The pro-gun argument
The pro-gun argument has more holes than its unintended victims. It basically argues for the right to shoot holes through the flesh of fellow Americans if one feels threatened. Not just one or two holes, but dozens, and they’d prefer that it not take too long. (We’re all busy these days, I suppose.)
For a sprinkling of humanity, they bring up hunting as a side-motivation, regardless of the fact that the Second Amendment mentions zip about hunting.
Next, they bring up one’s right to protect their family against intruders. But even if read with one eye shut by candlelight, it remains easy to see that the Second Amendment is not speaking on the individual level. “A well-regulated militia” does not refer to one paranoid fool protecting his flat-screen. It means an organized army of citizens protecting an entire state from an attack. (Think pre-military, pre-police department, Revolutionary War era.)
But my favorite is the one about protection against our own government. News flash! It’s illegal to shoot members of our own armed forces. And even Fox News will report that our military has machine guns, flame throwers, bazookas, grenades, mortars, tanks, armed drones, and nuclear weapons. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that much room in my garage.
Anyway, this whole pro-gun argument is outdated and a silly waste of time and tears. Of all of man’s brilliant inventions, why are we so fixated on one that snuffs out so many lives? Check out the toaster.
RICK RANDALL
Winston-Salem
The other abortions
Anti-choice advocates say that there have been 55 million abortions since it was legalized 40 years ago. But they forget the other abortions – millions more – the ones that took place before abortion was legal.
Abortion has been practiced for centuries. And according to a new study published in the Jan. 19 issue of The Lancet, a medical journal, abortion rates are highest where the procedure is illegal.
The study also found nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, with the vast majority of unsafe abortions occurring in developing countries.
Need anyone point out that illegal abortions are also more likely to cost the lives of the women who undergo them? Where’s the “sacredness of life” in those cases?
There are two (other) reasons I will not side with anti-choice advocates. They go after women who are frightened and vulnerable and kick them while they’re down, calling them murderers. And if they were sincere about wanting to end abortion, they would support universal birth control and reproductive education. They’d be enthusiastic about birth control and reproductive education. Instead, they’re against them. That tells me that there’s more to their agenda than they’re willing to admit.
BONNIE G. VAUGHN
Winston-Salem
Another loony idea
While it may be comforting that state House Majority Leader Paul Stam has backed off his loony idea of prohibiting folks on public assistance or in bankruptcy from purchasing lottery tickets, it is not comforting that another loony idea has been proposed by Sen. Stan Bingham (“Bingham introduces bill to arm teachers, volunteers,” Feb. 1). He wants to create armed “school safety marshals” (i.e. vigilantes) to patrol the halls of schools to scare off gun-toting madmen.
In an emergency, these marshals would run to a lockbox that contains a gun and a bulletproof vest, no doubt shouting for the armed intruder to “wait, wait while I get ready for you.”
Absurd? You bet. The good people of North Carolina should be concerned that taxpayer money is actually being used to pay their representatives to come up with such foolishness.
JOHN REYNOLDS
Clemmons
Guns
Please note that I oppose any bill that bans semi-automatic rifles, magazines and background checks. With these laws in place, the majority of law-abiding Americans would be losing their rights to anti-gun activists. The mentally ill and criminals would not follow the law to get guns.
Leave our Second Amendment alone.
Stop the violence in the national media, which most Americans will agree is a problem. Media violence only encourages certain people to act out what they see. In the Jan. 30 story “In Cold Blood,” one of the men charged with the killing of a Jonesville police officer said the killers were influenced by movies. The media are supporting the present administration, so no actions will be taken to stop violence in the national media: TV, movies and video games. So the goal is to go after gun control.
Sad but true.
RON KIRKPATRICK
Kernersville
LTE #4...Guns
ReplyDeleteYes, we do live in an "exceptional" culture of violence. Movies, TV, video games, even our favorite sport-football, where else in the world do professional wrestlers, pugilists such as boxers and UFC participants make more money than teachers, and we "buy" into it. It's free market capitalism and violence sells. It sells big time and if violence didn't sell, it would be taken off the market, just like pet rocks. To say we don't need a law because criminals won't follow it, is basically an argument against all laws. We are not a law abiding society. All one needs do is take a drive on I-40 or Silas Creek Parkway and drive the legal speed limit to understand that, why have a speed limit when criminals don't follow it? Take a walk down the street and count the number of cigarette butts and other trash you find. Why have a law against littering, when law breakers don't follow the law? Wayne Lapierre says background checks won't work because criminals will not submit to background checks (a 180 from his May 27th, 1999 position). If law abiding citizens are selling guns and someone will not submit to a background check, then don't sell them the gun. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms and there is no legislation proposed to repeal the Second Amendment, but it does not guarantee any right to have those arms go unregulated. They already are. Times change and so do the needs of a civilized society. So are we a civilized society or are we as Oscar Wilde once said: "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
(Clap, clap, clap). Amen Phargo!
DeleteKirkpatrick's note was ok (not that I agree with it) until he said "The media are supporting the present administration, so no actions will be taken to stop violence in the national media."
Really Kirkpatrick? Talk about undermining your point by saying something ludicrous.
Now that I think about it, Kirkpatrick's comment "The mentally ill and criminals would not follow the law to get guns." Is also partially incorrect.
DeleteCriminals will definitely get guns by any means - illegally - necessary. Yes.
But mentally ill people? We really need to change our national dialogue on mental illness. I have a family member who has schizphrenia. I can absolutely assure you, when that person is in the depths of disease, there is no way that person can get their hands on ANYTHING unless it is laid out in front of them. With other mental illnesses, yes, it is possible that someone in the throws of depression or mania might go out of their way to get their hands on a gun, but it they MAY NOT be successful if guns are not easily available.
My point is this: decouple "criminals" from "people with mental illness". They are two completely different things.
Take away and regulate guns from sane, law abiding citizens because the insane, mentally ill and criminals can't safely handle them.
DeleteMakes perfect sense to a liberal.
I've figured out who Rush is: He'a Rick Randall
DeleteNext, they bring up one’s right to protect their family against intruders.(Who would want to do that? Let 'em rape my 5 year old daughter.) But even if read with one eye shut by candlelight, it remains easy to see that the Second Amendment is not speaking on the individual level. “A well-regulated militia” does not refer to one paranoid fool protecting his flat-screen.
Rick Randall
________
Written in the same irrational manner as Rush would scribe.
Criminals are law abiding citizens until convicted of a crime. By law, an insane person is sane until adjudicated insane. Until someone actually commits a crime and is convicted or until a person is actually adjudicated insane, there is nothing preventing them from legally obtaining a gun. There is also no crystal ball to determine which gun purchaser will become a criminal or go insane.
DeleteCareful dotnet, making such a reasonable comment might cause certain people to have some sort of nervous breakdown.
DeleteConvicted? You must be nuts. You don't have to be convicted of a crime to be a criminal.
DeleteA person's prior conduct is a good predictor of a person's future conduct.
That's why I worry about Rush. You can tell he's done a lot of stupid stuff in his life.
What did I tell you?
DeleteA few weeks ago Stab posted something one of our mutual Facebook acquaintances, Stephen T Wishnevsky, posted. I'm sharing some more of his prose today. It was shared with the world on Facebook so I hope he doesn't mind. It is unfortunate that he doesn't write LTEs anymore, but he still provides great political commentary on social media
ReplyDeleteThinking about the "Goodle Daze" We were East Coast, kind of right wing hippies, not your real pacifists. New England Factory kids. My mob always had guns, you could get a high-powered rifle for twenty bucks in any antique store. A day's pay, same as a bag of weed.
We liked to have a gun or two in the pad, no 911, then, we didn't have a phone anyway. Not to mention the real amount of violence, Black riots, all sorts of asshole revolutionaries running around, plus the cops were kind of itchy.
People you knew getting drafted to Vietnam all the time, 12,000 dead a year, something like that. And these jerks are threatening Revolution? Been there, done that. It was stupid.
Then we got into black powder, just for fun, and they were cheap and stone legal. And then model rockets and some other fun pyrotechnics that would send Homeland Security into a frenzy today.
That was before we all moved to the country, where guns were everywhere.
So don't assume, just because i think the NRA is a bunch of rabble rousing fools, that i am anti-gun, hate guns, or don't know how to shoot. Dig it.
AWESOME note, thanks for sharing Wordly!
DeleteGood AM, folks, and yes, thank you, Wordly. Wish is an interesting thinker, frequently far to my left sometimes, but often even-handed, moderate, and sensible. His offerings are often profound, certainly refreshing from the usual "I just off work/taking my dog out to pee" kinds of pronouncements on FB.
DeleteOIC...if Wish is far to your left on something, he is not being even-handed, moderate and sensible...like you are when you get onto your you-know-what or Clinton things. Just a gentle reminder that there is always a mirror around somewhere.
DeleteAgree that Wish is "interesting". He is a transplanted Yankee who has been through many hard knocks, but, as his piece quoted above shows, an original thinker. I wish everyone could hear him do one of his performance poetry pieces, but I think he's pretty much retired from that biz.
I only see him now and then theses days, but when I do, the conversation picks up right where it left off last time. And he and I both know how to shoot, and even better, when.
Yes, to your first paragraph, as I believe in real Freedom of Choice when it comes to U-know-what, seems moderate to me; and the Clinton pair are immoderate liars. And Hillary's "Village" book was ghostwritten.
DeleteActually, Wish frequently does a good job of presenting positions with which I disagree, appears to be a pragmatic sort of "progressive," thoughtful, perhaps a latter day Eric Hoffer?
Hoffer, a good comparison...might be.
DeletePlease name me a politician (current) who is not an immoderate liar. Better yet, furnish some actual proof about your Clinton claim.
Hillary: Bosnian sniper fire, named after Sir Edmund, "I don't recall."
DeleteWillard: Lewinsky lies, alleged Republican Medicare cut that wasn't; Dem Sen Bob Kerrey citing him as "an unusually good liar."
How about something other than trivia...
DeleteMaybe on the level of a phony encounter in the Gulf of Tonkin and the "light at the end of the tunnel", or Watergate, or Iran/Contra, or Iraq having WMD...something on that level for a change.
Good afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: I am really ready to move on from this topic. I agree the defense against the govt argument is silly, however, SCOTUS has affirmed the 2nd as a right for personal defense against those who threaten harm. Mr. Randall's hunting argument is as inane as those who say the fed govt. is prohibited from doing anything not explicitly permitted in the Constitution.
LTE 2: Abortion, another tiresome topic. Ms. Vaughn is correct that abortions will occur regardless of its legal status just as they occurred prior to Roe vs. Wade. "...they would support universal birth control and reproductive education." - I would add "free" to universal birth control. With the use of free universal birth control, abortions actually would be relegated for cases of rape (although you'd think a rapist would use a condom to reduce the chances of DNA recovery) or grave discoveries in the fetal development.
LTE 3: Late night monologues would have plenty of material from the proposals of the NC legislaures. Unfortunately, it's no laughing matter for those of us who live here and have to suffer the consequences of what they enact into law. A proposal has already been passed to lower unemployment benefits to $350 / wk for 26 weeks, which means thousands may soon find themselves without any money to pay their bills unless a miracle happens and companies come rushing in with job offers. Why do R's hate the poor, the unemployed and education?
LTE 4: Even more guns. I must admit to being a bit curious what pct of crimes involved guns that were actually obtained illegally. The guns used in the most noteworthy mass killings were apparently obtained legally (I don't consider using guns available for use by any family member to be "stealing"). Felons are prohibited from owning guns, but in a private sale, who's to know unless the seller is acquainted with the buyer? I find a little irony in Mr. Kirkpatrick wanting the 2nd to be left alone while desiring to modify the 1st to limit entertainment violence. A dialogue concerning the relevance of the 2nd and how it should be implemented in the 21st century is clearly needed if sane people can be found to have the discussion.
Dick "Landslide For Romney" Morris has also been dropped by Fox News.
ReplyDeleteYes, they are ridding themselves of their most egregious crazies and liars, hoping that no one will notice their subtler lies...might work.
ReplyDeleteMuch ado is made about Fox's high ratings, but one has to remember that those are cable channel ratings.
The vast majority of Americans get their news from broadcast network news. Fox has no broadcast network news. ABC, NBC and CBS combined for a little over 108 million viewers in January. Compare that to Fox's top cable show, O'Reilly, which had about 2.9 million viewers in January. In fact, all of the Fox cable shows combine had fewer than 15 million viewers, about half as many as last place CBS on the broadcast side.
Lies...you have the audacity to accuse others of lying? I'll bet the court reporter even snickers when you come into court Rush.
DeleteTilt..&%$#%^@#$%!
Pssst..by the way, how did juvie court go today, Rush? I'll bet everyone in here would like to know how that big stolen bicycle case turned out.
DeleteFoxNews still beats out CNN, the most liberal name in news, by a long shot.
DeleteLittle league.
DeletePenny ante "thoughts" from a penny ante "person".
January TV News Audience:
NBC about 40.3 million
ABC about 37.7 million
CBS about 31.4 million
Fox about 15 million
The news about Morris reminds me of Rove's desparate "analysis" on election night. I was reminded of Hitler moving retreating or non-existent armies and army groups around his plotting table while the Sovs encircled Berlin. He had General Wenck's army coming from this direction, Schoener's from another, etc. All the relief efforts were products of febrile imagination. Whatever forces existed were headed west to surrender to the Western Allies instead of the vengeful Sovs.
DeleteRove's plotting of a few uncounted precincts was similar. By the time Rove came up with his scenario, all trends pointed toward Obama's victory. Every toss-up state had gone "blue." And Romney would have had to run the table in remaining western toss-up and too-close-to-call states.
"desparate" should be "desperate."
DeleteKarl Rove and Dick Morris both ran a con game, but Rove at least conned billionaires.
DeleteGG, from last night…you sound just like every counselor I ever talked to…if anything, they were more enthusiastic about GRP than the kids were, and that is saying something.
ReplyDeleteWhen our older son came back from his first stint there, he wouldn't shut up for weeks…Green River this…Green River that…nearly drove his little brother crazy with envy.
We never knew Cathy except through one of Fam's sons, who still talks about her as if she were the goddess of the forest…they were there the very first summer…helped build the climbing wall at the lodge.
Hillary's book It Takes A Village is one of the truest books ever written. We are thankful that GRP became a part of our sons' village.
Quote of the Day #1
ReplyDeleteTry the entirety of Phargo's 5:52 AM. What a way to start the day!
Quote of the Day #2
ReplyDeleteAdd gg's 9:15 AM about the difference between criminals and the mentally ill.
Quote of the Day #3
ReplyDelete"Take away and regulate guns from sane, law abiding citizens because the insane, mentally ill and criminals can't safely handle them."
Nobody is advocating, nor is anyone going to advocate, taking guns away from any legal owner…that is simply paranoid hysteria.
The same gibberish, parroted day after day by the same fool.
Quote of the Day #4
ReplyDelete"A person's prior conduct is a good predictor of a person's future conduct."
If that were true, most of the boys and some of the girls that I grew up with would be sitting down in Central Prison. One of the baddest boys in Ardmore grew up to become a highly respected captain on the WSPD. Another retired recently as the minister of one of our fair city's leading churches.
Reminds me of Chester Gould's "Dick Tracy Crimestopper's Textbook". Over the years, Gould gave a lot of good advice there about how to live a safe and fear free life.
But all too often he fell into Tiny-like nonsense, especially when it came to spotting criminals by their appearance. I'll never forget the one about criminals having "beady eyes". We spent weeks checking out people's eyes for criminality. And guess what? Our school principal had beady eyes, just as we knew she would.
I have found in managing adults that relatively recent (going back a few years) conduct is often a good predictor of future conduct. However, as the decades pass, conduct in younger adult times may well be a much less accurate marker, using myself as an example.
DeleteAgree. And you can add me and my friends as examples as well. We did the best we could to make it to jail, but never quite did and learned a great deal along the way.
DeleteNow we just break speed limits, run stop signs and try to cheat on our taxes...the three cornerstones of the American dream in the 21st century.
Quote of the Day #5
ReplyDeleteSee Wordly's 8:24 AM. Some of the best posts ever today.
Quote of the Day #6
ReplyDelete"FoxNews still beats out CNN, the most liberal name in news, by a long shot."
Mindless trivia from the most trivial of all. Cable news is trivia for the trivial. In fact, anyone who gets their news from TV, even the broadcast networks, is wading in very shallow water.
As to the allegation that CNN is "the most liberal name in news", note that no evidence is shown to back it up, and also note that that comes from a "person" who makes fascists look "liberal".
BTW, CNN has seen its ratings numbers in free fall for some time now, but in January, they actually beat out MSNBC. Hmmm...
Check out what is going on in Tunisia, a civilized country with one of the highest education levels in the Muslim world. They have tried really hard to build a new democratic state, but they seem to have the same problem that we have, a small, but determined faction of religious fruitcakes that will stop at nothing to control everyone else:
ReplyDeleteReligious Terrorism