Joe Nocera has a new Gun Report up, and it begins this way —
Every day, when Jennifer Mascia and I compile this report, we are stunned at the number of children who are accidentally shot — and often killed — because a gun-owning adult in their household has put a loaded gun someplace where they can get their hands on it and shoot it. We have three such examples in today’s report, one of which resulted in the death of a 4-year-old in Houston. Other nations mandate that gun owners keep their firearms in safes bolted to the floor. Why don’t we?
And the answer is that Gun Absolutists fight such restrictions tooth and nail. I have had this conversation in online forums, many times — I’ll begin by saying that anyone who keeps a loaded gun where a child could reach it is a fool. This will be followed by X number of Gun Absolutists saying that if they followed recommended protocol — unloaded gun and ammunition separated and both locked up — then they won’t have access to their guns fast enough when Bad People break through the door to kill them. And they have a right to protect their families.
They also assure me that their kids have been/will be taught not to mess with Daddy’s firearms, so there’s no problem. This tells me the writer either has no children, or else his wife is doing all the child-raising. Either way, he seems to have no real-world experience raising children, because even the “best” child will do things they know they are not supposed to do. And very small children (like a four-year-old) are often not mentally organized enough to grasp (or long remember) what they are being told.
The father of the four-year-old was arrested, btw, but not because his carelessness caused the death of his child. He was arrested for possessing a stolen gun.
Elsewhere, men standing in line outside a gun shop in Lubbock, Texas, got into a disagreement as to who was where, and one of them pulled a gun and threatened to shoot. The men were in line to buy ammunition, waiting for the store to open.
These lines form outside every large ammo retailer when word spreads that the store has received a new shipment. The panic-crazed mob then cleans out the newly arrived inventory in a matter of minutes. My brother says he has seen the same thing in Colorado Springs and guns have been drawn there, too.
They’re going to obtain the means to defend themselves or die trying, I guess.
Also, there are updates on the status of George Zimmerman; see Mark Follman at Mother Jones and Judd Legum at Think Progress.
Are guns “Cabbage Patch Kids” for adult white males?
I remember the craze, back in the day, when the shipment of those toys got to a store around Christmas time. You’d think it was a shipment of food, instead of toys, that had finally arrived in a starving area, that people were fighting over!
Again, I ask the cowards who have guns, “Why did I, when I lived in several fairly tough areas of NY City, and Phillie, and freely walked around both cites, good neighborhoods and bad (and never even thought of owning a gun, let alone carrying one everywhere I went) – but you feel you need one with you at all times, even when you’re accompanying the Mrs to the local Hobby Lobby for some yarn, or taking your kids to the nearest Chik-fil-A?”
Maybe you’re scared of the other scared gun-fetishists, is that it?
Well, I can certainly see why! You’re ALL feckin’ cowardly nuts!!!
Elsewhere, men standing in line outside a gun shop in Lubbock, Texas, got into a disagreement as to who was where, and one of them pulled a gun and threatened to shoot. The men were in line to buy ammunition, waiting for the store to open.
Screw it. I’m sick of these people. I’d be delighted if they all Darwin Awarded themselves into early graves because they were too freaking stupid to realize all that “Obama’s cummin fer yer gunz!!!!” talk is a lie.
The interesting thing is there is no shortage of ammunition, not even artificially created by the ammo mfrs! The entire shortage is caused by people spending money (that some of them cannot afford) to buy something that is readily available, and available on the internet! Of course, they don’t want anyone (i.e., wife, black helicopter pilots) to know they are buying ammo…
These people are none too bright, to say the least!
C U, you got it right. Cowards all, afraid of their own shadows. And that is essentially the crux of Republicanism (and has been since I can remember, back in the mid-60s). Back then it was black people and commies. Now it is black people (in the White House) and socialists…
Always, it is someone to fear.
Dan,
Yup!
I can’t imagine living your everday life with so much fear and hatred.
But, then, what would I know? I’m a Liberal!
I agree with Steve M., but feel bad for their small children. No bright futures there (if any).
Police got the call just before 8:20 a.m
Well, I guess the old adage is true…The early bird gets the bullets.
So they feel like they’re besieged in their own homes. To me there’s something atavistic about this attitude, like they think they’re out on the frontier and they never know when the Comanches are going to come and scalp them.
I’m almost tempted to express some fleeting sympathy for people who spend their whole lives in abject terror. But I’d probably just get myself shot that way.
Well it happened here again on sat. A 13 yr old boy shot by accident after being given access to guns by an adult. The owner who is not related to any of the 3 kids involved ( but is “godfather ” to one of them) is a “responsible ” gun owner who the state of Iowa issued a concealed carry permit to. Yet he thought it was ok to leave 3 young boys in a room with 8 loaded guns so they could “check them out” All 8 guns were taken into police custody and the case is being handled as child neglect. The owner is not going to face justice however, he shot himself in his car at the driveway of his home with a black powder rifle on sun and left his dogs to fend for themself at the local shelter.
Here is a random list of some people who don’t need guns to get their point across:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, because she’s smart
Pending Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel, even when Sen. McCain was being a huge jerk
Actress Anne Hathaway, because she can sing like, holy crap
Screenwriter and playwright Tony Kushner, because he uses his words
Big Man Stand-in Jake Clemons, because he has a saxophone
TV Dr. Mehmet Oz, because he’s wearing scrubs
Race car driver Danica Patrick, because she can get away fast
Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, even after the authorities locked him up
TV comedienne Carol Burnett, because she can yodel like Tarzan.
There. Just sayin’.
While my other comment waits for approval in moderation( I am naughty again,,sigh) I found something that struck me in an article at buzz flash/truthout called “Gun zealots are More Interested as being seen as dangerous than in using guns for self defense ” and what struck me most was the second to the last sentence: “It shifts the debate from ones live being imperiled without carrying a gun to “I need to carry a gun so that I am feared as a man should be”.. ahhh I am gonna let that statement just sink in with ya’ all for awhile…
But just who does fear the average man anymore? They can’t beat their wives..their kids are disrespectful as hell and they can’t do anything about it like their folks did to them or the courts , who don’t even respect a mans right to handle his family as he sees fit will step in. Most thoughtful people look at the men at a average tea baggin rally with pity and mocking. They can’t push around a kid in a hoodie or tell a car full of kids to turn down their radio and get respect even with a gun, until they kill someone. You wanna know who is feared in most smart house holds these days? Momma! Don’t F with her if you value life as it is. It use to be “wait till your father gets home” now it is “Oh God please let dad come home and save me”..and he , smart enough to know better than to cross Momma’s path, slowly backs away. And women in the work place…do we even need to go there? No one fears their equal so a man in need of being seen as dangerous is left empty handed there. So this is what they have come to….and if Obama takes their guns, then what?
You are kidding, right?
Lynne ….That’s a valid point that justme is making…Similar to the bumber sticker...God created all men equal, but Smith and Wesson made them equal. Sorta like describing a breakdown of society?
Swami: therefore Smith&Wesson is more powerful than God.
This exactly. It used to be basic common sense that you would not leave a loaded weapon where a child could access it. Go back and look at the literature in past decades from the NRA and other firearms organizations, they are quite explicit about this. Then they realized they could create a whole new market by ratcheting up the fear and making people feel they needed to be armed at all times, even in their own homes.
Or Smith & Wesson is a figment of some people’s imagination?
paradoctor…In a sense, with a Smith & Wesson you can become God. Talk about smiting someone mightily?… With a loaded S&W .357 magnum in your hands it’s no longer a case of vengeance is mine saith the Lord when presented with a perceived offense…there can be a spiritual/ emotional transformation that occurs where divine judgment and righteousness are imparted to the holder of the gun..Sorta like the mentality you see where someone gets blown away because they “dissed” the wrong person.
“Are guns “Cabbage Patch Kids†for adult white males”
“Again, I ask the cowards who have guns”
“Cowards all, afraid of their own shadows”
Wow thoughtful liberals?
Are guns “Cabbage Patch Kids†for adult white malesâ€
🙂 LOL!
Are guns “Cabbage Patch Kids†for adult white males
This is observable behavior, and the blame doesn’t belong on the observer. Instead, blame the people– all too frequently white males– who have irrational beliefs about how guns can “solve” their problems. In short, they need to grow the hell up.
Swami: God is a creator; the gun is only a destroyer. So with a gun I guess you get to become the Devil.
Charluckles: The NRA is ostensibly the homeowner’s protection lobby; in reality it is the gun-runner’s lobby; and in effect it is the lunatic’s, criminal’s, and traitor’s lobby.
In America, I can own all the guns and ammo I want, but I can have only one wife.
Not that I want 2 or more; just saying.
“This is observable behavior, and the blame doesn’t belong on the observer. Instead, blame the people– all too frequently white males”
Wow really, you could just insert: “all too frequently black males” and post on a racist blog about inner city crime. Blaming all white males for the ignorance of some is just plain stupid.
Blaming all white males for the ignorance of some is just plain stupid.
“All white males”? For crying out loud, no one is doing that. You are taking this way too personally.
“You are taking this way too personally”
I don’t think so, I am merely pointing out that many statements made on this blog concerning white males and guns are over simplifying the issue. I expect a more reasoned conversation from most who post here, that is all.
uncledad, we’re all free to choose how to respond to the things we read and hear. Let’s say I read on a blog: “Wow, just got back from Nebraska; the older women there are blobs, they really need to lay off the cupcakes.” Just a few possible responses I could have to that:
1. Post a comment calling the blogger stupid, ageist and sexist, since it seems appropriate, out of context.
2. Look around at the older women of Nebraska, and think, Well, it was inelegantly phrased, but unfortunately, factually accurate.
3. Walk over to a mirror, take a good long look, shrug, and think, Hey, we’ve all gotta go sometime, and there are worse ways than Death By Cupcake.
4. Walk over to the mirror, take a good long look, and think, Man, I need to lay off the cupcakes.
Of course, over time, other people are going to notice how I chose to respond, and it will affect how they view me.
I would ask that you please go back and re-read maha’s post, every word in order, and then all the comments likewise, and if you still don’t see your mistake, well, so be it.
so be it.
uncledad…You’re right, it is over simplifying but that’s only because of Wayne La Pierre and his white male buddies who are out there distorting the issue. Indirectly all the focus of the gun debate is directed at them as a demographic because they represent the biggest obstacle to a reasoned national debate..They are the ones clouding the issue with fear, ignorance, and distortion solely to serve their own ecomonic interests..
I’m a white male and I own a gun (not because of fear), but I don’t feel any sense of being put upon by people venting their frustrations with the gun debate by directing it toward white males. They are the primary culprits in perpetuating the fear.
Don’t forget the Tea baggers with their tyranny bullshit…and Obama is gonna take their guns/liberty/ freedom.
“Don’t forget the Tea baggers with their tyranny bullshit…and Obama is gonna take their guns/liberty/ freedom”
Swami as usual you are correct and I agree! But they are idiots because they are dimwitted tea-baggers not because they are white males, right? It’s not that I feel put upon, I just think it is a stupid argument to lump people into groups because of how they look or if they own a gun or not. Yes a majority of the unreasonable gun-nuts are mostly white males, but we do not advance our argument for common sense gun control by vilifying groups of people based on skin tone and if they happen to own a gun or not. I do not see much difference in that tactic than the ones many on the hard right use to scape goat minorities.
It is the “no exceptions, no guns, never” argument on the left that is just as frustrating as the “no exceptions, more guns, no rules” argument on the right. When I listen to many liberals on the gun issue I get an un-easy feeling that we are shooting ourselves in the foot (pardon the pun). Getting more restrictions and regulations on gun ownership is going to be hard work; if it gets done it will be accomplished by moderates from both sides, not from the fringe.
Sorry, that’s bogus. I know you can find people on the web who say that, just as you can find people on the web who claim to have been abducted by UFOs. I’ve been hounded lately by a whackjob who insists the Dalai Lama is being held prisoner by George Soros. I’m serious.
But there is no support for a complete ban on firearms in the national Democratic Party, and I doubt you could find a Democrat on the state level saying such a thing. There is no support for a complete ban on firearms among serious progressive activists. The pro-gun control activist organizations aren’t even calling for a complete ban on guns.
So, as in most things, it’s the “moderates” representing the left and fire-breathing absolutists representing the right. No, one side is not “just as bad” as the other.
the “no exceptions, no guns, never†argument on the left
Who is making this argument?
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