These stories bother me, and they bother me even more because now even mass shootings don't phase Americans.
A Mass Shooting Happened Yesterday But You Didn't Hear Anything About It | ThinkProgress
Or this story where a young woman seeking assistance after a car accident was gunned down by the home owner.
Or of course, this story that highlights why I loathe the gun culture. Not gun owners, but the culture surrounding the people who worship guns and the 2nd amendment. One of the editors from Guns and Ammo dared to defend the proposition that we could have some gun control. His idiot readers revolted and demanded he be fired. He didn't, as I read it anyway, suggest that we should take everyone's guns away. No. He just said that we can regulate this right, just as we regulate other rights. And gun culture freaked out.
5 comments:
Both of those incidents have been reported heavily here, but mostly because they are local. The media, for the most part, cares more when the victims are non-minority. This holds true for all crimes, so I don't see this as much of a gun culture thing, as opposed to a racist thing. How is the gun culture supportive of this criminals actions. Under several current laws (that the NRA is even on the record supporting), this guy isn't even allowed to own guns or body armor, much less murder people. What other kind of law do you think would help?
As for the young woman being shot asking for help. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, such as the 2 hour gap between when the accident happened and when she was shot. The shooter is also claiming that the gun went off accidentally. Regardless, I haven't seen anyone say this was a justifiable shoot. Most are saying that he had no business doing what he did and that he wasn't in imminent danger.
As for the G&A thing, did you read the editorial? Unsurprisingly, TPM cherry picks some quotes and makes it seem more reasonable than it was. From a Constitutional perspective, it was a mess. He makes numerous factual errors. As an editor, he should have been fired for writing crap. It was also somewhat snarky and insulting towards people that are pro-gun.
That being said, there is enough support for gun control in the MSM, and readers of a gun magazine are probably not interested in seeing one of "their own" writing this kind of stuff. In addition, there are a number of reports circulating around that he was already on his way out and this was either a publicity stunt or a big F you to the readers.
Seriously, since you don't even accept my issue with gun culture, I am not sure that I expect you to agree with me on guns. I saw in Florida that conservatives have decided to double down on the "stand your ground" law, and then there was this little tidbit from the news. Open carry advocates protest gun control advocates.
And by the way, Steve, my point has always been that the culture encourages irresponsible people. I am not sure that laws will fix this, but am waiting for responsible gun owners to stand up to the excesses of the culture, and that includes the irresponsible rantings of the NRA and their leadership. They encourage stupid people to have guns.
I just do think, arguably, that the NRA is encouraging either of these incidents. In the first one, that dude was a felon in possession of a firearm and body armor. The NRA has supported keeping guns away from those types of people. In the second case, the NRA has taught that a gun is a tool of last resort and should only be used in the case of imminent danger.
While I don't agree with your view of gun culture, I certainly accept it. I do think they encourage responsible ownership. The problem is that, in a free society, all sorts of stupid people can have guns, chemicals, matches, cars, and children. It is not until they do something that the law steps in.
I have mixed feelings about open carry. While I agree with it, I think that many OC advocates act stupidly or rudely.
I think you still conflate the responsible NRA gun instructors and the leadership of the organization. There is no way that LaPierre can be considered responsible, nor the very prominent board members and the kinds of things they way about this President, or about the use of guns.
A follow up for the Detroit story. The prosecutor's office is will likely charge the homeowner tomorrow or early next week. The coroner's office released the toxicology report and the girl had a BAC of .22 and had THC in her system.
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