I Gun “Safety” for Victims of Murder
In all this talk about “safety” by the advocates for unrestricted gun rights, do any of them ever stop to think about how the murdered victims feel about “gun safety”?
Do you think if we could ask the persons who died from such lethal violence, from being shot in the head or the heart, they would still answer “guns make me feel safe” and “guns prevent deaths”?
I’ve got no way of knowing but I’m guessing that just about every murdered victim would agree that guns did not make things safer for them.
Somehow, the NRA concluded that their fight for unrestricted access to guns is "never responsible" for any of the deaths that actually result from the use of those weapons.
Somehow, the NRA concluded that their fight for unrestricted access to guns is "never responsible" for any of the deaths that actually result from the use of those weapons.
Anyone who criticizes the NRA is treated by them as a kook and nut job. It’s a marvelous stroke of luck for the NRA, isn’t it, that they don’t ever have to listen to the opinions (or eyewitness testimony) of all the many GUN-MURDERED DEAD!!!
NRA = “NEVER RESPONSIBLE ASSOCIATION”
II Do Guns Make Us Safe?
The NRA position on gun control has more than one hole, or logical fallacy, in its reasoning. The most obvious one is this: guns make us safe. This actually is a laughable idea since all the evidence points to the contrary. America has been inundated with guns for a long time. Today there are tens of millions of guns all over the place. That should make the American people extremely safe, according to the NRA.
Meanwhile, the amount of violence committed with guns has not slowed down at all as the number of guns continuously increases. To the contrary, violence committed with guns has reached epidemic proportions, has it not?
Hundreds of persons are killed yearly with guns; check that thought. The number should read “thousands” of persons are killed every year with guns; it just hurts too much to write “thousands” instead of “hundreds.” It is a mad scenario spiraling out of control!
Hundreds of persons are killed yearly with guns; check that thought. The number should read “thousands” of persons are killed every year with guns; it just hurts too much to write “thousands” instead of “hundreds.” It is a mad scenario spiraling out of control!
Having a lot of guns around the house or the nation doesn’t guarantee the public's safety. Perhaps it’s mere “coincidence” but a strong statistical case could be made for the exact opposite conclusion: the more guns, the more gun violence.
Just go ask the families of those thousands of persons killed by guns every year! How "safe" did guns make them and their loved ones?
Just go ask the families of those thousands of persons killed by guns every year! How "safe" did guns make them and their loved ones?
The notion that the widespread presence of guns somehow makes us all “safe” is flatly contradicted by the record. Perhaps the murderer feels safer after his unconscionable crime, but I hope and trust that is not the kind of “safety” to which the NRA refers.
While the number of people killed by guns is climbing to truly staggering heights in America, how many more underreported victims are seriously wounded or maimed? In our exclusive and almost obsessive focus on fatalities, we don't pay that much attention to those who are merely wounded, paralyzed, or otherwise injured and incapacitated.
Does anyone even count or report on a state or national level the number of individuals who have been wounded by gunfire?
If the presence of guns is supposed to make us safe and we have had guns available ever since the colonial period, you would think American citizens by now would be the safest people of any nation in the world.
We should be largely or totally free of gun violence, according to this logic--for how else would the presence of so many guns make us feel safe except by preventing those incessant waves of violence which make us feel unsafe?
Has that happened? Look at the historical record: when did this “safety effect" (due to the unrestricted access to guns) first begin to show up, pray tell? Doesn’t it occur to anybody that the proliferation of guns has always meant less safety and more danger?
Isn’t it obvious that the production and distribution of an unending stream of guns has meant greater violence spreading throughout our society and not greater safety? If the latter were true wouldn’t we all be as safe as babies wrapped in warm blankets rather than being forced to listen to reports of an endless stream of murders on all the news media night after night, day after day?
Can anyone remember the last time he or she enjoyed a week going by without any stories of new violent acts of mayhem and murder?
We should be largely or totally free of gun violence, according to this logic--for how else would the presence of so many guns make us feel safe except by preventing those incessant waves of violence which make us feel unsafe?
Has that happened? Look at the historical record: when did this “safety effect" (due to the unrestricted access to guns) first begin to show up, pray tell? Doesn’t it occur to anybody that the proliferation of guns has always meant less safety and more danger?
Isn’t it obvious that the production and distribution of an unending stream of guns has meant greater violence spreading throughout our society and not greater safety? If the latter were true wouldn’t we all be as safe as babies wrapped in warm blankets rather than being forced to listen to reports of an endless stream of murders on all the news media night after night, day after day?
Can anyone remember the last time he or she enjoyed a week going by without any stories of new violent acts of mayhem and murder?
Where is this supposed safety that guns bring to a society? The NRA’s position contains the biggest fallacy imaginable, that guns somehow mean safety!
The continuous escalation of the quantity and quality of gun manufacturing has been met with an equally continuous escalation of the purchase, theft, and usage of said weapons leasing to ever more deadly violence.
The spiraling increase of gun violence spreads rather than decreases; the simplest statistical analysis over any finite period demonstrates this basic point not once but countless times.
Barrel-loading muskets used by General Washington's brave soldiers during the American Revolution have given way to weapons of obscene power and lethal accuracy.
The continuous escalation of the quantity and quality of gun manufacturing has been met with an equally continuous escalation of the purchase, theft, and usage of said weapons leasing to ever more deadly violence.
The spiraling increase of gun violence spreads rather than decreases; the simplest statistical analysis over any finite period demonstrates this basic point not once but countless times.
Barrel-loading muskets used by General Washington's brave soldiers during the American Revolution have given way to weapons of obscene power and lethal accuracy.
It is a curious fact that societies with fewer guns than the U.S. have fewer crimes as well. Perhaps these nations played hooky and missed the NRA’s tutorial “proving” their peoples' safety would improve if they would only increase their gun productivity!
On the other hand, perhaps it's the economic profitability of unlimited gun manufacturing which blinds some Americans to any truth but one: the almighty dollar sign, which reinforces “rugged individualism” in a rather peculiar and one-sided monetary manner.
On the other hand, perhaps it's the economic profitability of unlimited gun manufacturing which blinds some Americans to any truth but one: the almighty dollar sign, which reinforces “rugged individualism” in a rather peculiar and one-sided monetary manner.
If one gun makes us safe, then two guns make us safer, one supposes; ten guns safer still; and 300,000,000 guns the safest of all. Why the NRA persists in palming off this ridiculous assertion, almost comical in its delusional grandeur, is anyone’s guess.
The historical record down to the present day tells us that this view is utterly false. As one would expect, just the opposite is true: the availability of guns to just about anyone who wants one, has meant an ever increasing number of acts of senseless violence manifesting itself through a succession of tragic murders of ordinary men, women, and children.
The historical record down to the present day tells us that this view is utterly false. As one would expect, just the opposite is true: the availability of guns to just about anyone who wants one, has meant an ever increasing number of acts of senseless violence manifesting itself through a succession of tragic murders of ordinary men, women, and children.
Single murders ("one at a time") have long since given way to multiple slayings, and these in turn are now being replaced by mass murder on a grand scale. Instead of one person killed at a time, now it’s three or four or five; instead of five persons killed at a time, now it’s ten or fifteen or twenty. The maximum number from mass shootings keeps growing and no one knows when or where it will end. Some "safety record" for a nation inundated with guns!
The number of people killed in such multiple victim shootings is on the rise, not the decline. If this developing pattern makes us “safe”, then the word has lost all its meaning and should be discarded from the dictionary.
Guns are used to kill people constantly in this country. The number of resulting fatalities and wounded remains on the rise. That is the truth that no amount of NRA posturing can ever deny. Among the many questionable views of the NRA, this one—that guns make us safe—certainly contains the largest fallacy of all!
Guns are used to kill people constantly in this country. The number of resulting fatalities and wounded remains on the rise. That is the truth that no amount of NRA posturing can ever deny. Among the many questionable views of the NRA, this one—that guns make us safe—certainly contains the largest fallacy of all!
III THE EASE OF GUN USE
By “gun”, I refer to both hand-held guns and various kinds of rifles, especially those automatic and semi-automatic weapons with large ammunition clips which allow a shooter to fire continuously in order to kill multiple victims before reloading (changing the clip or magazine). Lethal damage can occur from a single shot, of course, but it is the growing number of mass shootings that have grabbed the nation’s attention of late.
I notice that the loudest gun-rights advocates expressing the National Rifle Association’s “mind-set” often choose to ignore the ease with which a gun can be used to injure or kill another, which I find to be disingenuous at best and quite irrational at worst.
The simplicity and speed with which a gun’s trigger can be squeezed absolutely must be included in any rational analysis of the Epidemic of Violence sweeping across America.
The simplicity and speed with which a gun’s trigger can be squeezed absolutely must be included in any rational analysis of the Epidemic of Violence sweeping across America.
Whether from uncontrolled anger or criminal plotting, emotional meltdown or mental imbalance, any individual with a gun can wound, cripple, or destroy the life of another human being in a matter of seconds.
No other tool or weapon is as quick and deadly as the hand-held gun, this ubiquitous merchant of death.
No other tool or weapon is as quick and deadly as the hand-held gun, this ubiquitous merchant of death.
A bullet travels faster than the speed of sound and can be released on its deadly flight by a slight pull of a trigger mechanism that takes so little strength that even a child can manage it. Indeed, very young children have killed classmates, friends, parents, siblings, and themselves accidentally or from utter naivete, not comprehending the danger.
What then of an older child or adolescent, who may fall victim to innocent horse play or a deliberate act of violence? A momentary burst of anger in an impulsive teenager can cause another teenager’s death. Insults at a party, gang feuds, and road rage leading to shots exchanged: the ease of firing a weapon in uncontrollable temper can bring quick death.
What then of an older child or adolescent, who may fall victim to innocent horse play or a deliberate act of violence? A momentary burst of anger in an impulsive teenager can cause another teenager’s death. Insults at a party, gang feuds, and road rage leading to shots exchanged: the ease of firing a weapon in uncontrollable temper can bring quick death.
An armed robber in fear of being apprehended can injure or kill a storekeeper, bystander, or police officer in the blink of an eye. A mentally disturbed individual suffering from a delusional fantasy or a psychotic break may open fire in a movie theater, school, church or other crowded venue--and stands an excellent chance of killing a dozen or more people, adults and children alike--the bullets take no notice of age or innocence.
Gang members battling over the control of turf may slaughter one another in conscienceless manner along with any unlucky persons who get caught in the cross-fire. So-called “stray bullets” from gunfire have killed or wounded both children and adults sitting or sleeping peacefully within their own homes!
The ease with which guns can be acquired and the trigger pulled has now reached a point where the latest victim may not even be the intended target; he or she may simply be an ordinary citizen driving or walking about in the wrong place and at the wrong time.
One quick squeeze of the trigger and who knows if the shooter will succeed in murdering the person he aims to kill or will innocent bystanders be shot as well?
The ease with which guns can be acquired and the trigger pulled has now reached a point where the latest victim may not even be the intended target; he or she may simply be an ordinary citizen driving or walking about in the wrong place and at the wrong time.
One quick squeeze of the trigger and who knows if the shooter will succeed in murdering the person he aims to kill or will innocent bystanders be shot as well?
And what weapon is always in the hands of the shooter? A gun, always a gun! Within a few seconds the murderer-at-large can aim, squeeze, and deliver devastating consequences for the families and friends of the victims—as the rippling effects of pain, sorrow, and suffering travel far beyond the immediate tragic act of senseless murder and unforgiving death.
I’m not saying that the current Epidemic of Violence is an easy one to cure but if we are to discuss the matter rationally with the express intent of trying to reduce this out-of-control Epidemic, it would be helpful if people would stop ignoring the ease with which guns make possible all these many, many senseless violent deaths.
To say “Guns don’t kill people” is a bald-faced lie that ignores the fact that guns absolutely do kill people!!
What can we say of anyone, including the gun-rights advocates who oppose all gun safety restrictions and who chooses to ignore the ease with which guns are used repeatedly, day after day after day, year after year, to injure and kill their fellow human beings--their fellow Americans?
What can we say of them except they are living in a fantasy world's state of denial?
They are themselves locked into a vicious cycle of self-deception. They are engaged in either willful self-inflicted ignorance or criminally negligent stupidity!
What can we say of anyone, including the gun-rights advocates who oppose all gun safety restrictions and who chooses to ignore the ease with which guns are used repeatedly, day after day after day, year after year, to injure and kill their fellow human beings--their fellow Americans?
What can we say of them except they are living in a fantasy world's state of denial?
They are themselves locked into a vicious cycle of self-deception. They are engaged in either willful self-inflicted ignorance or criminally negligent stupidity!
EVERY TIME THE TRIGGER IS SQUEEZED
IT SHOULD BE APPARENT TO ALL THAT
GUNS DO KILL PEOPLE!!!
In less time than it takes to read or write the three capitalized lines above, you and your whole family could have been killed by one angry deranged person with a single gun.
That is our reality and it is not to be cured by NRA slogans of no intrinsic value whatsoever.
It won’t be cured by wishful thinking or by pretending that tens of millions of guns--and the exceedingly mind-boggling ease of their availability—has nothing to do with the deadly consequences of thousands of people dying annually from the deadly fire of guns!
That is our reality and it is not to be cured by NRA slogans of no intrinsic value whatsoever.
It won’t be cured by wishful thinking or by pretending that tens of millions of guns--and the exceedingly mind-boggling ease of their availability—has nothing to do with the deadly consequences of thousands of people dying annually from the deadly fire of guns!
To those who still wish to say that guns and bullets don’t kill people, isn’t it time for them to wake up and assume the mantle of reason given to every adult human being as the greatest gift of all? How much longer must we put up with the ridiculous pretense, the mindless denial, that guns are not an essential part of America's Epidemic of Violence?
The ease with which guns can be acquired and used to cause mayhem and death must be addressed as part of any large-scale effort to reduce and eliminate needless deaths from the midst of our democratic peaceful society.
This Orgy of Gun Violence is not something to which we must capitulate or accept as inevitable: we have the power and we have the right to take those steps necessary to make our nation and our neighborhoods safe places in which to live so that we may ALL enjoy the greatest of all promises our country ever made:
This Orgy of Gun Violence is not something to which we must capitulate or accept as inevitable: we have the power and we have the right to take those steps necessary to make our nation and our neighborhoods safe places in which to live so that we may ALL enjoy the greatest of all promises our country ever made:
THE RIGHT TO "LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS”
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness . . .”
-The Declaration of Independence, 1776
The principles of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution must always be given the highest precedence and priority!
IV QUESTIONS FOR SEN. TED CRUZ TO PONDER
Should convicted felons be allowed to buy and own guns after prison?
TO SENATOR TED CRUZ:
Sir, do you think convicted felons who have committed violent felonies, when they get out of prison, should have the right of access to guns under the Second Amendment?
Sir, do you think convicted felons who have committed violent felonies, while they are still in prison, should have the right of access to guns under the Second Amendment?
Do you think a murderer has a Second Amendment right to murder people?
Do you think convicted felons who are told, as a condition of parole, they may not associate with other convicted felons, are being constitutionally violated?
If we could interview victims of gun violence—persons killed by guns—if we could bring them back to life for a few minutes and ask them a question--do you think they would agree or disagree with the statement “Guns make people safe”?
Do you think individuals have the right to make speeches designed to incite people to riot, under the protection of the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech” guarantee?
Do you think a person can be held liable for slander or libel when their statements are blatant falsehoods, or should they be free to say anything under the First Amendment?
Speaking mathematically and hypothetically:
Do you think if no one in our society had a gun—I mean no one—do you think there would be more gun deaths, or fewer gun deaths, than we currently are experiencing?
Have you ever estimated the total yearly profits made by the gun industry?
Do you concede that if the answer to even one of the questions is "yes", you have recognized that the Second Amendment is susceptible to interpretation and restrictive modification in accordance with the majority will of the people supported by the proper court authority?
If you have not answered "yes" to any question, do you think your position increases or decreases the likelihood of the Epidemic of Gun Violence continuing unabated?
HISTORICAL ADDENDUM
Note: “cruz” is the Spanish word for “cross”:
For the Latin American nations brutally conquered by the Spanish-speaking Catholic conquistadores, the word has special religious significance: the “cross” is holy. It is the place where Jesus Christ, a man of peace, was crucified. There are no stories in the Bible of Jesus owning a gun or causing death by use of a weapon, are there? His message was one of love and peace, of kindness and compassion, of belief in virtue and faith in an afterlife.
Only God has the power of life and death: not humans. “Thou shall not kill” is one of the commandments, is it not? How ironic that a Republican Warbird—who would transform himself into a militaristic demagogue if he had his way—should have the last name “Cruz” and dishonor it in nearly everything he says and does!!
His last name should be “Matar” (to kill): that at least would be more appropriate given his current stance favoring the unrestricted availability of guns to anyone and everyone. He seems to show an all too great willingness to accept countless murders and horrifying mass killings as tragic but unavoidable collateral damage, as though we should learn to accept the ever higher death count of targeted victims and innocent bystanders as a normal part of life.
The American people do not accept murder and slaughter as normal, Senator Cruz, and if you knew just a little bit more about the real history of American democracy, as well as your own religion, even you might begin to understand why!!
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