Tag Archives: Gun Violence Archive (GVA)

WHY, Dammit … WHY???

Posted on by under guns, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

Yesterday’s mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, was the 146th in the United States so far this year … only the 100th day of the year 2023.  146 shootings in 100 days.  Way to go, Americans!  Yesterday in Louisville, 5 people, not including the gunman, lost their lives and 8 others were injured including two police officers, one suffering critical injuries after being shot in the head.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear lost two close friends in the shooting.  The weapon used was, once again, an AR-15 … the sort of weapon that can kill hundreds within minutes and that was designed for use by the military, not be civilians.

After the Nashville school shooting last month, I wrote to my Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, Warren Davidson, asking him to please propose a bill to ban assault-style weapons, at the very least.  This, in part, was his response to me nearly three weeks later …

“Our nation mourns as we reflect on this horrible act of evil. Targeted attacks such as these take a horrendous toll on our society. My thoughts and prayers are with the Nashville community, particularly the students and families of Nashville Covenant School, as they mourn during this difficult time.

Congress must carefully consider the root causes of mass shootings and recognize the motivations behind horrendous acts. These evil acts reflect a society stricken by mental health challenges. Addressing this issue requires Congress to take a multi-faceted approach, including aiding local law enforcement and strengthening mental health resources. In the wake of these tragedies, there are often calls for federal restrictions on our Second Amendment rights. Most of these proposed gun-control measures would restrict or compromise the constitutionally guaranteed right to own and carry firearms. I will not support any bill that infringes or restricts an individual’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

First, Warren, keep your goddamn ‘thoughts and prayers’ … they are just about as useless as sending a bottle of aspirin to a grieving parent and telling them to “take two every four hours to lessen the pain of losing your child.”  Keep your thoughts and prayers – they are completely useless and nobody wants them.

Second, Warren, yes, we need to work on mental health in this country and do a far better job of providing care to those in need.  HOWEVER … if those suffering from mental health issues did not have access to guns, especially killing machines that were developed ONLY for military use, then they could not kill multiple children in a school, or movie-goers in a theater!  It’s the GUNS, Warren!!!  The GUNS!

Third, and you may find this offensive, but I don’t care … FUCK the 2nd Amendment and the “right to own and carry firearms.”  If the price we pay for maintaining an outdated “right” is the lives of our children, then it’s past time that the 2nd Amendment be either rewritten or abolished altogether.  My preference is the latter.  My right to send my children to school and expect they will return on the bus rather than in a body bag is more important than somebody else’s ‘right’ to own a gun.  My right to go into my local grocery store and expect to return home without bullet holes riddling my body is also more important than somebody’s ‘right’ to own a damned gun!

I did a bit of digging tonight and an interesting statistic crossed my radar.  Y’know how the gun nuts always claim they need a gun for self-protection?  Well, while the number of gun deaths in the U.S. has risen by 33.4% since 2016, the number of shootings labeled “self-defense” dropped by 40.9% during the same period.

So, doesn’t that rather negate the argument that people are exerting their ‘right’ to own a gun based on the notion of self-defense?  Oh, and why isn’t a pistol just as good for defending oneself against a home invasion as an AR-15 that can literally plow down hundreds in a matter of minutes and shred anything it touches?  So, cut the crap!

I will be responding to Mr. Davidson’s letter later today, and I will also be campaigning next year for his opponent, whomever it may be!  He obviously has zero conscience, zero compassion, zero humanity, and is NOT whom I choose to have my hard-earned tax dollars support!  Meanwhile, about 100 miles south of where I live, four families and their friends are sobbing tonight because their loved ones were brutally murdered this morning.  Tomorrow, there will be more killed by guns and even more families will be tearing their hair out, cursing the ground they walk on, and wondering … WHY???? 

What James Madison Would Think Today …

Posted on by under education, guns, History, Political commentary, Social commentary

Another mass shooting in California yesterday.  Two in three days.  Today is the 24th day of the year 2023 and we have had 38 mass shootings in the United States already this year.  There have been 2,790 gun deaths thus far (as of 12:30 a.m. on January 24th), 21 of them children under the age of 11*.  So naturally, those of us who care, those of us who are not gun worshipers, are distraught.

I’ve often wondered how horrified the Founding Fathers would be if they came back to life today and saw the muckety mess we’ve made of the nation they established.  A year or so ago, our friend Roger introduced me to News Thump, a British satire website that had this very timely post today. I thought it hit the mark.

I meant the ‘right to bear arms that existed in 1791’, clarifies angry James Madison

By Andrew

Following another mass shooting that has left 10 dead in Monterey Park in California, author of the Second Amendment, James Madison, has angrily spoken out from beyond the grave to insist he meant the ‘right to bear arms that existed in 1791’.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution is one of the most contentious parts of the US Bill of Rights, and Madison has finally seen enough bloodshed to necessitate an intervention in ongoing policy debate.

Speaking through a qualified medium just outside Las Vegas, he said, “Let me be clear about this – the pro-gun lobby really pisses me off.

“And trust me, I’ll tell the pro-gun lawmakers exactly that, right to their faces when they eventually get here – which if they keep misinterpreting my intentions could well be a lot sooner than they think.

“The fact that I wrote the amendment in 1791 should be an absolutely massive hint as to my intentions regarding assault rifles and powerful semi-automatic handguns, don’t you think?

“I was perfectly happy for people to have a muzzle-loaded single-shot musket for home protection – 1791 America was a dangerous place. Not a ‘Disney is too woke for my kids’ dangerous, I mean actually not made up hallucinated dangerous.

“But I was safe in the knowledge no one was ever going to go on a killing spree, as they’d have to be within ten feet of you to be sure of hitting you, and would need a couple of minutes or so reloading their musket before having another go.”

Madison also explained his dismay at the use of his words to promote weaponry he could not even have conceived of back in 1791.

He continued, “A rifle capable of firing dozens of bullets in just a few seconds, which can be reloaded even more quickly, kills reliably from hundreds of yards away and is available in every shopping mall to any unstable moron that wants one? Jesus H Christ, are you people mental?

“I suppose in fifty years’ time you people will be claiming it was my intention all along that every American should have the right to carry a laser capable of slicing you into pieces from a mile away?”

Pro-gun lobbyists have reacted angrily to Madison’s outburst, insisting he clearly doesn’t have the first clue about what he meant when he wrote the Second Amendment all those years ago.

An NRA spokesperson said, “How dare he tell me how to decide what he meant by telling me what he meant?

“What gives him the right to speak out about the intention of the words he wrote down himself, which I have subsequently decided to interpret in support of my pro-gun arguments?

“No, I think I know much better than James Madison what James Madison intended.”


*  Data per Gun Violence Archive

Yes, Now IS The Right Time!

Posted on by under Election 2022, guns, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Whenever we have a mass shooting in this country, the first thing out of the politicians mouths is “thoughts and prayers”.  Useless, meaningless, but it makes them appear to be empathetic and compassionate.  Then, following on the heels of those thoughts and prayers, in response to the inevitable hue and cry for stricter gun regulations, their response is that “now is not the time …”  YES, NOW is precisely the time!  What better time, for Pete’s Sake, and since we now seem to average a mass shooting per day, when IS the time to talk about regulating guns?

Take a look at the chart from the past week or so from the Gun Violence Archive. In the week between March 16th, the date of the Atlanta shootings that killed 8, and March 22nd, the date of the Boulder shooting that killed 10, there were eleven mass shootings killing a total of 27 people and injuring 38.  Think about that one, folks … think long and hard about it.  And yet, Congress will not pass a ban on assault weapons, will not even pass stricter background checks!  Not today, not tomorrow, not next week when the nation sits, glued to their televisions, watching footage of the latest shooting.  In total, there have been 104 mass shootings in the U.S. since the beginning of the year, and 9.656 people have died in the U.S. as a result of guns in just the first 83 days of 2021.  That’s an average of 116 preventable deaths per day!

Gun laws highlight one of the numerous differences between congressional Republicans and Democrats.  Typically, it is the Democrats in Congress who are for banning the sale of assault weapons, implementing more widespread background checks, limiting the number of guns a person can own, and banning guns from those who have been convicted of domestic abuse.  The Republicans, on the other hand, want no part of any of the above.

But the latest excuse on the part of Republican lawmakers for not enacting stricter gun legislation is astounding.  Some on the Hill claim that gun restrictions are … racist!  According to Buzzfeed …

GOP senators on Tuesday framed gun control as part of a long and racist history of restricting the rights of minority groups during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. While they still put forward traditional arguments that gun laws infringe on Second Amendment rights and punish law-abiding gun owners, much of their questions to witnesses focused on minority communities needing guns to protect themselves.

“Very often, inevitably in American history but even prior to American history, we’ve seen it’s rarely the empowered, very rarely the wealthy or those with political connections to the government, who have their rights interfered with,” said Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

Chris Cheng, a witness invited by Senate Republicans and a sports shooter who won the season four championship of the History Channel show Top Shot, related gun control to a historic pattern of infringing on minority rights that included the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. “We need to defend ourselves,” he said.

And now I’ve heard it all … every possible excuse in the book to allow unlimited killing machines in the hands of every man, woman and child.  Over the past several years, it has been the GOP who have shown themselves to be the most racist … remember how Senator Ron Johnson wasn’t afraid of the domestic terrorists who attacked Congress on January 6th, but if they had been Black, then he said he would have been afraid.  But wait … there’s more.

In South Carolina, state senator Tom Corbin has a proposal to make sure no federal law can ever seize guns — make everyone over 17 who can legally own a gun a member of a militia.  South Carolina’s constitution allows the governor to call up an “unorganized militia” of any “able bodied male citizens” between ages 18 and 45. State Sen. Tom Corbin’s proposal would automatically expand membership to everyone who is over 17 and could own a gun.

Supporters of the bill said if everyone is a member of a militia, then they all fall under the opening clause of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that starts “A well regulated Militia.” That way a federal law restricting weapons would not apply in South Carolina since almost all residents would be in the unorganized militia.

James Madison, who initially proposed the 2nd Amendment, would surely be aghast at how it has been interpreted ever since the inception of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 1871.

The wide disparity between Republicans and Democrats’ views on gun legislation all but ensures that, once again, nothing will be done.  The majority of people in this country support stronger gun laws, are tired of seeing people killed time and time again, yet the politicos aren’t listening to their constituents.  Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has received $13,647,676 from the NRA, and nearly every Republican member of Congress has accepted NRA donations and … has an A-rating with the NRA, while nearly every Democrat has an F-rating.  Does that tell you something?

NRA-gradesI can’t even ask you to write or call them on this, for it won’t change their minds.  What I do ask is that you vote the bastards out next time you head to the polls!  Choose representatives and senators who put our lives ahead of their own profits.

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