Guns In America

On that Atlanta, Georgia slaughter of more innocent American citizens earlier today: Tom Winter @Tom_Winter "NEW: Two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter tell NBC News that the gun -- a 9mm handgun -- used by Robert Aaron Long in yesterday’s shooting spree in Georgia was purchased legally and it was purchased yesterday prior to the shooting." Reported w/ Mike Kosnar

igorvolsky @igorvolsky "Waiting period laws that delay the purchase of firearms by a few days reduce gun homicides by roughly 17%. 10 states + DC do have waiting periods for at least some types of firearm purchases. Georgia is not one of them." Again and as ever, thanks, NRA. Thanks, Republicans.

Quote of the Day -- Insane Guns Edition

"The big increase in the murder rate in 2020 has carried over to 2021. Early data shows murder 18% in first 3 months of 2021.

Meanwhile, last week, 203 members of Congress voted to make it 'easier' for prohibited purchasers to purchase guns & traffic firearms." --igorvolsky @igorvolsky Doesn't portend well for the nation. Certainly doesn't bode well for the Kansas City metropolitan area.

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:

Secretary Kobach has offered to host a pro-gun rally for the Kansas State Rifle Association in his official capacity as Kansas Secretary of State.

Help us get supporters to Topeka on April 20th to defend the 2nd Amendment and promote our shared pro-gun values!

For anyone who doesn't know or remember:

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.

At approximately 11:19 a.m., two students, Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, carrying guns and bombs, open fire inside Columbine High School, killing 13 and wounding 23 others.

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:

Columbine High School Shootings Fast Facts - CNN - CNN.com

Columbine High School massacre - Wikipedia

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

Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian - 

Home | Facebook

Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) · Twitter

The NRA's America

The way the NRA would have us.


Giddyup.

Missouri Makes a Very Dark List

Wow.

Missouri not only made the top, worst 10 on a new survey of the 50 states in America, it actually made the top, worst 5.

America's 10 worst states to live in 2017 

- CNBC.com

"These are the 10 worst states in the US for quality of life, including crime, health, social tolerance and the environment."

So check out what they say about our own Show Me state:

5. MISSOURI

Show Me how to stay safe in Missouri, where violent crime in all categories has been rising, in some cases by double digits. Missouri also lacks statewide protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital status, and gender identity. And the state is near the bottom for public health funding.

2017 Quality of Life score: 99 out of 300 points
Weaknesses: Crime rate, health, inclusiveness
Strength: Attractions
2016 Quality of Life rank: No. 49

Note that last statistic, too.  2016 Quality of Life rank:  49.  Out of 50, of course. Only one state worse than us, whoever that is. 

Even on this list, we're worse than Mississippi, for God's sake. 

WORSE THAN MISSISSIPPI.

Let that sink in.

I know I personally take no comfort whatever in learning that neighbor state to the South, Arkansas, is ranked 4th worst or that, again, neighbor state Oklahoma is ranked number 3.

We should no way be on this list. This is horrible.

We must do better. We have to.

And we start by getting Republicans out of public office.

Let's get started.

On Guns in Missouri

This is floating around on the internet today, this week, after the state legislature passed their ignorant, very loose gun law.

I imagine not enough Missourians are aware of the statistic in that 2nd panel. It's true. Our murder rate did increase. I only hope that last frame doesn't come to pass but feel pretty certain it will.

What's Wrong With These Pictures?

And in the case last evening, in Minnesota, Philando Castile was legal, legally carrying a weapon, cooperating with the police and was still shot and killed, in his own car, in front of his girl friend, in front of his daughter, shot four times, and all because of suspicion only of a very minor traffic violation.

Dead.

Sixteen Examples of What's Wrong

Go to this New York Times page and watch all 16 videos. See if you don't think something is wrong and that we need change, we need justice, for all, in our nation. Sixteen times an American was shot down and killed--or strangled, in the case of Eric Garner--without being arrested, charged and tried.

The Videos That Are Putting Race 

and Policing Into Sharp Relief

"Qui tacet consentit":

"Silence gives consent".

Yes, unequivocally, police have a tough job, no doubt about it. I'm the first to admit it.

But they, we, can't react only and immediately with guns, with shooting, first, any and every time they fear. We can't be tried and condemned, both, right on our streets, immediately.

They can't live like that.

Clearly, we Americans can't live like that.

How Long America?

At Least 4 Dead, 20 More Hurt In Shooting At Kansas Manufacturing Plant

How long until we put a stop to this nonsense, this insanity, this ugliness, this completely unnecessary stupidity?

Link:  Hesston, Kansas Shooting: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Three Areas America Is Dysfunctional

Don't get me wrong by the title of this post. There are plenty of things in America that are good and done well and done right. It's just that there are at least some, a few things that are not just wrong or negative but deeply so, problematic and spell a bad future, if left on the path we're on, as a nation. Herewith are those items.

First, we have the most expensive health care system in the world, bar none.

US Healthcare: Most Expensive

Second, our health care system, for all that outrageous, even immoral, crushing cost, gives us the worst health outcomes and mortality rates of the top 17 industrialized nations. The worst. Meaning, at least, we die sooner that 16 other First World nations.

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing

Along with this nearly insanely expensive health care costs is the fact that it's wrecking us, financially, person by person, house by and and all across the nation.

Medical Bills Are the Biggest Cause of US Bankruptcies

Check this out. Nearly a million people per year in our nation go bankrupt due to health care costs than any other source or reason. Nearly a million. Every year.

700,000 Bankruptcies Per Year Because Of Medical Bills

Third, we have the most expensive internet costs in the world.

Why is broadband more expensive in the US?

The problems of having too expensive internet is that it keeps the people from being more informed and more educated and aware and so, competitive in this modern world we live in. It's better for the people, heck, it's better for the businesses, for their employees and so, it's better for our competitiveness, as a nation.

It's not right that those with less money in our nation should go without internet, also. That keeps the poor, poor and has the very likely effect of widening the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots", between the already-wealthy and the poor. It's wrong but it's also not good for the nation and our competitiveness.

Fourth, we have the slowest internet rates of any industrialized nation.

Why Is High Speed Internet So Slow In The United States?

Again, this holds the people and so, the nation, back from our fuller abilities and capabilities, while the rest of the world progresses. It's, again, wrong but it's also negative for the people and nation in our competitiveness in the world.

Fifth, we have more weapons than any other industrialized nation.

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people

And so, finally, at least here, that last note also directly gives us more--far more---shootings and killings of Americans, our fellow country men and women, innocents, of any other industrialized nation, bar none. Check out this chart, the visualized statistics.

This is insane. We can't allow those kinds of statistics, these numbers of killings, to go on.

A great deal of the source of all these problems is, frankly, that we have far-too-unfettered Capitalism that allows companies and corporations to do whatever they wish, nation and people be damned.

And one of the main reasons the already-wealthy and corporations can and do get away with so much is because they can buy their legislators---our legislators---in state capitols and our Federal government with "campaign contributions." They can get the legislation they want and so, the laws and finally, the government they want. It benefits their own businesses but hurt, again, the nation and people

We have to take our government, our nation, back. These are not just negative but extremely negative trends and paths we are on.

We have to get off these merry go rounds.

Link:  Homicide | Harvard Injury Control Research Center

Guns in America III

Let's do this.

Guns In America

Some statistics. Some facts.

America has six times as many firearm homicides as Canada, and 15 times as many as Germany.

America has 4.4 percent of the world's population, but almost half of the civilian-owned guns around the world.

This makes no sense whatever, none of it.

There is a mass shooting in America nearly every day.

States with more guns have more gun deaths.

Consistent with this, above, developed nations with more guns also have more gun homicides.

America's biggest gun problem is suicide.

And again, consistently, the states with the most guns report the most suicides.

More guns equals suicides. Reported suicides between 2001 and 2005:

 "Guns and Suicide in the United States"

Guns allow people to kill themselves much more easily.

In states with more guns, more police officers are also killed on duty.

"Firearm Prevalence and Homicides of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States"

Then there are these facts (with links).

1. There's roughly one gun for every person in America
2. Gun crime is more prevalent in the US than in other rich countries
3. Gun homicides (like all homicides) are declining
4. Places with more guns have more homicides
5. There are more gun suicides than gun homicides in America
6. Suicide is more common in places with more guns
7. Living in a house with a gun increases your odds of death
8. Guns contribute to domestic violence
9. Mass shootings aren't getting more common — and are a tiny share of all shootings
10. A tiny fraction of gun violence is committed by the mentally ill
11. Gun control is popular but getting less so

And finally, to give us some hope, there is a great deal of support in America for gun policy proposals.

From the full article over at Vox:

Gun violence in America, in 17 maps and charts

More links:  11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in America

Twelve facts about guns and mass shootings in the United

About Gun Violence

Quote of the Day -- After the WDJB Double Shooting

Obama's Coming to Take Our Guns!

From Phoenix this week:

2008: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2009: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2010: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2011: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2012: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2013: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2014: Obama's coming to take our guns!

2015: Obama's coming to take our guns!

It got tiresome the second year they said it.

We knew it was stupid the first year, the first time they said it. The second year, it was already old.

Weapons Supporters: If You Really Believe in America...

On This Day--National and Missouri State History

From the Zinn Education Project

On May 23, 1838--the forced removal of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw and other Native American nations officiallybegan--a land theft, massacre, and attempted genocide known as the Trail of Tears. A petition was signed by close to every member of the Cherokee nation (16,000) in protest of the planned removal. This resounding, democratic voice was ignored.  

See the film segment of We Shall Remain (http://bit.ly/13Mu8RG) and use the Cherokee/Seminole Removal Role Play from the Zinn Education Project (http://bit.ly/13Mt8wM) to introduce students to the history outside of the textbook about the organized efforts to resist relocation and the horror of the internment and subsequent death marches. 

Photo: Elizabeth "Betsy" Brown Stephens, a Cherokee woman who walked the Trail of Tears. [Wikimedia Commons]

Keeping in mind that this Trail of Tears also went through Missouri--which they don't teach in our schools. It went through Southern Missouri and straight through what is now Springfield, Missouri.

Links:   Trail of Tears

Discover A Hidden History- Cherokee Trail of Tears Encampment Waynesville, Missouri

Trail of Tears State Park | Missouri State Parks

Gain a better understanding of one of the saddest chapters in American history at Trail of Tears State Park, where nine of the 13 Cherokee Indian groups being relocated to Oklahoma crossed the Mississippi River during harsh winter conditions in 1838 and 1839.

What No Background Checks on Guns Gets Us

Indeed, thanks, NRA!

Quote of the day -- on Voting and Democracy

The problem is also that there are far too many Michael Browns in this country

It's one thing that one young person, a young man, Michael Brown, was unarmed and shot and killed in St. Louis recently, sure. That's bad enough.

But the problem is, there are far, far too many Michael Browns in this nation. It's horrific enough a shooting, let alone a killing takes place once but it happens repeatedly here. As examples, here are just a few recent headlines from around our nation:

North Carolina officer shot unarmed man 10 times

Officer Randall Kerrick faces manslaughter charges on Tuesday for allegedly shooting dead a car crash victim in Charlotte

Teenager's mysterious death evokes painful imagery in North Carolina

Police say they have no evidence of foul play in the hanging death of black teenager Lennon Lacy. But in a case with disturbing racial overtones, his family are left with haunting questions

Gym mat death of Ga. teen still being questioned

White Dallas man shoots 8-year-old black boy in the face while playing 'tag'

And then there's Trayvon Martin and all the others we've already forgotten.

How is this possible?

How are all these things and all these incidents and all these horrors possible?

And yes, how are they possible even once, let along repeatedly?

Who are we that we're capable of these things, time and again, too, especially after all this time?

Some statistics: The Racial Disparity in Fatal Police Shootings