A woman friend of mine whom I have known since third grade made a good point today, after the latest school shooting.
She said: "Hunters should quit the NRA en mass. They are being used."
Indeed, they are. Hunters did not do this horror in Connecticut. The NRA certainly wouldn't sanction it. But, with their obsession to arm America at any and all costs, they are, indeed, part of the problem.
There's no danger to the sport of hunting being eliminated. The seasons go on as they always have and they always will. Shooting deer and elk is not the problem in America. Shooting children, shoppers and spouses is. If you are a hunter, why give your money and membership support to an organization that really isn't concerned with hunting? Wayne La Pierre spoke before the election and told his members that Barack Obama WOULD take away their guns, if given a second term. Would. No uncertain terms. Obama wouldn't stop them from hunting. Heck, the only gun control issue he addressed in his first term was allowing citizens to carry in National Parks. That's not the action of a totalitarian dictator like the NRA and others love to paint Obama as. Only an idiot could see it as a clever ruse...
This is why I get angry with the gun-nutters. They want it all and they want NO restrictions. As it says in the Second Amendment...shall not be infringed... And they take that to mean, no restrictions whatsoever. Full-auto? Yep. Carry anywhere? Yep. Permits? No. School shootings? No, but, we have a way to deal with them...
There is an arms race in this country. Is it absurd to think that the gun manufacturers don't quietly see Sandy Hook as a marketing opportunity? They are selling fear and business is good. Fear drives their sales and fills their coffers. Without the fear of mass murderers and gangs of dark tinted people shooting up neighborhoods (that aren't but could be your neighborhood next) the gun culture is a niche of sportsmen and folks who like to shoot and it is nowhere near as profitable as it could be.
They won't be happy until this nation is Somalia but with white people. A nation of folks toting the very latest in firepower and yearning for more. No way, you say? We are a society of consumers. Why would this surprise anyone?
The nutters were quick to say that 'if the teachers had been armed...'
Odd, but these are generally the same folks who try to tell us that public school teachers and their unions have failed society. Now they want them armed? Well, of course! A new market.
Guns are a product. Half of marketing is creating a need for your product where there is none or should be none. You have to sell your product to survive! Seemingly 'bad publicity' like Sandy Hook is 'good' for them. The world got that much more frightening and ugly. We the people have to protect ourselves. This, is just another reason why...
Cry for the children and grown ups in Connecticut. Not too far away, in that state, in New York state and elsewhere in America and the world, they are smiling. Sales are going to rise. The Second Amendment will come under attack but be strengthened by politicians and pundits. Business is good...
7 comments:
Nice column, Ferrerman.
Of course, this is not about guns but about our mental health system. We badly need to overhaul how we deal with the mentally ill. If there were more options for the crazies, this man could have been taken into the system and possibly locked up before he could get his hands on a gun.
It's about both when they're so apt to intermingle. Far too many mentally ill are locked up in prisons though, not getting their mental health needs addressed met. (The rest are on Topix...)
I can see that people who hunt need a gun and sports shooters and police, but who seriously needs assault weapons? I think the type of person who wishes to own this kind of weapon is exactly the person who shouldn't. Gun ownership should be strongly regulated and restricted. The gun problem is the only reason I have never wanted to visit the States - where the unhinged are allowed to own any kind of weapon they want.
I don't think this problem is going to go away for the USA.
It just gets worse every day, Sue. A lot depends on where you live and where you go. Where I live, I don't *need* anything. Nothing happens here that I can't handle. Having said that, when I lived in Memphis, which is a very violent town, I never bothered to get a carry permit because I made a conscious effort to not go places where I could be in danger and I did not care for the responsibility- the burden- of toting a firearm. However, after a neighbor was robbed outside my apartment, I was frequently armed there because of that and some 'iffy' neighbors and their visitors.
Owning an assault weapon for 'self-defense'is ridiculous. Many here really think the government will attack them. If not the government, roving bands of criminals or, perhaps, Zombies. Anything is possible but, these fears are not likely.
Last night I saw an NRA produced clip about how Aussies now live in fear of crime since the gun ban. Well, I imagine that is NRA propaganda as, at the end, they warned Americans that "...it's going to happen to you..." The problem is they want NO restrictions and fight absolutely any attempt to regulate. Lot's of paranoia.
I don't live in fear of anything, and I think that NRA propaganda is bullshit. Australians don't need to carry weapons to walk the streets. Yes, there are areas that I would not go after dark - not because I might get shot - and I think there are areas like that in most cities, but I feel very safe otherwise. In summer - most of the year really - my windows are left open day and night.
Our laws were changed after the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in '96 (35 dead, 21 injured). It became illegal to own a gun unless you owned acreage or had permission from an owner of acreage to shoot game on their property or were a member of a shooting club. You can't legally buy a hand-gun unless you belong to a shooting club at a rifle range, and you have to have police clearance and a permit.
An amnesty was declared allowing anyone owning a gun without a permit to hand it in to the police without any repercussions.
We have not had a massacre since.
Crims can get guns, but they are not widely used in crimes.
Americans appear to the rest of the world as highly paranoid. All that 'zombie' bull is a good example. Normal people know that zombies are not real but there are whole groups of Americans who believe they will overrun the place, and are stocking up and arming themselves in preparation!
HA! I just watched a show on Discovery Channel tonight about folks preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse! I love "The Walking Dead" show but, well, that's not gonna happen!
Guns are a double edge sword here. We have awful crime. Easy access to guns for us mean easier access for 'them'. I feel a situation has been created for us where it is an arms race. Sales went up immediately after the school massacre. I knew it would.
It seems to me you all went about it the right way. However, prior to the Tasmania massacre, were guns prevalent? Honestly, it's only been the last 20-30 years here that people have gone so gun crazy. You watch old TV shows and it seemed so rare for criminals to be armed with guns, kinda shocking. Despite the myths of our old west, even crime was somewhat civilized. But, we've armed the population here just like our CIA armed certain countries...big money and politics.
Before Tassie, people were allowed to own guns with permits and some owned guns without them but there has never been the attitude that it's OK to shoot people to solve your problems.
The 'shoot first ask questions later' philosophy that seems to prevail among gun owners in the US was never rife over here, and people seemed to be OK with handing over their weapons at the amnesty. I think they were given a small amount of compensation, but I'm not sure.
Gun owners are legally obliged to keep their guns in a gun-safe and locked. No weapons lying around the house for small children or other people to get to.
I grew up in the UK where even the police go unarmed, unless a situation calls for it, and then I believe they have a special task force for the job.
I certainly wouldn't want us to go down the same road as the US has done with guns.
I think there is a high percentage of gun ownership in Canada, but the mindset is different.
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