Clear evidence
Does American culture glorify violence and death more than other industrialized nations? No. Youth in Europe, Japan, and Australia are exposed to the same video games and violent movies that our kids are exposed to.
Does America have more mentally ill individuals than other industrialized nations? No. We actually take mental illness more seriously than many of our peers.
Is America in spiritual decline? No. More than 50 percent of Americans consider religion very important in their lives, a figure more than twice that in most European countries.
Is the gun homicide rate in the United States 30 times that of France and Australia and 12 times higher than the average for other industrialized countries? The answer is a resounding yes. The United States only has 5 percent of the world’s population but owns 50 percent of its guns. I submit that we have more gun violence because we have much more permissive laws than other countries regarding the sale and possession of guns.
The evidence is clear. Stricter gun laws can reduce gun violence. Australia is a case in point. In response to the 1996 massacre in Tasmania, conservative Prime Minister John Howard pushed for a law that banned semiautomatic and automatic rifles and shotguns. The law passed and even included a mandatory buy-back program for the newly banned weapons. In the 10 years that followed, gun homicides dropped 59 percent and gun suicides fell by 65 percent.
America needs stricter gun regulations in order to prevent senseless massacres.
RUDY DIAMOND
Lewisville
Countering mistrust
Mistrust lets far-right folks keep legal the weapons that make murder easier while trying to make illegal the abortions that save lives. We progressives, Democratic and Republican, must overcome our timidity and repeatedly tell life-saving facts.
I believe well-informed progressives are needlessly reluctant to truthfully counter the efforts of far-right conservatives to cause mistrust of our government and citizens. Some vote Republican thinking that Washington plans to forcefully take guns. They want combat-capable rifles to have a chance fighting military forces. Such a weapon enabled the efficient slaughter of 20 children in Newtown, Conn.
Religious ultraconservatives promote mistrust of people who aren't white, legal, heterosexual, fundamentalist Christian, or male. They doubt, for instance, women can choose what's best for themselves and their families. Saying God “makes no mistakes,” conservatives intend to take birth control from women beginning with the hardest to defend.
Severe conservatives pretended that Democrats enacted Obamacare to increase abortions, which right-wingers said were infanticides and never justified. Remember “legitimate rape?” Republicans promised to repeal Obamacare and have Roe v. Wade reversed.
Informed progressives can say honestly that deciding to have an abortion is difficult without telling a woman she commits murder. No one can do anything to, much less kill, a child that doesn't exist. It would be immoral to cause again the deaths of women by allowing few if any options but illegal abortion. Condemning unwanted children to poverty with constantly-painful health and social afflictions is deadly.
RICHARD TERRY LOVELACE
Winston-Salem
Debt?
Is it true that the U.S. owes $16 trillion to its creditors? Is it true that's 16 times 1,000 billion? Is it true that we're paying very little now, but when rates return to normal, interest alone will consume most of our GNP?
Is it true that we're paying our debt by printing lots of worthless money? Will this lead to inflation like we've never imagined? Is it true that Germany destroyed itself with worthless money and hyperinflation? Or are all these fears just more baloney from the Political Right?
RICHARD MERLO
Elkin
Considered for board
After reading that David Regnery, formerly under consideration to serve on the Winston- Salem/Forsyth County School Board, may have "represented himself as a Davie County resident to obtain a federal permit to own what are known as Class 3 weapons, which include machine guns, silencers and short-barrel shotguns," one has to wonder what an aspiring school-board member would need with a silencer. It further asks the question, why would he be seriously considered to join this board?
LAWRENCE CHANCE
Clemmons
Good afternoon...anyone?
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: The rest of the 1st world countries also have a much different attitude towards guns than Americans. Americans over the years have demonstrated an amazing capacity to accept the occasional mass murder (even of children) as an acceptable consequence for arming every citizen. Until Americans reach the point of recognizing gun ownership as a priviledge that should at a minimum have similar requirements to be met as driving a car instead of a "God given right" open to any bozo simply due to being born regardless of mental state or deficiencies, there is really nothing that can be done to prevent these atrocities from happening.
LTE 2: More broadstroked "us" vs. "them". Substitute the right-wing strawman in this LTE with a left-wing strawman, and you would have a typical drivel from Deb. There are idiots on both sides, however there isn't much that can be done about their idiocy, so the solution is to work with the sane on each side to find common ground..and hope the voters can distinguish the sane from the idiots.
LTE 3: True; true; first part true, second part false; false; no; false; partially yes.
LTE 4: I had that same question about all of the candidates put forth by the R's. Why do the Forsyth CC's value ideology over competence?
I agree with your LTE1 comment. I regard licensing to possess and transport firearms/ammunition as "well regulation." I do not believe in punitive taxation, though, but taxation sufficient to fund licensing of gun owners/users and for regulation, yes.
DeleteAs to the weapons themselves, I am opposed to eliminating ownership of currently legal weapons. I also am leery of restricting magazine size. Bucky recently cited the ATL case of the woman who defended herself and her children from an assailant. It took 6 rounds from her .38 to incapacitate the attacker. Suppose there had been a second intruder? Now 6 rounds is about the maximum that can be arranged for a .38 revolver, semi-autos can hold more. Things aren't quite so simple as the antigun crusaders make it.
Precisely, Stab. We have the equivalent of plumbers trying to tell surgeons how to operate.
DeletePeople that don't even own guns, and have no tactical knowledge or experience with guns, are trying to tell people that do, what they need for protection.
More people are killed with baseball bats than assault weapons. All this liberal BS that is being whipped up leads to unjustified nutty, ignorant hysteria.
Piers Morgan, one of CNN's long list of liberal dopes, likes to cite the fall of the gun death numbers in Great Britain compared to America's. What he fails to mention is that the number of violent assaults tripled in that country.
I'll try to use an analogy that liberals can relate to: Tons of illegal drugs are brought into the U.S. every year. They are illegal. If we pass a law making it illegal for people to possess certain types of guns. What would happen? That's right, they would be present in our society anyway. And more often than not, in the hands of criminals and not in people that follow the laws.
We've tried the way liberals want things done in respect to firearms over and over and over.
DeleteLet's try to do it the right way for a change.
___________
“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
― Narcotics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous
Yes, I agree...we should listen to people like Tiny who have vast tactical knowledge and experience with guns.
DeleteOops, forgot...Tiny couldn't even get into the Police Academy, beaten out for the job by some women and black people. Must have been thinking of a different Tiny...maybe Tiny Tim.
You're right for a change Rush. I was beaten out by blacks and women because the WSPD used Affirmative Action. Or better known as, 'it's okay to exclude white honkies from a job, remember, they were bad boys 100 years ago.'
DeleteAnd by the way, did any of you dopes ever think to cross-check to see if, 'Tim' the knife maker, ever applied to the WSPD? Nope....that would be too investigatively efficient, wouldn't it?
DeletePathetic.
"Honkies"?
DeleteAre you George Jefferson all of a sudden?
Sherman Hemsley died yesterday in El Paso, age 74.
DeleteIf you remember Rush, they offered me a job after a year. I told them, of course, to go pound sand. Why? Because if they're racist and sexist before I was even hired, they would surely be worse in the years to follow? N'est-ce pas?
DeleteAnd like Sherman Hemsley...I moved on up as a result of that discriminatory action.
DeleteYou can't keep a good man down.
DeleteCan't say for Bucky, but I taught firearms safety for some years, and did ballistics work for a local defense attorney, so I have some familiarity with firearms and their effects, including autopsy photos that are guaranteed to remove any glamor that entertainment lends to firearms' effects.
DeleteStab, I can tell you've got your stuff together on firearms.
DeleteI'm actually glad people like Rush don't want , or own firearms. We've got enough people that poop their pants when stressful situations arise. The only thing a gun would serve for such people would be as is an object to stop the flow. Because that's where it would end up.
MOTHER FIRED FATAL SHOTS
ReplyDeleteWinston-Salem Journal, Wednesday, January 9, 2013
A Greensboro woman shot and killed her 14 year old son and wounded her daughter and boyfriend Monday before turning the gun on herself, Greensboro police said Tuesday.
--------------------
This is a domestic dispute, an argument, but there was a gun lying around so two people ended up dead and two others wounded.
The woman maced her boyfriend, then found the gun and began shooting at her own children. The boyfriend was wounded while trying to take the gun away from her.
The wounded daughter was an honors graduate of RJ Reynolds High School and was attending UNC on a scholarship.She will recover physically, but she will never be all right again.
An average of 4 people per day die in similar circumstances in the USA. But that’s OK, because people need guns to protect themselves from the bad guys and defend against government takeover of something or the other.
Guns don’t kill people…people with guns do.
We can eliminate guns just like we did with drugs. Riiiiiiiiiiight! You're an utter moron Rush.
DeleteSo, basically, OT, you want firearms confiscated? How about the ATL incident mentioned. No .38 and there may well have been 2 murdered kids and a raped and murdered wife/mother.
DeleteI believe in the USSC's decision re the 2nd Amendment, it was noted that we have the right of self-defense. Or is the left's idea of self-defense to allow the crime to be committed, then duly investigated, perpetrator punished. Lotta justice to the law-abiding there.
There are tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths in this country. How many people die in traffic accidents because we let too many idiots drive automobiles?
Stab, you're right again. In the Heller decision, Alito specially mentioned the right to 'self defense' in the gun case.
DeleteBut you know how Rush is, he'll never mention that part of the opinion because it doesn't fit in with irrational liberal view on guns.
Illinois Democrats Lose Bid to Pass Firearms Confiscation Bill
Deletehttp://www.infowars.com/illinois-democrats-lose-bid-to-pass-firearms-confiscation-bill/
Speaking of self-defense, when I lived in southern CA, home invasions were not uncommon in some areas, particularly Asian communities, where it is common for folks to keep a lot of cash at home.
DeleteIn one case, some hoodlums invaded an occupied dwelling and began robbing the inhabitants and looking for the presumed cash stash. One of the bandits raped a woman who was present, sorry to report. But, total disaster was averted.
The invaders became careless, and the residents got the drop on them and subdued them. But, before they summoned the police, they amputated the rapist's willard and flushed it down the toilet. I don't know if the residents or the invaders were equipped with firearms, but I was glad to read of poetic justice.
Stab…way off base. If you actually read what I have posted lately you would see that I have not advocated confiscation or even limitation on sales of firearms…that is the same sort of reading that I’m used to getting from Teeny Tiny.
DeleteWith nearly half the world’s firearms rolling around loose all over the country it is far too late for either measure to have any impact. Rather than knee jerk, Americans need to actually start thinking about what can be done.
I would go along with the suggestions of several professors at the Harvard School of Public Health, as published in JAMA. Similar measures have been suggested before and ignored. This would require a major effort, which I doubt Americans are up to…we are the land of the easy fix, whether it works or not… but it would be worth a try.
Get Serious About Gun Violence
As to the “Atlanta” case (Loganville is about halfway between Atlanta and Athens), there is way more there than meets the eye.
1. It started out to be a simply B&E. The perp was using the standard tactic of ringing doorbells. The police will tell you not to open the door, but to let the person outside know that you are home. At that point the perp will move on to greener pastures. So that’s where the first mistake was made.
2. If she is going to call somebody, it should be 911, not her doofus husband, who can do nothing except give her bad advice and call 911 himself, thus delaying the call.
3. Hiding with the kids was a bad idea. Once the perp starts to actively break in, she should have taken the kids out the back door and headed for the neighbor’s house. Again, standard police advice.
4. Instead of seeing this as some sort of triumph for home defense, I see it as a lesson in what not to do. She shot the guy point blank in the face 5 times and he still was mobile. Indeed lucky that there wasn’t a second perp, because her gunfire was not very effective. The guy was unarmed…this was a simple burglary, not a home invasion. The murder and rape stuff is a bit over dramatic.
1. Stupid advice. Particularly if the perp has rape as his intent.
Delete2. Husband gave good advice. He told his wife to shoot the SOB. (Fox has the recording if you want to hear it.)
3. Wrong again. You don't want to get cute and try to 'sneak' out of your house. The perp may hear you and attack. Let him get what he wants (property) and leave.
4. Good example of why you shouldn't allow the government to limit the number of rounds you can have in your gun. You don't know how many rounds it will take to 'stop' a criminal.
Rush, you're dope. Stick to what you're good at-being an a-hole.
Yes, those nice polite rapists always ring the doorbell first. 97% of the cops in America give stupid advice...much better to listen to the cop/volunteer deputy wannabe.
DeleteIt's easy to see why Tiny couldn't make the WSPD. He couldn't have gotten on the force even back in the days when any redneck who could walk through the door and demonstrate tying his shoes could.
To be an actual cop, you do have to know something.
Better to invite the perp in and offer him a cup of coffee, right Rush?
DeleteYou're such an idiot.
(sigh) Thrown out at first for hip-shooting. Yes, OT, you are right. You have not recommended confiscation. My right knee jerked when I read your report of the gun tragedy, and remembered other reports you've filed, made an incorrect inference. My apologies, Cuz.
DeleteI had heard on NPR about the paper suggesting that gun violence be treated as a pathology, and I went to the link you posted and read it. I'm not down with restricting currently legal firearms, but in the main, I found the examples and recommendations to be sound, which included my not original licensing suggestion. It is a shame that the pols and pundits will overlook this comprehensive treatment of the problem.
As to the "ATL" incident, a crisis/combat situation blurs thinking except for the well trained and experienced. Yeah, the doofuss hubby should have told her to call 911, but more important, he told her to arm herself. The .38 was a damn sight closer than the cops, which is the point of owning a weapon for defense. Perhaps she and the kids should have boogied at that point; again, thinking becomes blurred. As to the perp's intent, not sure there. He appears to have pursued them, so maybe rape/murder was overdramatic, maybe not. All's well that ends well enough. The perp ended up ventilated and mom and family remained physically intact.
I'm a bit surprised at the .38's ineffectiveness. I wonder what sort of ammunition was loaded. I guess we will not know that. It's a bit of a weak sister these days, as handguns go (if you give the 9mm or .45 an effectiveness rating of 4, the .38 would come in around 2-2.5), but it's laid many a person low.
BTW, using my informal effectiveness rating above, an AR-15 would rank at 12-13, depending on the type .223 round loaded, and on the barrel length (shorter barrel, less velocity thus less energy). The 7.62x39 AK47 round comes in at 14-15. By comparison, a rimfire .22 rifle checks in around 1; Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum about a 10. The .30-06 rifle round, popular for hunting, and loaded in US military rifles from WW1 till Korea, checks in at 27-29 with its .308/7.62x51 successor coming in around 26. The .30-30 cartridge, popular for hunting ranks 17-18. And, the .50 machine gun round fired from a sniper rates at about 140. Actual performance depends on bullet construction, among other things, but this gives a rough comparison.
The perp wasn't pursuing them. He was going room by room stealing what he could find...standard B&E procedure. He had no idea anyone was at home until the fateful moment. Had she waited about .8 seconds to start pulling the trigger, he would no doubt have been gone in a flash. Up until that moment, this was a cliche B&E operation.
DeleteAnd I wouldn't be too quick to downgrade the .38...depending on the make and ammo, a .38 is pretty much as devastating as any other. But when the press tells us that she hit him five times in the face and neck, that sounds impossible to survive.
However, I would like to see the wound pattern. Face and neck covers a pretty wide area. Since she shot Maggie's Drawers on one round, I would bet that the other hits were on the periphery...not center shots.
And here's the reason. Even in combat, with well trained soldiers, a very low percentage of shots actually make effective hits. Our Marine instructors at Pendleton in the 60s talked about this. Today, that has become a major emphasis for both the Army and the Marines.
What they have discovered is that in a fight or flight situation, the average person's heart rate increases to well over 150 beats per minute, at which point they begin to lose control over some of their motor skills. Once past 180, for the average person, motor skills are pretty much gone. Much of modern infantry training is devoted to placing troops in such situations and trying to help them retain control of motor skills. There has been a good bit of progress, but it is all still quite experimental at this point.
So when the woman in Georgia started pulling the trigger, she was probably jerking around all over the place. Truth is she was lucky to hit the perp at all, even at point blank range.
In this case, it worked out OK. But the better course would have been to follow the police guidelines, which are based on long term studies of such situations.
My wife, unlike me, is a person who always likes to have a plan. When we established our first household, we took advantage of programs that are available in almost every community. We had a firefighter come to our home and advise us on fire safety, and we had a police officer come and advise us on home safety.
The police officer walked us through an almost identical situation to the one in Georgia. We explained this to our small sons and actually practiced how we would react. We are now into the second generation of this program. My sons and grandchildren have a plan for almost any emergency. And because of that, that are not, like so many other Americans, scared to death every minute of the day.
A crisis situation need not blur anything. If you leave things to chance, you will be lucky to survive.
Oh, and, you probably didn't know this, but it's true, documented by Fox news and many crackpot websites:
ReplyDeleteThe Sandy Hook shooting didn't happen. It was a hoax, perhaps by the Obama administration, designed to stir demand for gun control. All of the pictures and events that you have seen were staged in a secret West Virginia studio.
As usual Rush, you left out the most salient part of the story. But since I know what a devious, manipulative, sleazy individual you are. I checked it.
DeleteThe accusation was made by a professor at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). FAU is in Palm Beach County which is one of the most liberal, Democratic counties in the country.
______________
Florida Atlantic University Professor James Tracy questions if the Sandy Hook shootings actually occurred.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/08/florida-professor-questions-newtown-shooting-massacre-calls-for-more/?test=latestnews#ixzz2HW4k326H
This nonsense has nothing to do with Florida Atlantic or Palm Beach County, or Democrats or Liberals...who by the way, are not necessarily one and the same...I am neither a Democrat nor a Liberal...I am an unaffiliated moderate who has little patience for stupidity on either side.
DeleteIt's all about James Tracy, who is a right wing conspiracy lunatic just like you...FAU would love to be rid of him, but unfortunately, he somehow got tenure, certainly before he became a right wing conspiracy lunatic just like you.
Moderate?! Please....
DeleteThe sad thing is he actually believes that statement is true.
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama is exploring executive orders to help prevent mass shootings in America, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2013/01/09/politics/gun-control-battle/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
___________
Thanks for electing a dictator, liberals.
Let's see, Obama has circumvented immigration laws, drug laws and DOMA. What the heck, why wouldn't he circumvent Congress and make up his own gun laws?
DeleteLet's hear for the gun and exploding bottles of Mountain Dew!
ReplyDeleteKeith Ratliff's body was discovered last Thursday with a single gunshot to the head. The death is being reported as a homicide. His body was discovered near several firearms. He was the operator of FPS Industries Global LLC and the FPSRussia Youtube channel.
Keith Ratliff Dead: FPSRussia YouTube Channel Producer Shot In Apparent Homicide, Georgia Police Say
Huffington Post......come on Wordly. You can't be SERIOUS!
DeleteReally now, Wordly, do you not understand that where news comes from is much more important than whether it is true or not.
DeleteIf it comes from FOX or Limbaugh or Beck or some crackpot website...that is ultimate truth.
Huffington Post, New York Times, Forbes, The Economist or any other legitimate news source...hell, they just make it all up to make people like Tiny look stupid.
I'll bet you didn't know what happened after the WSPD turned Tiny down, back in the days when the force was over 90% white Anglo-Saxon protestant male...just a year later, the chief of police came crawling on his knees to beg Tiny to join the force with the instant rank of captain. And do you know what Tiny did? He told the chief to "go pound sand". I think that that was a sophisticated and clever riposte.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...
Come on Rush. You know you can't match wits with me. You're too much of a dope.
DeleteI think I've got you figured out Rush. You're too much of a loser to actually practice law. So I'm betting you teach over FT.
DeleteHa, ha. It is never referred to as "FT". The school itself uses FTCC, but any student, even those in the remedial reading and comprehension classes, could tell you that it is really USCP...the University of Silas Creek Parkway.
DeleteOf course, Tiny could not get a job there teaching PUTPL 101...Picking Up Trash in the Parking Lots...that requires at least a 7th grade certificate of attendance.
But hey, a big HUZZAH for guns and exploding bottles of Mountain Dew!
DeleteMy friends and I would have been into the Mountain Dew thing in 5th, maybe even part of 6th grade. I mean the whole thing is so middle school. But by the middle of 6th grade we had outgrown that juvenile crap, because we had discovered the source of the real fireworks…girls.
They could jerk you around, break your heart and kill your spirit without laying a finger or a bullet on you…and we loved every minute of it. Most of us have been studying them and their more mature and even more dangerous version, women, ever since. Of course, they don't come with an operator's manual, so we will never actually understand how they work…but we are still loving every minute of it.
The guys who couldn't make it with the girls are still enthralled by exploding Mountain Dew bottles.
I really liked Ratliff's thing about sitting in the theater with his gun in his pocket "praying" that someone would walk in shooting. If only America had more real men like him.
Then said Iesus vnto him, Put vp againe thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword.
___Matthew 26:52, King James Bible, 1611
Those students are missing a bet. They should call it USC, University of Silas Creek. Might have more cachet, even if USC did have a mediocre football season this year.
DeleteMy stepson from a previous marriage graduated from the West Coast USC, majored in film making, was doing well, last I heard.
Yes, the exploding bottles of liquid. Mtn Dew is water with a few additives. Water is incompressible. The bullets from the rifle he was firing leave the barrel at over Mach 2, thus supersonic, and trail a shock wave behind them. When the supersonic bullet passes thru the liquid, the shock wave forces the liquid away from the bullet's wake. Since the liquid cannot compress, the plastic bottle ruptures under the pressure, and kapow, an exploding bottle of sugar water.
DeleteThis effect is cited to show that little bullets such as the M16/AR15 round have an effect all out of proportion to their size (about an eighth of an ounce). The human body is mostly water, right? Yes, but some of that wah-wah is bound up in tissue, which is a bit more resistant to pressure. Nonetheless, the bullets are damaging, but hydrostatic shock, as it's called, is oversold. The .30-06 mentioned elsewhere flies at 2800 feet per second (call it Mach 2.5), while the M16 round at about 3000, not much difference there, and the .30 round makes a bigger hole and penetrates farther.
So, OT is correct, yet again, to an extent. But, unlike girls, guns do exactly as they're told. But, they don't smile and cuddle, which is part of OT's point.
Actually, considering that I am now part of a family with offspring and a grandoffspring, I will be divesting some of my weaponry. And, years ago, when money was tight, I sold an AK47 to a firearms dealer to fund a trip for a Steelers weekend in Pittsburgh. I have my priorities straight.
Have you heard about the new book that has come out? It's called 'Obamacare911, A survival guide.' You get a free tube of KY jelly with it.
ReplyDeleteWow, more clever and sophisticated wit from Tiny World.
DeleteJesus, I wish I was qualified to be him.