implied in the ever-present disdain, gun rights advocates are not, ipso facto, stupid (or violent, or crazy), and certainly not too stupid to see where you’re heading. So let’s stop gaslighting gun-rights supporters as paranoid when they state what they see:

Dianne Feinstein, who had a concealed carry permit when she felt a ”sense of helplessness,” saying: “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them…. Mr. and Mrs. American turn ‘em all in. I would have done it.”

Not to mention Andrew Cuomo’s more recent: “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option.”

Of course, you could counter that nobody should believe a word of anything these politicians say, anyway. How persuasive is this performance by pry-it-from-my-cold-dead-hands Joe?

(end snip)

The entire piece is here: http://www.thepolemicist.net/2013/01/the-rifle-on-wall-left-argument-for-gun.html

"I’m certainly against one of Senator Obama’s ideas, which is to lift the cap on the payroll tax"

Life is short, motherfuckers. Enjoy it. Leave a Mark. Be kind. Make people smile.

That's all there is too it.

Thanks to Kali, we have a little background on this man: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018553145

Thanks, Kali.

I love you, Middlefingermom.

No guns policy at new Toby Keith restaurant in Woodbridge, Virginia

O HELL No!!! I'm Crackin' Up! Obama is Crackin' me the fuck up!!!

You all know this expression, it's McKayla Maroney, and she is not impressed...



Remember her? Well, she's a good sport! And she went to visit the president and what do you suppose happened?

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Oh yeah, you know...

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http://www.kulfoto.com/celebrity-pictures/34082/barack-obama-and-mckayla-maroney-are-not-impressed

ROFL!

And, just for good measure:

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Debunking the claim that US mass murders are on the rise since 1976.

Let me preface this by repeating that I want to see a host of measures to reduce violence in America, including sensible gun control legislation, most of California's laws applied nationally.

OK.

I was reading applegrove's interesting post in the other group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/12625349

And attached to the source article was this graph of "mass shooting" incidents and number of victims by year from 1976 through 2010.



I was thinking that it seems to be mostly flat with maybe a bit of an upward trend and then it struck me.

That graph doesn't take into account the growth in population over that time frame; it's not per capital, it's just raw overall data.

In 2010 there were 40% more citizens than in 1976 but guess what? The shooting incidents numbers haven't risen by 40%-- they haven't risen at all, and the number of victims has risen only slightly.

Adjusted for population growth or measured per-capita, the number of incidents and victims of mass shootings, then, has fallen by as much as 40%.

If I'm statistically wrong, and I'm pretty sure I'm not, please feel free to refute the above.

..

For Sale on EBay: First hand painted artwork by me, NYC_SKP.

Bid on it here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=191007420595

All proceeds go to Wishadoo! Feel free to donate! DONATE

It's first hand "painted" by me!

First hand painted artwork by me, NYC_SKP. Everyone has been asking what I have been doing with myself. I found a creative, way to express myself, my emotions and the symbols that represent my experiences. My art work allows me to reflect, providing a therapeutic outlet and allows me to remain indoors I hope you enjoy owning this piece as much as I enjoyed creating it. Your friend, NYC_SKP.

Newtown. Here's a very thoughtful slideshow with a picture and little bit about each victim.

Huffpost, unfortunately, but worth the visit.

The topic is how proceeds have been spent in different ways for each victim, a very thoughtful and individualized story on this sad day.

Look for the slideshow after the text part of the article, which is about various ways donations have been spent to commemorate individual victims.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/newtown-fund-distribution_n_3046420.html#slide=1979131








Peace.

K

R