Imagine if you will that a company wants to introduce a new product to the U.S. market. It will have some perceived benefits but it is predicted that its use will result in the killing of 30,000 people every year, will injure many more others, and the human and economic costs of dealing with these deaths and many thousands of other non-fatal injuries resulting from that product’s use is incalculable. Would that company be allowed to market that product? Not in a heartbeat.
Or imagine that just this year a small town’s entire population of 30,000 was shot dead. And the same thing happened to another town the year before, and the year before that and so on. Next year the same thing will happen to another town, and the same again the next year, and so on. Entire towns’ populations wiped out. Do you think something would be done about it? Probably there would be an outcry so loud that the government could not ignore it?
Every year in the U.S, 30,000 people are killed by guns. Let me repeat that – 30,000. More people are killed in a single city – Chicago – than US soldiers in Afghanistan in the same period. More people by far were killed in that same city than in the whole of Europe, Australasia and Japan combined. More people are killed in the US in one year than the total number of US soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. More people are killed per year in the US than US soldiers were killed per year in Vietnam. In ten states this year more people have been killed by guns than in traffic accidents Every year the equivalent of a small town’s population is killed by guns.
It is estimated that in 2011 more than 15 million guns were sold in the U.S. Among those were automatic rifles that had been previously been restricted under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that was allowed to expire in 2004 and, under pressure from the NRA, never renewed. The Obama administration, in a spineless gesture towards the very people who would never vote for him anyway, declined to press the issue, instead dispensing a flurry of vapid platitudes. The Congress and the Administration had now agreed that people should have the “freedom” to buy formidably lethal weapons for which there is no beneficial use.
Taking full advantage of this NRA-driven government-sanctioned freedom, in July of this year, 2012, one James Holmes walked into a crowded theater and opened fire with an automatic rifle equipped with a 100 round magazine and other weapons. In seconds he had shot 70 people, 12 of whom died. Luckily the automatic rifle jammed after firing only 30 rounds or else the number of victims would have been much greater. Was the life of any one of these people worth the “freedom” to obtain weapons of this kind? Can anyone really answer yes to that question?
“Freedom” is a keystone concept for the NRA and its supporters. Prior to the last election Wayne LaPierre of the NRA said, “Americans will vote either to defend or surrender freedom in the most consequential national decision in U.S. history.” Unfortunately this kind of apocalyptic rubbish resonates with millions of people, and the NRA is now the most powerful lobbying organization at all levels of government. This has resulted in vast income for the gun manufacturers it is funded by, with, for example, Smith and Wesson making $53 million in profit for the first quarter of 2012 alone. Perhaps the NRA and its supporters should rethink “the most consequential decision in US history” as one that instead helps to stop the needless deaths of 30,000 US citizens every year.
We often hear the specious, intellectually-bankrupt proposition: “It is not guns that kill people; it is people that kill people”. It is pointless trying to work out how many people James Holmes would have killed if the only weapon available to him was a knife, as if his murderous intent was somehow totally divorced from his weapon of choice. James Holmes and others, like the kids at Columbine, appear to be functioning in some kind of bizarre “blaze of glory” mode of action that can only be enabled by the use of a weapon that can kill as many people as possible in a short space of time. It is a safe bet that James Holmes would not have made any attack at all in Aurora if his only choice of weapon was a knife, because that would have not made the same “statement”. In other words, the gun is as much a driver of the event as the mind of the killer himself, if not more so. There is an entire culture and mind-set built around guns, not the least of which is that they magically deliver power to those who for whatever reason feel powerless, and that is a very dangerous phenomenon.
Another perhaps more dangerous aspect of today’s gun culture is that reaching for and using a gun in entirely inappropriate circumstances has become common. And this option is supported by the NRA, its tame legislators, and other “freedom” advocates. The Trayvon Martin shooting, for example, was entirely avoidable. If George Zimmerman had not been carrying a gun, if he had let the police deal with the situation, if he had not decided that an appropriate response to someone punching you is shooting them – Trayvon Martin would still be alive. But none of this matters to the NRA and subsequent supporters of Zimmerman, because this kind of vigilantism is explicitly encouraged via NRA-promoted Stand Your Ground laws, and implicitly encouraged through the general culture surrounding gun ownership – the “freedom” to take the law into your own hands .
Below are just a few examples of what can occur as a result of the NRA’s “freedom”. To everyone in the NRA – I hope you can live with yourselves.
And a couple of links where more of this insanity is documented:
http://kidshootings.blogspot.com/
The tragic, the criminally stupid and the insane. None of it need have happened:
A 13-year-old girl was tragically shot to death in front of her younger sister and seven other children while riding a school bus Miami-Dade Police said today. Police have said a male student has been taken into custody but authorities did not release his name or age and said they are still interviewing him. A gun was also recovered at the scene in Homestead, south of Miami.
A Connecticut man shot a masked intruder to death yesterday — only to find out the person he killed was his 15-year-old son. Jeffrey Giuliano fired at his son Tyler at 1 a.m. in the tony town of New Fairfield as the teen was apparently trying to break into the home of a relative next door to his dad’s.
A man killed Monday evening in the Town of Superior when he was accidentally shot by his deer-hunting companion has been identified. The shooting victim is Garrett M. Carr, 27, of Oliver. His hunting companion was Michael F. Thomson, 31, of Superior. Thomson shot Carr when he mistook him for a deer, Dalbec said.
Three people were killed and four wounded when a gunman opened fire at a suburban Milwaukee spa Sunday, Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said. The suspect, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, was found dead inside the spa after a six-hour manhunt, Tushaus told the Associated Press.
A 9-year-old girl was shot outside a Halloween party by a male relative who mistook her for a skunk. She was spotted on a hillside around 8:30 p.m. wearing a black costume and black hat with a white tassel.
A 17-year-old was shot and killed by a hunter looking for coyote in St. Clair County. The teen was hunting deer on private property in Brockway Township Thursday when he was shot. The 24-year-old hunter who shot him says he saw movement in some brush and fired once, hitting the teen.
A 15-year old boy was killed in a dear hunting accident on Sunday in Dubois County. Officials say Nicholas Messmer was shot while hunting near Saint Anthony. Wildlife State Police say a gun was being lowered from a tree stand when it went off, and hit Messmer in the stomach.
24-year-old Joshua Hooper of Salt Lake City, Utah was target shooting with three family members in Manning Canyon. The four had just reloaded and were walking back to shoot when one of the family members unintentionally discharged his gun. Josh was shot in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
47-year-old Otis Hammock, of Dalton, Georgia was in his apartment with his wife, 47-year-old Tammie. He told police that Tammie was handing him his handgun when the gun unintentionally discharged, shooting Tammie in the head. Tammie was rushed to the hospital where she later died of her injuries.
20-year-old Chris Carter and his roommate, 21-year-old Phillip Villa were in their apartment in Fairbanks, Alaska. Carter was playing with a gun when he unintentionally discharged the weapon and shot Villa. Distraught over the shooting, Carter turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the chest. Both men were taken to the local hospital. Carter died of his injuries. Villa was transported to a hospital in Seattle where he is in critical but stable condition.
Sources say both men may have been consuming alcohol when the incident occurred.
When 15-year-old Nicholas King, of Indianapolis, Indiana knocked on the front door of his friend’s house, his friend opened the door and pointed a Romarm 7.62 rifle at him. His friend wanted to scare Nicholas and thinking the gun was unloaded, he pointed and pulled the trigger. The rifle fired and a round struck Nicholas in the neck. Paramedics were unable to revive the boy and he was pronounced dead at the scene.Two adults were in the house at the time of the shooting and they did not know there was a rifle in the home. The gun belonged to 18-year-old Kevin Edwards. Kevin let his 15-year-old stepbrother handle the gun. It was the stepbrother who shot and killed Nicholas. Nicholas’ father told reporters that he believes Kevin bought the gun off Craigslist. He said is was too easy for his son’s friend to get a gun.
Dear ArthurYankee.com: I have posted links to your three “Hey, Hey, NRA” commentaries on the homepage of DowntownAsheville.com, and will add others should you decide to continue to write on this important topic. Thank you for your facts, insights, outrage and courage to target the NRA as it helps to perpetuate this epidemic of gun violence in the US. Unfortunately, in Asheville, killers like to use knives as well; In the spring of 2012, following a bar fight, there was a triple mass stabbing. However, attempted murder and murder by gun remains the preferred weapon of choice in our neck of the woods, too, This craziness and unwillingness to change our laws must be addressed, particularly as advocated by the NRA, as you have commented. — Byron Belzak, publisher-editor of DowntownAsheville.com
Very interesting your one sided slant on the issue! Lets look at the thousands killed in auto accidents. In the state of TN alone, 2012 we have lost over 485 people to auto accidents, and more will happen on New Years Eve. Using your logic… All cars must be banned. The day before Sandy Hook, 12 people were killed by a guy with a knife, lets ban all knives.
Though it is against the law…You are welcome to drink & drive, until you kill several people and the judge decides,… you may not lose your car. You are welcome to buy as much booze as you want if you are over 21, but because some people have been killed by drunks…we MUST ban booze too, RIGHT?
And that pesky 1st Amendment about ‘Free speech’ (using your logic) we have to get rid of that one because too many kids have killed themselves due to what other kids have written about them on Facebook! You are welcome to say what ever you want in your blog and no matter how people you hurt you are free to write it, Sadly though useing your own words “Unfortunately this kind of apocalyptic rubbish resonates…”
In the hands of crazy people…STOLEN guns have been used in mass crimes such as Sandy Hook, the Mall shooting, the Spa shooting etc etc. The media will not show how many times a crime was stopped by someone with a gun! You are welcome to not own any kind of gun, but let me tell you I will. If your home is broken into you are welcome to call for someone WITH a
gun and PRAY they get there soon enough to save your backside and family. But I will take care of my family long before the police get to my house.
Oh, and that mall shooting? The gunmen stopped and ran off to kill himself, only when an armed citizen just pointed his gun at the crazy gunmen. The shooter at the school dropped his gun and went off to kill himself when the police sirens were heard, how many children would have been saved if just one person had a gun.
Below is something you, as well as most media, missed. With our news today… Death sells, Gun crime stories with tragic endings sell. But the good person with a gun that stops a bad person with a gun is lost in the media translation.
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San Antonio Theater Shooting
On Sunday December 17, 2012, 2 days after the CT shooting, a man went to a restaurant in San Antonio to kill his X-girlfriend. After he shot her, most of the people in the restaurant fled next door to a theater. The gunman followed them and entered the theater so he could shoot more people. He started shooting and people in the theater started running and screaming. It’s like the Aurora, CO theater story plus a restaurant!
Now aren’t you wondering why this isn’t a lead story in the national media along with the school shooting?
There was an off duty county deputy at the theater. SHE pulled out her gun and shot the man 4 times before he had a chance to kill anyone. So since this story makes the point that the best thing to stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun, the media is treating it like it never happened.
Only the local media covered it. The city is giving her a medal next week.
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Just thought you’d like to know.
I remain disgusted with the media’s deliberate attempt to whitewash news while at the same time creating their own narrative for whatever sinister reasons.
Thanks for your comments. To take your points one by one:
“Lets look at the thousands killed in auto accidents.” The comparison with cars is specious and not really worthy of serious discussion. Cars are, in general terms, necessary. Guns are, in general terms, unnecessary. But while we are on the topic:
The composition of fuel for vehicles is heavily regulated. Lead was banned from gasoline because it caused illness and death.
Seat belts are mandatory because not wearing them causes unnecessary injuries and fatalities.
Air bags are to all intents and purposes mandated by the government because they save unnecessary injuries and fatalities.
Autos are subject to government-mandated recalls if found to be dangerous.
Motorcycle helmets are mandatory in most states because they save unnecessary injuries and fatalities.
So by the standard applied to automobiles, guns would have been banned/recalled a long time ago. And you need formal training to drive a car and a license to prove you are competent to do so.
“The day before Sandy Hook, 12 people were killed by a guy with a knife”. No record of such an event exists. If you are referring to the event in China where a man attacked kids in a school with a knife, this is an example that actually supports gun-control legislation. China (even China!) has strict gun control laws and so the only weapon available to this man was a knife. Only one child was killed, not twelve, and the death toll would have been much higher if, as in the US, he had easy access to high-powered semi-automatic firearms.
“You are welcome to drink & drive, until you kill several people”. Really?!! I don’t know what the law in TN is, but the laws here regarding drinking and driving are very strict, and you can indeed have your license removed and easily end up in jail for some long period. Actually I would be happy to ban alcohol – after all, drugs are illegal. But that is another topic.
I am not going to waste time with “pesky 1st Amendment about ‘Free Speech’”.
“In the hands of crazy people…STOLEN guns have been used in mass crimes such as Sandy Hook, the Mall shooting, the Spa shooting etc etc.” You make my point for me: guns are now so prevalent and unrestricted and easy to obtain either legally or illegally, that anyone, whether a felon or mentally ill or under-age, etc. (even terrorists), can obtain one or more.
“STOLEN guns have been used in mass crimes such as Sandy Hook”. It may suit your needs to, as you put it, ‘create your own narrative’ about Sandy Hook, but to call those weapons ‘stolen’ is just a distortion of the truth. When they are in your own home and you have over a long period of time been encouraged to use them, it is a stretch to characterize them as ‘stolen’ as though Adam Lanza broke into someone else’s house to acquire them.
“If your home is broken into you are welcome to call for someone WITH a gun and PRAY they get there soon enough to save your backside and family. But I will take care of my family long before the police get to my house.” In recent weeks there have been two events that roughly correspond to your scenario:
In one, a man produced a gun when armed attackers entered his motel room. He did shoot one of the attackers but also shot a completely innocent person who was nearby. He himself was also shot dead. There are reasons why the police advise against taking on armed intruders.
In another, unarmed burglars shot a woman with her own rifle they found in the house (presumably there for self-defense) after getting into an altercation. In other words a non-lethal situation turned into a lethal one due to the presence of the weapon you would have at hand.
A couple of other points on this:
Mrs Lanza professed exactly the same sentiments as you do. And look where that got us. Were those kid’s lives worth it? No way.
Again from analysis of recent events, these scenarios you are suggesting are far outnumbered by deaths from:
Accidental shootings, including those of small children
Shootings during arguments within families or between neighbors
In other words, if you keep a gun in your house it is far more likely that you or someone close to you will suffer death or injury from it, or will cause death or injury with it, than you are going to encounter some situation in which it will save your life. And just recently someone who decided to “take care of my family long before the police get to my house” shot his own son. A completely unnecessary killing by someone just like you.
“Oh, and that mall shooting? The gunmen stopped and ran off to kill himself, only when an armed citizen just pointed his gun at the crazy gunmen (sic).” Once again, you, the NRA, and people like Alex Jones have chosen the ‘narrative’ that best suits your purpose. Mr Nick Meli certainly claims that he aimed his gun at Roberts, but he is actually mentioned in very few of the reports on the incident, including that of the sheriff. I can find no other witnesses to the event who mention him and the cause and effect he claims. Most attribute Roberts’ retreat to the arrival of the police (within a minute of the first 911 call), and maybe the fact that he had run out of ammunition.
But this is beside the point anyway. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Mr Nick Meli had indeed shot Roberts. By that time Roberts had already fired 60 rounds of ammunition from his AR-15 (luckily he appears to be have been a really bad shot). And this is the point – Roberts, like Adam Lanza, like the shooter in Aurora, like the shooter who killed the firefighters in NY, could easily acquire a deadly efficient high capacity killing machine that is only available to them because of the NRA and people like you. And no matter how many guards you put in schools and other places, people with these weapons can kill so quickly that those guards are likely to be able to intervene only after many people are already dead or wounded (if they themselves are not also shot). It is now only a question of how soon another similar tragedy will occur, not if it will.
“How many children would have been saved if just one person had a gun”. Maybe some. As noted above, maybe none. Maybe more would be killed in a cross-fire between shooter and ‘person with a gun’. There were armed guards at Columbine and Virginia Tech. How many were saved because of their presence? None. And, to belabor the point even further, if the shooters did not have access to guns (as they do not in most advanced countries of the world), we would not be discussing this, and a lot of kids would still be alive.
“With our news today… Death sells”. Yes it does, it sells guns. Fear sells guns. Resentment sells guns. Anger sells guns. Conspiracy theories sell guns.
“San Antonio Theater Shooting”. It was actually pretty widely reported; as one example, the very liberal Huffington Post carried the story. But there is also the recent story of the security guard who shot and killed a woman in front of her kids after she was alleged to been shoplifting in a Wal-Mart. And I don’t see that one being touted by folks like you as a good reason to have armed guards in every school, or place of business.
And yet again (and again and again), if the shooter in San Antonio had not had a gun, the event would not have occurred as it did. It is indisputable that the widespread possession of guns leads to deadly outcomes for innocent people. The person who might have shot Roberts in the mall may be the next person who gets angry with his ex-wife or girlfriend and starts shooting in a restaurant in San Antonio, a spa in Milwaukee, a hotel in Las Vegas, etc. In fact, assuming we don’t live in an inner city area amid the carnage of gang/drug warfare, we are most likely to die from a gun death in one of the following situations:
A domestic or other intra-family argument
An accident in which a gun fires unexpectedly killing the shooter or someone else
A child picks up an unattended loaded weapon and kills themselves or someone else
An argument with a neighbor
An argument with a stranger (road rage, for example)
Someone in a gun owner’s family takes the gun(s) and shoots one or more people for no good reason.
There is a solution for all this, and it is not adding more guns and armed people in every home, school, church, hospital, or place of business. After all, it was not all that long ago that a US President was shot while surrounded by highly trained armed guards.
“I remain disgusted with the media’s deliberate attempt to whitewash news while at the same time creating their own narrative for whatever sinister reasons.” Oh dear, here we go. Someone disagrees with your views and it is because there is a conspiracy engineered by one or all of the liberal media, the government, the UN, George Soros, etc. There is no conspiracy, just some people, rather belatedly, asking some common sense questions. However, there is ample and incontrovertible evidence of a long, sustained and well-financed campaign by the NRA to get us into this tragic mess.