Thursday, June 26, 2014

THE CHILDREN GUN VIOLENCE REPORTS KEEP COMING

Everytown and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has compiled some publically available figures for unintentional gun deaths that are recent, from 15 December 2012 to 14 December 2013. There were 100 boys and girls ages 14 and under who were killed accidentally by guns. Like those left on the dining room table around a two-year-old while dad takes a telephone call. He shot himself in the chest and died. And a four year old girl shot by her six-year-old brother with a gun left a gun under a jacket on a living room chair while the step-mother was outside. he died. The report says, American children are 16-times more likely to be killed in unintentional shootings than their peers in other high-income countries. Tragically, it was found that 70% of these deaths could have been prevented if precautions had been taken by the gun owners to secure their weapons. Pathetic! Read the full report here.
 

MORE STUPID TEA PARTY REMARKS FROM BOBBY JINDAL POST

Typical Tea Party redneck
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on the Tea Party site, “I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States, where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.” He added, "..there is a "silent war" on religious liberty being fought in the U.S." Following are some of the laughable and half-witted comments to his post:


David Anderson: “JINDAL IS RIGHT. WE'VE HAD ENOUGH AND NEED TO TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES. I'M IN ARE YOU?”

Don Holmes III: “DAMNED RIGHT I'M IN! I HAVE BEEN READY FOR A LONG TIME! I KEEP MY WEAPONS BESIDE MY BED! THE OATH I TOOK IN 1964 IS STILL VALID AND WILL NEVER EXPIRE!
SEMPER FI TILL I DIE!!!!”

David Dixon: “yep Civil War II, the retaking of America. What a Grand idea.”

Jerry Ross: “southern conservatives would make a large STANDING ARMY!”

Bob Howe: “same with us Arizonans. We'll fight and take our own Army. Americans Unite!!!”

Peter Gundrum: “A complete genocide is necessary for the future of America.”

The definition of genocide from Dictionary.com is: "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group." 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

ARE STUPID PARENTS TO BLAME FOR MINNESOTA BOY'S PREMEDITATED GUN VIOLENCE?

John David LaDue
I don't want to be too judgmental but if a recent account of a Minnesota teen's plans to bomb a school and shoot students is correctly reported, either his parents are oblivious about what's going on around them or they are just plain stupid. John David LaDue says he came from a good home and was never bullied. The piece describes LaDue with an "obsessively detailed plot" starting with killing his family. He was arrested in April when a female witness saw the 17-year-old at a storage locker where he kept his bomb making equipment. In his home LaDue had numerous guns and ammunition, but his mother said she had no idea what he was plotting. Her son countered that "he plotted right under her nose. He made no effort to hide anything. He told police they'd find three live bombs in a box on the floor next to his bed." Duh. These parents are just plain lucky they weren't co-conspirators in another school massacre.

LOUISIANA GOV. BOBBY JINDAL TALKS REVOLUTION

Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal is the Governor of a state that ranks at the top of the list for poverty levels. Louisiana is only topped by Mississippi and the District of Columbia. Yet Jindal on Fox News republished by, who else, the Tea Party, said, “I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States, where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.” Further, this fruitcake says there is a "silent war" on religious liberty being fought in the U.S. I wasn't aware any recent restrictions had been placed on this right and, if anything, it is the religious right that is trying to take over and run the country. It's the typical Tea Party cry of "no more government" but when Louisiana needs help, where do they look? The federal government, of course. Jindal needs to clean up his own backyard before trying to save the country.

BRADY CAMPAIGN SAYS NINE CHILDREN DIE EACH DAY IN U.S. OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS

PolitiFact checked Brady's figures with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database and found that from 2007 to 2011--latest data available-14,258 children died of gunshot wounds. That makes it 7.81 deaths per day, close enough to Brady's figures. The fact that it is even one per day is too much. These incidents include accidental shootings by adults, kids who find unsecured guns, gang violence, suicide and planned mass shootings. Brady acknowledged their error citing a volunteer incorrectly using the number nine for deaths. Eight is correct and they said the nine represents children unintentionally shot daily who survive, which is in addition to the eight who die. Any way you look at this the outcome is pathetic.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

GUN MANUFACTURERS SHOULD THANK WAYNE LAPIERRE FOR THEIR PROFITS

Gun manufacturers
The naïve, supposed 5-million membership of the National Rifle Assn. think wacky Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, works on their behalf in the gun rights movement. He doesn't. He works for the gun manufacturers and it is obvious from recent profits his work has been extremely successful. Here's a report from the Guardian on the profits of two leaders in this industry: Smith & Wesson Holdings, up 150.1% in the last five years, and Sturm Ruger, up 370.6% in the same period. These profits also carry over into the retail side of the gun business: Dick’s Sporting Goods and Cabela’s, up 168.7% and 423.1% in the same five years, respectively. Now I am in full support of the U.S. capitalistic system but these profits--produced on the bloody deaths of hundreds of innocent children and adults--are abhorrent. You would think the American public would agree but they are still in their unconscionable apathetic mood while the deaths continue.



JUSTICE ANTHONY M. KENNEDY COULD DECIDE GUN CONTROL FATE

Adam Winkler...Gunfight
SCOTUS has refused to hear several gun control cases brought by the National Rifle Assn. that would allow broader open and concealed carry. Although D.C. v. Heller only clarified possession in the home, carrying a firearm outside the home is still up for grabs. The Courts have ruled against straw buyers--those purchasing guns for a third party--so what's left is background checks and open and concealed carry outside the home. Congress will probably eventually rule on the background check issue; only an idiot cannot see the benefits of making sure who is buying guns. But SCOTUS must address the 2nd Amendment issue of whether a citizen can lawfully carry a gun outside his or her home for protection.

The key vote could come from Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy; he joined the liberals in the straw buyer vote. Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor who wrote Gunfight: The Battle Over the Rights to Bear Arms in America, thinks Kennedy is "willing to read gun control laws broadly." Winkler also thinks Kennedy "...insisted that the opinion establishing the individual gun ownership right, District of Columbia v. Heller, contain language that it was not calling into question reasonable restrictions on gun ownership. The door is obviously open and Kennedy could be our man.

When conservatives turn against their own

 I have followed Wm. Kristol for years and it wasn’t very long ago that I considered him an ultra conservative that would never chastise the...