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.

SPECIAL SATURDAY REPORT: Democratic National convention a series of high points



Presiden6t Obama



Let’s get the latest jobs report out of the way first.  Not the best but not the worst.  Only 96,000 jobs added in August compared to 150,000 needed.  Almost 400,000 people dropping out of the job market, mostly age 16 to 24, giving up looking for a job.  My question here is what percentage of this group stopped looking to go back to school?  The unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1%, primarily attributed to the 400,000 dropouts.

But knowing just what percent of that figure was to return to school could tell us how much of that .02 drop is valid.  Even one point would show success.  And another positive in the report is the fact that the jobs market improved for workers age 25 to 55, the backbone of the economy.  The unemployment rate for that group fell from 7.2% to 7.1%, which is extremely encouraging news.  A better report would have been welcomed by Obama but he can live with what he got.

Michelle Obama

Now to the convention itself.  David Gergen said on CNN following the Julian Castro, Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton talks: “It is possible that the electorate is so severely polarized at the moment that even a smashing convention or a smashing first debate can't really move the needle.”  All three of the above were smashing-plus and the President did on Thursday night just what he had to do.  Rebecca Sinderbrand says Obama hit the marks he needed.

He acknowledged that things aren’t “rosy.”  He didn’t say it but I will.  Barack Obama inherited the worst mess in the American economy and government since FDR’s Great Depression of 1932 and the New Deal.  Add to that the constant bickering and stonewalling of the President’s proposals by the GOP, with persistent refusals to this day to negotiate on most issues, once resulting in almost bringing down the U.S. economy.  Don’t forget this when you vote.



Bill Clinton



Obama had to look to the future and show us how his way would get us to our goals creating more jobs with overall economical improvements.  As an example of the things that can be done, he cited his rescue of the auto industry that has now saved 1.45 million jobs, and lowering taxes on the middle class to lift the burden they now face.  The Affordable Care Act, which will bring health care to 30 million Americans who desperately need it and free up emergency rooms.

In these cases, Mitt Romney would not have bailed out auto, would only lower taxes on the middle class with a huge decrease on the wealthy, and he and Ryan have  both vowed to repeal the health care bill.

The President told swing voters that he will work with Republicans in bipartisan efforts, reminding us that just last summer he negotiated with the GOP to cut $1 trillion in spending.  But he insisted it had to be a two-sided affair.  In the same vein he vowed not to approve new breaks for the wealthy, saying, “I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President, I never will."  In a CBS/NYT poll recently, 65% of respondents said that the wealthy should be taxed more.

President Obama's full speech:

Michelle Obama talked about her husband’s personal side, painting a man who throughout all the trials and tribulations he has been put through, is the same strong person she knew in 2008, with the same goals and ideals for the country he had then.  During her speech, the President stayed home in Washington to see his daughters off on their first day of school.  If that picture of him with the girls watching Michelle doesn’t show family values, then nothing does.

V.P. Joe Biden

Vice President Joe Biden took us inside the White House saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you what I think you already know, that, I watch it up close, bravery resides in the heart of Barack Obama and, time and time again, I witnessed him summon it.”  He added, "This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and a spine of steel…”  Then the classic, "Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive!"

  

Of Bill Clinton’s talk, David Gergen said, “…he did what no other Democrat has done well: he saw the vulnerable holes in the Romney-Ryan budget plan and drove a Mack truck through them.”  CNN’s David Rothkopf said about Clinton, Obama “…is no doubt grateful for the brilliance with which Clinton defended his policies, the deftness with which he sliced up Mitt Romney with a razor made of finely honed, carefully forged praise for his Republican predecessors.”

In another article by Rebecca Sinderbrand, she commented on the 48 minute speech which some say was one-half ad-lib, saying it hit just about every item on the Obama “wish list.”  As an example:

• Appeal to the persuadable who cite bipartisanship as a key quality

• Re-frame Romney without alienating bipartisanship-worshipping swing voters

• Push back on the GOP's welfare attack

• Cast Obama as his ideological heir and most likely to bring back the Clinton boom years

You can read more about each in the above link.  Most interesting, I think, is how the legacy of the Clinton boom years was so carefully handed down to Obama, if the country re-elects him in November, and the GOP changes its policy of “no” to everything he proposes and begins to negotiate.  Also interesting will be the bump(s) the President gets from the convention.  One point, not a chance.

Leslie Elder died because she didn’t know Obama’s health care law was there?

I find this hard to understand with the deluge of information available on Obama’s Affordable Care Act that is available in the media, particularly with just simple question searches on the Internet that, if the answer isn’t complete, there is normally some direction to where you can find it.  If you were depending on your doctor or insurance company to know and they didn’t, hell, I would have called the White House and explain that my wife is dying and I need help.

Leslie Elder

The health care law is complex and can be confusing but if a loved one is terminally ill you go to any extent to do something about it, especially when you are sure that proper health care will save her life.  It’s almost as if Leslie Elder was in complete isolation.  Where were her friends and relatives? They should have been combing the countryside for answers.  It is obvious that Elder’s husband was under severe pressure and needed help which he didn’t get.

For this kind of problem there are high risk pools called the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) designed as a safety net for people like Leslie Elder.  In a CNN article, it was reported that of the “…200,000-375,000 people expected to enroll in PCIP in the first year, less than one-third have done it, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.”  This is partially due to confusion over the act but also due to inadequate promotion of benefits.

Video on how to apply for Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP):

Jim Elder, Leslie’s husband, admitted knowing little about the program.  He was thinking of the official year of 2014 when the pre-existing rule goes into effect, not knowing there was an emergency section available that could have saved his wife.  Elder said that conversations over health care had been confusing.  Much of that can be attributed to Republicans who have attacked the Act repeatedly with threats of repeal and astonishingly false interpretations of it benefits.

Leslie Elder’s friend, Liz Jacobs, a nurse and advocate and spokeswoman for the group National Nurses United said: “In a humane health care system, as much of the rest of the world has, no one would have to know the arcane minutiae of how to apply for a high risk pool.  Everyone would have (coverage) that qualifies you for health care when and where you need it."  Precisely President Obama’s plan, which is fought vehemently by conservatives, especially the Tea Party.

Elder’s health care professionals and her insurance company certainly have a stake in her unnecessary death.  The family and friends did play an integral part by not uncovering every stone out there.  Obviously, there was one that would have worked.  My wife has a background working for doctors and has taken several classes on medical issues.  I guarantee you that she would not have stopped searching until she had uncovered a solution to Leslie Elder’s problem.

GOP Party Platform the height of arrogance on gun rights

When you think you have reached the epitome of gun rights demands by the gun nuts—they, along with the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), have gutted gun control laws for the last few years—here comes an election and the Republicans are demanding even broader gun rights.  I can’t imagine what is left to gain other than the possibility that we establish an open air market where anyone can go, 24/7, and purchase a gun, taking it anywhere they want to.

Romney VP, Paul Ryan "packing"

I can see it now.  On the front row of displays will be an assortment of assault weapons and magazine clips that hold 100 or more rounds.  Behind that an array of handguns designed to kill with just one shot.  All for self-defense, of course.  Gun vendors would exclaim how the NRA has finally won its battle for gun rights and from now on everyone from Paul Ryan to a James Holmes can own the weapon of his or her choice and do with it as they choose.  NRA Nirvana.

To hell with human life like the lives lost in gun carnage from Columbine to the Wisconsin Sikh Temple.  And these are just the ones that get the attention.  Look at Chicago recently; hardly a day goes by without multiple killings.  Since March I have documented shootings in the U.S. with results of 1,056 shootings leaving 432 dead; these figures are very conservative coming only from the media.  The CDC reports 31,347 gun deaths annually, 10.2 per 100,000 population.

The above alone is reason enough to re-elect Barack Obama, even though he hasn’t come out forcefully enough for gun control, while at the same time knowing we will get nothing, zero, from the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan gang.

Gun control advocates call it an “audacious” answer to those calling for more regulation after the mass shootings.  I call it pure disdain for those killed and wounded at the mercy of loose guns, and a highly insulting slap in the face to one of their own, Gabby Giffords, former U.S. Representative from Arizona who was severely wounded in the 2011 Tucson massacre where 6 died and 13 more injured.  By guns.  It is this kind of Bizarre thinking that kills Americans daily.

NY Sen. Chuck Schumer on Democrats and gun control:

Dan Gross, Pres. Of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence laments that by pushing this gun rights platform, The GOP have, "put themselves farther out of touch with their constituents."  In a Pew Research Poll following the Aurora, Colo. movie shooting, 47% of Americans favored more gun control compared to 46% who don’t.  With those figures, and considering the firearms bloodbaths in 2012 alone, any thinking individual knows that something must be done.

Does that mean the NRA and its members and supporters don’t think?  Their ability in this area is questionable, but the real reason is they just don’t care.  These gun fanatics value their arsenals over human life and this is despicable.

On July 24, 4 days after the Aurora, Colo. shooting, The White House hinted that President Obama might address the gun control issue.  His spokesman Jay Carney even recapped Obama’s support for an assault weapons ban.  But just 2 days before this Jay Carney was reported as saying the President doesn’t believe new gun control laws are needed.  And in a later statement in August, Carney insisted the problem isn’t guns, it’s violence.

Where the hell does Carney and the President think the violence comes from?  This bullshit about guns don’t kill, people do, is just that, bullshit.  It takes a person to pull the trigger and the reason there are so many triggers to pull is the GOP conservatives, prodded with money from the NRA, repeatedly loosen gun laws.

The Democratic convention started this week and the platform does have some mention of gun control, as follows: “Guns: We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious. We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms.”  See the whole platform here.

But a headline in the Charlotte Observer on Monday read, “Don’t wimp out on gun-control platform,” with a subhead of “Democrats, let’s see a platform that pushes for more limits.”  In other words, they didn’t do enough. 

The author questions why the NRA thinks the President is the “most anti-gun president in modern times,” followed by a quote from the article saying, “Obama hasn’t proposed any anti-gun legislation during his first term, and his talk about gun control has been almost non-existent these last four years.”  I think we would be elated to hear something from Obama on gun control in his address tonight.  But we all will be satisfied if he just does something about it in his 2^nd term.