Showing posts with label gun control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gun control. Show all posts
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Question of the Day -- On "Pro-Life"
Professor Robert Reich asks a terrific question today.
"Wouldn't it be nice if pro-lifers focused on ending gun violence? Or suicide prevention? Or abolishing the death penalty? Or stopping police killings? Or fighting poverty? Or combating the opioid epidemic? Or ending wars?
You know, things that would actually save lives?"
--Robert Reich @RBReich
Monday, March 29, 2021
On Guns and Common Sense Gun Legislation
"Make no mistake about it: Universal background checks will save lives...
Make no mistake about it: Outlawing high capacity magazines will save lives. Make no mistake about it: Getting the military-style weapons off our street and private ownership will save lives." --Senator Ben Cardin, Maryland (D)
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Republican Party Policies
38,000 gun deaths a year in US: who needs gun control?
2 cases of voter fraud in 2020: let’s pass 253 new voter suppression laws
--Ari Berman @AriBerman
Sunday, February 14, 2021
A Very Important Anniversary Today
Three years ago today, 17 students and educators were killed and 17 more were injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas—the deadliest high school shooting in US History.
In just a day, countless students, teachers, staff, and family members were burdened with unimaginable grief and trauma. No parent should lose their child to an unspeakable act of hatred. No child should fear for their safety in the place they’re meant to learn and flourish.
Today, we remember the Parkland 17. And we will continue honoring all victims and survivors with action.
Today, we remember the Parkland 17. And we will continue honoring all victims and survivors with action.
Please join us. Let's work together on this. We are, we must be, better than this.
Monday, August 12, 2019
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Monday, August 5, 2019
One More Time On the Guns
How long, America?
20 children--children, for God's sake--were slaughtered in a school, as we all know.
We did nothing.
59 people gunned down from a high rise hotel in Las Vegas.
Nothing.
Now, 30 people gunned down in two separate incidents, 13 hours apart.
Sure, we're outraged.
Saddened. Disgusted. Repelled. Revulsed. Sickened even.
Will we do anything about it?
And to the gun-lovers and NRA supporters and Right Wingers and Republicans, heck, even Libertarians who say the government should stay out of it and again, do nothing? I give you data, the following from Harvard University studies.
1. Where there are more guns there is more homicide (literature review)
Our review of the academic literature found that a broad array of evidence indicates that gun availability is a risk factor for homicide, both in the United States and across high-income countries. Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the U.S., where there are more guns, both men and women are at a higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide.
Hepburn, Lisa; Hemenway, David. Firearm availability and homicide: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal. 2004; 9:417-40.
2. Across high-income nations, more guns = more homicide
We analyzed the relationship between homicide and gun availability using data from 26 developed countries from the early 1990s. We found that across developed countries, where guns are more available, there are more homicides. These results often hold even when the United States is excluded.
Hemenway, David; Miller, Matthew. Firearm availability and homicide rates across 26 high income countries. Journal of Trauma. 2000; 49:985-88.
3. Across states, more guns = more homicide
Using a validated proxy for firearm ownership, we analyzed the relationship between firearm availability and homicide across 50 states over a ten-year period (1988-1997).
After controlling for poverty and urbanization, for every age group, people in states with many guns have elevated rates of homicide, particularly firearm homicide.
Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. Household firearm ownership levels and homicide rates across U.S. regions and states, 1988-1997. American Journal of Public Health. 2002; 92:1988-1993.
4. Across states, more guns = more homicide (2)
Using survey data on rates of household gun ownership, we examined the association between gun availability and homicide across states, 2001-2003. We found that states with higher levels of household gun ownership had higher rates of firearm homicide and overall homicide. This relationship held for both genders and all age groups, after accounting for rates of aggravated assault, robbery, unemployment, urbanization, alcohol consumption, and resource deprivation (e.g., poverty). There was no association between gun prevalence and non-firearm homicide.
Miller, Matthew; Azrael, Deborah; Hemenway, David. State-level homicide victimization rates in the U.S. in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001-2003. Social Science and Medicine. 2007; 64:656-64.
5. A summary of the evidence on guns and violent death
This book chapter summarizes the scientific literature on the relationship between gun prevalence (levels of household gun ownership) and suicide, homicide and unintentional firearm death and concludes that where there are higher levels of gun ownership, there are more gun suicides and more total suicides, more gun homicides and more total homicides, and more accidental gun deaths.
This is the first chapter in the book and provides and up-to-date and readable summary of the literature on the relationship between guns and death. It also adds to the literature by using the National Violent Death Reporting System data to show where (home or away) the shootings occurred. Suicides for all age groups and homicides for children and aging adults most often occurred in their own home.
Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Firearms and violence death in the United States. In: Webster DW, Vernick JS, eds. Reducing Gun Violence in America. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
6. More guns = more homicides of police
This article examines homicide rates of Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) from 1996 to 2010. Differences in rates of homicides of LEOs across states are best explained not by differences in crime, but by differences in household gun ownership. In high gun states, LEOs are 3 times more likely to be murdered than LEOs working in low-gun states.
This article was cited by President Obama in a speech to a police association. This article will hopefully bring police further into the camp of those pushing for sensible gun laws.
Swedler DI, Simmons MM, Dominici F, Hemenway D. Firearm prevalence and homicides of law enforcement officers in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. 2015; 105:2042-48.
And again to the weapons supporters, I say we're only asking--now demanding--3 things:
- Required background checks, coast to coast, for mental stability
- Required background checks, again, coast to coast, for criminal history
- Ban on all purchases of assault style weapons. They have zero place on our streets and/or in our society.
No one who otherwise wants or feels they need weapons will be effected so please don't pull that desperate, pathetic, pitiful "They're going to take all our guns" on us. It's nonsense. Patent nonsense.
For hope today, I point out this article from Uber Right Wing, very Conservative Rupert Murdoch and his Right Wing rag, The New York Post.
Murdoch’s New York Post urges Trump to ban assault weapons
We can do this.
We must.
And it has to come from us, from the people.
Links:
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Quote of the Day -- Police Officer Edition
"I know some have strong feelings about gun rights but I want you to know I’ve hit rock bottom and I am not interested in your views as it pertains to this issue. Please do not post anything about guns aren’t the problem and there’s little we can do. My feelings won’t be hurt if you de-friend me and I hope yours won’t be if you decide to post about your views and I de-friend you."
"...people at the state level and the federal level in too many places in our country are not doing anything other than offering prayers. I'm grateful that I'm working a city with the mayor who is transformative, Sylvester Turner, and what we're starting to see is that local governments are starting to make a difference, and I think that the American people, gun owners, the vast majority of which are pragmatic and actually support gun sense and gun reform in terms of keeping guns in the right hands. We need to start using the ballot box and ballot initiatives to take the matters out of the hands of people that are doing nothing that are elected into the hands of the people to see that the will of the people in this country is actually carried out."
-- Art Acevedo, Chief of Police, Houston Texas
America: We Learn Nothing
It's not remotely deniable.
Proof?
This was first posted on Facebook in 2012.
We learn nothing.
We don't learn and we don't give a damn.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Two Headlines That Tell All About Guns In America
Yet one more mass shooting in America.
This one in Santa Fe, Texas.
More students killed in their own grade school.
And with all we know about these and however much we don't want them to occur, there were two very telling headlines, articles in the news this week that describe the situation we're in. It tells of what we're allowing, what with all the far-too-easy-to-obtain weapons. Here they are. Here's the first:
Let's face it, there are so many shootings, so many mass shootings in America, we can't even keep track of them, it's that obscene.
Here's the second headline and article.
2018 has been deadlier for schoolchildren
than service members
It's nearly incomprehensible that even one of the above is true, let alone both.
It's unconscionable this is our situation. It's unconscionable we allow it.
What's it going to take America?
How many innocent Americans---of any age, really---have to die before we have simple, intelligent, meaningful weapons reform and controls so these at least happen less frequently?
The rest of the world does it.
We should, too.
Link:
How many innocent Americans---of any age, really---have to die before we have simple, intelligent, meaningful weapons reform and controls so these at least happen less frequently?
The rest of the world does it.
We should, too.
Link:
Santa Fe school shooting: 10 dead
and 10 wounded in Texas
Friday, May 18, 2018
Another Shooting. Today. More Students Dead
Students and parents at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Tex., where there were reports of an active shooter on campus Friday.Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle, via Associated Press
10 more people dead, today, this morning.
No more "thoughts and prayers."
NOW is the time to talk about gun control.
Now is the time to ENACT weapons controls.
Background checks for mental stability and criminal history, at the very least, required, coast to coast, for all weapons purchases.
For starters.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Living In the US vs Elsewhere
A friend's post yesterday said what I've been thinking for some time:
A comment from a friend who moved to Europe a few years ago:
"it is absolutely incredible. We've been here (several) years now...the life style for my family is spectacular. The kids are happy, my wife is happy, we're experiencing people/culture/travel that we'd never see in the US. My kids are growing up in an environment with such cultural/international awareness that we never experienced as kids.
The longer you live outside the US, the more obvious the divide becomes. Education, healthcare, and environment are top priorities in Europe. Nudity is allowed and you see it on billboards, magazines, etc., but no one cares because it is natural. Violence, on the other hand, isn’t dramatized or publicized and broadcast throughout the media. When people commit crimes, they don’t even publish their full names in the paper (it shows as 'Matt H. was found guilty'). Europe allows nudity and minimizes the broadcasting of violence, while the US takes an opposite stance"
The longer you live outside the US, the more obvious the divide becomes. Education, healthcare, and environment are top priorities in Europe. Nudity is allowed and you see it on billboards, magazines, etc., but no one cares because it is natural. Violence, on the other hand, isn’t dramatized or publicized and broadcast throughout the media. When people commit crimes, they don’t even publish their full names in the paper (it shows as 'Matt H. was found guilty'). Europe allows nudity and minimizes the broadcasting of violence, while the US takes an opposite stance"
Additionally, they have far fewer guns so far fewer shootings and killings.
And universal health care.
And then there's all that architecture. We tear our "old" buildings down after 50 years.
All that, just for starters.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
On This Day In Weapons History
They quickly and wisely did what we have not done and will not do, no matter how many slaughters of innocents we experience and keep experiencing, repeatedly.
We learn nothing.
We do nothing.
Thanks, National Rifle Association, NRA! Thanks, Wayne LaPierre!
Thanks, Republican Party!
Link:
Monday, April 9, 2018
Check Out How Callous and Cynical and Ugly Kris Kobach Has Gotten
A friend emailed me this. I could nearly not believe how low, how, again, callous and cynical and ugly and heartless it is. Kris Kobach, out of Kansas, sent around this email this week for his event.
|
On April 20, the anniversary of the slaughter of innocents at Columbine, Kris Kobach has decided to have a rally to support "gun rights." What he's proposing:
Help us get supporters to Topeka on April 20th to defend the 2nd Amendment and promote our shared pro-gun values!
Twelve students and one teacher were killed at Columbine that day. Gunned down. Slaughtered. The Columbine shootings rank as one of the worst mass shootings in US history as well as one of the deadliest episodes of school violence.
And it's on the anniversary of this day Kris Kobach wants to push for yet more "gun rights."
If that isn't cold, heartless, callous and even sick, I don't know what is.
Links:
Friday, March 30, 2018
Entertainment Overnight -- Hey, What's That Sound?
March For Our Lives, Washington, DC, Kansas City, all over the nation.
Hey, what's that sound? from Paul Howard on Vimeo.
#enoughisenough
America's Best Christian Speaks to the NRA!
Thank you, Mrs. Betty Bowers!
God love you and keep on doing His good work!!
Links:
Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - YouTube
Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian -
Home | Facebook
Thursday, March 29, 2018
The Truth About Guns -- But Only In America
Sing it, Mrs. Betty Bowers!
Praise Jesus!
You are America's Best Christian!
Links:
Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - YouTube
Sunday, March 25, 2018
The 3 Stated, Official Goals of the March For Our Lives Students and Movement
1. Passing a law to ban the sale of assault weapons like the ones used in Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Aurora, Sandy Hook and, most recently, to kill 17 innocent people and injure more than a dozen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Of the 10 deadliest shootings over the last decade, seven involved the use of assault weapons.
No civilian should be able to access these weapons of war, which should be restricted for use by our military and law enforcement only. These guns have no other purpose than to fire as many bullets as possible and indiscriminately kill anything they are pointed at with terrifying speed.
2. Prohibiting the sale of high-capacity magazines such as the ones the shooter at our school—and so many other recent mass shootings used.
States that ban high-capacity magazines have half as many shootings involving three or more victims as states that allow them.
Limiting the number of bullets a gun can discharge at one time will at least force any shooter to stop and reload, giving children a chance to escape.
3. Closing the loophole in our background check law that allows dangerous people who shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms to slip through the cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows.
That's it. That's all. It's not long. It's not complicated. It's very doable and people will still have weapons.
March For Our Lives Kansas City Big Success and the Media Coverage It Created
The March For Our Lives event here in Kansas City was a big, big success yesterday. It was exciting and gratifying and really wonderful how many came out and the success of it all.
The Star has a fantastic, brief video of the March For Our Lives Kansas City rally/march that took place yesterday on their site.
March for Our Lives protest in KC
draws thousands
They gave the event some quite good coverage, thankfully. Here's more.
Slain Brookside attorney's widow speaks
at March for Our Lives
Local TV media also gave great coverage.
Not just the Kansas City march alone, either.
Good to great regional and national coverage, too.
There's lots more from the event, pictures, etc., here, too.
It was a terrific day and event.
Now, we go forward.
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