Showing posts with label Tiananmen Square protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tiananmen Square protests. Show all posts

Friday, June 8, 2012

China takes on U.S. gun violence as human rights violation

Tiananmen Square standoff
Here we have a country that is known for its severe human rights violations in the past, but all of a sudden China has finally decided to fight back against the United States, which has been one of its staunchest critics.  Most notable was probably the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which ended in military suppression and a lone man challenging the tanks by standing firm in front of them.  There’s much more and Amnesty International documents it below:

“An estimated 500,000 people are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial, and millions are unable to access the legal system to seek redress for their grievances. Harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and imprisonment of human rights defenders are on the rise, and censorship of the Internet and other media has grown. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, and of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians who practice their religion outside state-sanctioned churches continues.”

So with a lineup like that, you’re going to come in with your best guns blasting away.  And what does the Chinese government decide to use as the first issue to confront the U.S. with?  Gun violence.  They could have chosen a multitude of arguments like past slavery, treatment of the poor, the anti-immigrant movement.  They picked none of these.  They chose gun violence.  This problem was already obvious to most of the world.  Now it’s official from a world power.

U.S. on China human rights video:

OK.  I can hear the gun bubbas right now question gun violence in China.  To start, China’s population is 1.3 billion; the U.S. 300.8 million.  The latest figures from 2008 show 14,811 gun homicides in China; the U.S. 9,484.  Now that’s 56 percent over the U.S. but then China’s population is 331 percent larger than the U.S.  However, the important number is that the U.S. has 2.98 gun homicides per year, per 100,000 population.  China has 1.1.

China human rights
I don’t care what you think about China; what I care about is the fact that one of the biggest human rights offenders in the world has exposed the stupid American gun culture.  The charges are in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the US State Department on May 24.  You can see a summary and link to the full report here.  China report is here.  You’ve heard all of this said before but here it is again…from a foreign nation.

This is verbatim from the China Daily site which is their answer to the report:

“The United States prioritizes the right to keep and bear arms over the protection of citizens' lives and personal security and exercises lax firearm possession control, causing rampant gun ownership, the {State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China} report said.

“The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011 was released by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 issued by the US State Department on May 24.

“According to the online edition of the Foreign Policy on January 9, 2011, the US people hold between 35 percent and 50 percent of the world's civilian-owned guns, with every 100 people having 90 guns, the report said.

“According to a Gallup poll in October 2011, 47 percent of American adults reported that they had a gun. That was an increase of 6 percentage points from a year ago and the highest Gallup had recorded since 1993, the report indicated.

“According to the Foreign Policy report, over 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence and another 200,000 Americans are estimated to be injured each year due to guns.

“Besides, according to statistics released by the US Department of Justice, among the 480,760 robbery cases and 188,380 rape and sexual assault cases in 2010, the rates of victimization involving firearms were 29 percent and 7 percent, respectively, the report said.

“The report pointed out that the United States has mighty strength in human, financial and material resources to exert effective control over violent crimes. However, its society is chronically suffering from violent crimes, and its citizens' lives, properties and personal security are in lack of proper protection.”


Your average NRA member
 It seems that the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has now met one of its primary goals.  Shoving guns down the throats of so many Americans that the United States is now infamous for its gun nuts all over the world.  Nations now know us as a bunch of firearm freaks that care only about arrogantly waving our weapons around just to prove that we can; who cares about public safety.  And another disturbing fact, no U.S. answer yet to this report released by China in May.

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...