Rush Limbaugh lies…but what’s new about that?

Pres. and the blabbermouth

The big fat oaf rants that the American public does not “support gun violence prevention,” as described in a MediaMatters release, saying Rush Limbaugh has quoted from a 1998 statement by then State Sen. Barack Obama.  Obama said “"the vast majority of Americans would like to see serious gun control," which the conservative blowhard said was incorrect.  In fact a ban on assault weapons and background checks at gun shows is highly favored with the public.

In terms of hard gun control, Pew Research found following the Aurora, Colo. movie massacre that 47% prefer stronger gun control compared to 46% who don’t.  A stark comment in the London Daily Mail which said in response to new stats on gun control following Aurora, it was as if it never happened.  And here lies the tragedy in the U.S. gun problem.  Americans have been so brainwashed by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) they have become just lame on the issue.

More facts from MediaMatters show that 62% of Americans support banning assault weapons, even 49% of Republicans.  86% favor background checks when buying a gun, including at gun shows, and the majority want bans on high capacity magazines.  A majority also wants to limit the number of guns purchased at one time and a requirement to report lost or stolen guns by owners.  Most rational Americans would agree all of these are reasonable…not the NRA.

Typical gun owner inventory

Albert Bender in People’s World is concerned that the U.S. gun culture has been diagnosed as a social disease.  This comes from a group of American doctors who lament over the fact that “Mass murders of citizens by other citizens occur here with a frequency seen in no other nation in the world.”  When you consider the turmoil going on around the globe, this puts the U.S. in the enviable position of loving our guns over the love of human life, a comment I make repeatedly.

The docs cite facts that illustrate what a monopoly we have on gun violence:

• Over 300 million guns in American households-one for each citizen

• The NRA has a powerful lobby that threatens and fills the pockets of Congress to do their bidding

• Racism is still present in this country and along with hate groups headed up by those like the late Arizonan J.T. Ready, operate freely

• Massive inequality and poverty, particularly in communities of color

• 20% of Americans have significant mental problems

• Thanks to former President Ronald Reagan, there has been a severe decline in mental health facilities

• The U.S. has an arms industry supported by the NRA making billions annually “opting for profit over humanity”

The way Limbaugh should be

Media Matters exclaims, based on the above, “a lot of innocent citizens will be shot on a regular basis.”  That’s a pretty conservative statement when you consider there are 31,347 firearm deaths each year which breaks down to 86 per day, according to the CDC.  To point out the severity of this issue, I have started a Monthly Shooting Report based on media announcements, which is very conservative.

Since starting the report in March of this year, and through August, there have been 509 firearms deaths from 1,398 shootings.

So Rush Limbaugh lies, which any sane American already knew, but at the same time he has called attention to what I consider the most serious problem facing the United States today: the proliferation of guns that are being used by citizens to kill each other.  I repeat, gun worshippers do love their guns more than human life.  And for that prominent claim to fame, we have Wayne LaPierre and his henchmen at the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) to thank.

August 2012 Shootings Report: 342 shootings, 77 dead, 265 wounded

Two kinds of reports keep being issued that the gun nuts cannot argue with.  The first is a list of mass shootings circulated by the Brady Campaign for Gun Violence, the other a periodical review of miscellaneous gun violence recently reported by CNN, “By the numbers: Guns in America.”  The facts are there for President Obama to see and let the American public know just what he will do to stop the onslaught of gun deaths.  Any rhetoric would be wasted on Mitt Romney.

Gun massacres in 2012: Oakland, Calif. in April, 7 were killed, 3 wounded; Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready killed 5 in Gilbert, Ariz., including an infant and himself in May; James Holmes killed 12, injuring 58 in an Aurora, Colo. movie in July; and the Sikh Temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wis. in August, 7 dead 3 wounded.  There are others dating back to the Columbine school shooting to the Tucson, Ariz. Bloodbath in 2011 that killed 6, severely wounding U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Here’s a look at the numbers.  According to the Gallup Poll, only 26% of Americans favor a ban on handguns; most gun advocates agree handguns should be allowed in the home for protection.  310 million nonmilitary firearms in the U.S. as of 2009, almost one for each person in the country.  Only 47% told Gallup they owned a gun in 2011, which works out to two per household.  These are staggering figures making the U.S. unique in the world for gun ownership.

There are more numbers if you are interested that you can see on the CNN site above.  In the meantime, we are dealing with 2012 here and so far gun violence across the nation has proved to be escalating.  In my monthly shooting reports there have been 1,056 shootings since March resulting in 432 deaths.  Keep in mind that these figures are extremely conservative since I depend entirely on the media for my data.  The CDC reports 31,347 firearm deaths annually.

Here are the August 2012 results:

DATE	CITY/STATE	DEAD	WOUNDED	SHOOTINGS
8/1/2012	Amite, LA	1	1	2
8/1/2012	Chicago, IL	2	7	9
8/2/2012	Homestead, PA	1	3	4
8/2/2012	Chicago, IL	4	10	14
8/3-8/4/12	Chicago, IL	0	10	10
8/3-8/4/12	Patterson, NJ	3	1	4
8/5/2012	Omaha, NE	0	2	2
8/5/2012	Oak Creek, WI (Sikh Temple)	7	3	10
8/7/2012	New York, NY	0	10	10
8/8/2012	Tucson, AZ	0	1	1
8/8/2012	Chicago, IL	2	5	7
8/9/2012	Dothan, AL	3	0	3
8/9/2012	Detroit, MI	2	0	2
8/9/2010	Chicago, IL	1	3	4
8/10/2012	Seattle, WA	0	2	2
8/11/2012	Chicago, IL	0	21	21
8/11/2012	Tucson, AZ	2	1	3
8/12/2012	Washington, DC	0	2	2
8/12/2012	Oakland, CA	1	4	5
8/12/2012	Boston, MA	4	2	6
8/13/2012	Milwaukee, WI	1	6	7
8/13/2012	College Station, TX	3	4	7
8/14/2012	Dayton, OH	0	2	2
8/14-8/15/12	Chattanooga, TN	0	2	2
8/15/2012	Reno, NV	0	1	1
8/15/2012	Washington, DC	0	2	2
8/15/2012	Chicago, IL	1	5	6
8/16/2012	LaPlace, LA	2	2	4
8/16/2012	Muscatine, IA	0	1	1
8/17/2012	Atlanta, GA	0	2	2
8/17/2012	Phoenix, AZ	0	1	1
8/18/2012	Malden, MA	0	2	2
8/18/2012	Detroit, MI	1	1	2
8/18/2012	Odessa, TX	1	6	7
8/18-8/19/12	Chicago, IL	6	30	36
8/19/2012	Oakland, CA	0	2	2
8/19/2012	St. Louis, MO	2	1	3
8/20/2012	San Jose, CA	1	1	2
8/20/2012	Chicago, IL	0	3	3
8/20/2012	Cincinnati, OH	0	1	1
8/21/2012	Baton Rouge, LA	1	1	2
8/22/2012	Chicago, IL	2	0	2
8/23/2012	Chicago, IL	0	19	19
8/24/2012	New York, NY	1	8	9
8/24/2012	Chicago, IL	3	4	7
8/24/2012	Stuttgart, AR	0	3	3
8/24/2012	Surprise, AZ	0	2	2
8/24-8/26/12	Chicago, IL	9	37	46
8/25/2012	Rochester, NY	0	3	3
8/25/2012	Prospect, CT	0	1	1
8/25/2012	Oakland, CA	1	3	4
8/25/2012	Wilkinsburg, PA	2	1	3
8/25/2012	Scottsdale, AZ	1	0	1
8/25/2012	Tulsa, OK	1	0	1
8/25/2012	Muscatine, IA	0	1	1
8/26/2012	Wausaukee, WI	0	1	1
8/27/2012	Chicago, IL	0	10	10
8/27/2012	Perry Hall, MD	0	1	1
8/27/2012	Jacksonville, FL	0	1	1
8/28/2012	Randleman, NC	0	2	2
8/28/2012	Charleston, WV	2	3	5
8/30/2012	Avondale, AZ	0	1	1
8/31/2012	Old Bridge, NJ	3	0	3
	TOTALS	77	265	342

In the 6 months I have been doing this report, there have been 1,398 shootings resulting in 509 deaths.  After adding wounded to the report in June, 885 have been injured.  And these are the bare minimum figures but at least point out when and where the violence is occurring as a national representation.

You can link to earlier reports here: March, April, May, June, July.