massacre |ˈmasikər|
noun
an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people: the attack was described as a cold-blooded massacre
This is a continuance of two Facebook discussions.
The first regarding this person, and his views as-reported in the media:
http://gawker.com/...
The second, regarding the words of the POTUS, gun control, and for-profit prisons.
The words of the POTUS:
“The politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now,” Mr. Obama said. “Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
I've spent the past 2 hours reading DKos diaries and comments directing people to lobby the POTUS, Congress, and their State/Local legislatures for strict gun control, and to take personal action.
1a) Pass Dianne Feinstein's AWB II - as authored.
1b) Pass a national gun limit, including a long long long waiting period. A full year for your first gun. Another full year, and true "justification" for your second (and last) gun.
"I want it." No.
"I need it." Why?
"I carry money." Don't.
"I live in a high crime area." Move.
"I have a high risk job." Change jobs.
If you get the idea that no "justfication" is adequate, but we couldn't actually write that down without repealing the Second Amendment?
Golly. Who knew.
2) Handgun ban.
3) Magazine ban.
4) Total re-write as to what you can own, where you may use, and how you store said firearm.
5) Join one of the several national anti-gun groups and put an end to this form of event.
I patently disagree. It's dog-whistle politics.
Do 9 Black lives matter? Yes, yes they do indeed.
So did the one life of James Byrd Junior.
Was the commonality between those incidents, white against black homicide with depraved indifference? Yes.
Was the gun used in both incidents similar?
In easy-gun 1998 Texas, there was no gun.
There was, plenty of racist hatred. There still is, and it's not just Texas.
To Charleston, and Emanuel AME Church:
The racist bastard who slaughtered peaceable churchgoers, had a website, and published a manifesto.
Per our Government, and certainly the flummoxed Mitch McConnell, there was a pressing need to re-authorize ALL of the USA PATRIOT Act, including any means necessary for continuing the domestic spying program.
I'll accept that logic, if you can point to where this young man was on a NO GUN 4 U list, due to his publicly visible racist internet publication.
hashtags: MitchFAIL, NSAFAIL
I'll accept a complete re-write of the US Gun laws... if we're honest about it.
We're going to need Fifth Amendment taking.
A whole lot of it "for public benefit".
That might be tough, as the same USA PATRIOT Act basically massacred the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
Then again, this is a perfect time for legislative sausage-making.
Restore the Bill of Rights, border-to-border, and then move with your "taking clause".
Why we would need a taking is plainly obvious.
Legislating background checks, gun safes, trigger locks, ammunition registry, ammunition limits, total bans on certain classes of firearms?
(Federally-licensed automatics, all semi-automatics, all hunting rifles, shotguns with more than 4 round capacity, and of course all handguns*)
Will do exactly JACK SHIT about getting the millions of guns out of American homes.
*that's the UK banned list
New York City used-to bemoan the "easy guns" coming from Virginia.
What about the easy guns coming from home burglaries in NY, NJ, PA, and CT?
A gun safe would prevent that.
Here's one that's CA-compliant.
It would take me under 2 minutes to TAKE this "safe" with battery powered tools.
Lag bolt it to the studs, and I take the studs too. Lag bolt it to your floor, and I saw the floor.
Don't ask how long it would take to breach this "safe".
We'll mandate a heavy safe. 1000 pound requirement.
I've seen evidence of a tow truck being used to steal a thousand pound safe from a parking lot kiosk style bank. Smash, wrap cable, drag it down the street. (pre-flatbed days)
So, unless we ban power tools and private vehicles?
It's more feel-good politics.
NB: I am a proponent of safe storage, and preventing firearms from being casually accessed by minors, and those deemed incompetent.
But. "We've done something."
YES. Yes indeed. We've carefully avoided the real issues.
#1 in Charleston, and many other places: Racism.
#2 co-equal in all of America, and the real reason for the POTUS to renew his call for gun action:
Gun violence. Gang mentality.
Persons killing persons of color. Including the Police, who use "too many guns" as justification for shooting the unarmed.
Poverty. Lack of educational opportunity. Lack of meaningful employment.
(privatized for-profit) Prison as a foregone conclusion.
We'll warehouse young men of color, rather than address inner-city issues.
We'll ignore the lack of remedies to family issues, how that manifests in education, how a lack of education manifests in a lack of job skills.
How a lack of meaningful employment, is directly impactful upon families of the poor (regardless of color), adds to the fracture of families, the raising of children in single-parent or foster-care environments.
How criminality is an alternative commerce, gang-life is an alternative to family.
We'll create a political divide.
One where side A insists that rehabilitation, community service, and gun prohibitions are key.
Side B insists that more prisons, less alternatives to incarceration, more mandatory sentencing, and no gun control are key.
We'll compromise.
Youth offender alternative sentencing, with no change to the underlying causative issues. Once you turn 18, your failures at alternative sentencing can be used as due cause for your first lengthy incarceration.
We'll make "gun-free zones" and "illegal possession" laws.
We'll ban certain size magazines, and certain caliber firearms.
We'll demand a national Firearms ID card - and prohibit using it as a national Voter ID card.
We won't address the criminality as alternative to legitimate (taxable) commerce. Particularly as it profits the 'justice' and prison industries.
The "why" of the gun, is less important than the "what".
We'll insist: No guns = no crimes.
When that's pointedly refuted, we'll claim moral high ground and insist:
"we must, at least, try a total ban".
TOTC.
We'll come to other compromises.
We'll fund the Center for Disease Control to do a study:
"Guns, Crime, and Morbidity in socio-economically depressed areas."
We won't seek to formulate an action plan.
Rather, we'll study 100 cases, come to our usual, pre-conceived conclusions, and change none of the societal behaviors outlined at the top.
Zounds!
100 carefully selected cases... each fitting a particular narrative.
Science dude, you can't refute science.
We'll fund at a 100x rate, new privatized prisons. It's not about the money, it's about "safety".
We'll cite the CDC study and make new mandatory sentencing laws.
5 years for gun trafficking. 10 years for gang-related gun trafficking.
"Double-life without parole" for a gun-related murder.
(The for-profit prison may legally double-bill for that bunk).
Nothing will change in a positive, substantive manner, until those societal issues at the top are addressed.
Not the least of which is functional parents in the house, not incarcerated in The Big House.
In my opinion, the TPP and Trade Adjustment Assistance 'displaced worker allowance' will exacerbate the issue. Economic despair will reach more Americans, and soon.
That alone, gives the Government due cause to remove the guns from your home now.
Before you hammer them in to pitchforks, and use the gunpowder as torch fuel.
It's not about the money, it's never about the money. It's about our safety.
Question is, who's this 'our' and would we recognize him/her in the mirror.
I suspect not.