The attack on Orlando LGBT club Pulse on Saturday night was carried out – like so many mass shootings before it – with an assault rifle, of the “AR-15 type”. These weapons have the ability to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, spraying waves of hot lead and fire, giving the shooter the power to mete out death on an industrial scale.
The NRA and its supporters have fanatically lobbied to keep these weapons cheap, legal and easy to obtain, in spite of the fact that there is no sporting use for them. You can’t hunt deer with an assault rifle. Animal targets would vaporize if struck by a single round. ... Here in the south, pro-gun hysteria is the norm.
Right. "Hundreds of rounds per minute" out of a semiautomatic. And then there is the "killer AR-15", firing a round that is underpowered enough that in many states, it's not legal for deer hunting.
I understand that there are people who don't like guns. Fine, they have a right to their own opinions. But they don't have a right to their own facts. When they blather on, as did Mr. Ferguson, with ludicrous assertions and outright lies about the weapons that they condemn, they come across as imbeciles.
(Oh, and this isn't the deadliest mass-murder at a nightclub in the U.S.)
Granted, the writer is not versed in guns. However, a question, how do we stop this shit? The guns were legally purchased, the nightclub had an armed guard (off-duty cop?) who engaged the shooter but failed to neutralize him, we're not about to condone guns in nightclubs, how do we change this dynamic?
ReplyDeleteIt's increasingly clear that there is no scenario where we would have enough of the NRA's "good guys with guns" (what about good gals, BTW?). It seems clear we must do something about angry people arming themselves, but how do we do it without restraining others rights? Or are we down to paying a bloody Dane geld to keep our "freedoms"?
All I offer for those that want to ban things is...
ReplyDeleteFirst they came for..
Then I was alone when the came for me.
The banners are in it not for out safety but for their own
protection and control. They lie and they know the lies.
I've seen the gun control play book and its about keeping
to the narrative no matter how bad the lies are.
The toll was high, the gun didn't do it without help.
We forget people kill people and this was a hate crime.
Would it have been different if it were explosives or
even a gallon of gas. Sorry to say we have examples for
that, and they were horrific.
There are people trying to justify the hate even if
they deny it or hide behind religion.
Eck!
CP88, the door to keping guns out of the public's hands closed in 1968. There are now close to a third of a billion of them in private hands. In states where the legislature has said "OK, let's register them all", the compliance rate has been laughably low.
ReplyDeleteCombine that with a mental health system which was gutted (most famously by Gov. Reagan) in order to save money.
Yeah, I don't know how to "fix" this. And I'm two degrees from some of the victims, this time.
Eck, I didn't suggest any new action, but perhaps some proper enforcement of current laws regarding those with mental health issues.
ReplyDeleteComrade, I suspect rebuilding a mental health infrastructure might be a good start. Otherwise, I'm unsure how we do it, but I don't think nothing is an answer.
P.S. Comrade, your quote is slightly off..."And small animal would be vaporized..." Is the quote, and makes slightly more sense.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the "cheap" AR-15 style rifles?
ReplyDelete"vaporize"; ha.
That round being too small to legally hunt deer with in some states didn't stop Sarah Palin from shooting a caribou with one. I myself would never have used anything smaller than a .243.
ReplyDeleteThere is no certain defense against an enterprising psycho, and there are the third-billion guns in circulation you mentioned, but this asswipe would definitely have had a harder time obtaining the weapons he used (legally purchased days ago) if there were stronger background check rules in place. The feebies already knew about him, and he had a history of domestic violence. He was also a wannabe cop, and was described as not particularly religious. So he probably could have obtained guns from somewhere, but stricter rules would have at least given the cops a chance that they didn't have.
So now we're left to do the American dance, and we all know our parts. Might we ever learn a new one some day? This one is getting hella old.
-Doug in Oakland
CP88, my quote is exact. I copied it from the article. So they went back and edited it.
ReplyDeleteRebuilding a mental health treatment system would be a fine idea. Good luck with that. The morons in the various state legislatures can't be bothered to keep the roads in good repair.
Actually, Congress had a lot to do with that, too. I've been told that they forbade state hospitals from being paid by Medicaid for mental health services. That was a death-blow to a number of state mental hospitals and contributed to our current system of using prisons as de facto mental health wards.
Understand on the comment, maybe the tRump has something right about the press messing up now and then.
ReplyDeleteThe problems of the 20's to the 60's in asylums caused Congress to move to dismantle the system while promising to fund treatment at the local level. They funded community activity for a while, at a level that was not enough, then Saint Ronnie and his Congress destroyed that model, and replaced it with homelessness and charities picking up the slack (not so much, but that's another story).
Until we do something about mental illness, this kind of problem will remain. The only thing that will change is the technique.
CP88:
ReplyDeleteOne factor you and lots of others are not looking at when you want to blame mental health issues as the sole reason for his actions, is that he was raised in an environment that considers what he did as perfectly acceptable, and even mandated. So, yeah, he might have had some mental problems, but when you have been brainwashed by that asinine culture, the resulting actions are to be expected.