Hallway to Nowhere

Tag: gun control

  • It’s Time To Stop Saying “Senseless Shooting”

    After reading about 2 mass shootings in 2 different cities within 13 hours with a total of 29 people dead, I want to suggest that it is now way past time to stop calling these “senseless shootings”. From the virulent anti-immigrant manifesto penned by El Paso shooter, it is quite obvious that this was done for a very specific reason. It was calculated to target, kill, and further inspire terror in the greater Hispanic community at large and (he hoped) encourage them to flee the country.  Not random and not senseless. The motives for the Dayton, Ohio shooter were not as clearly or as neatly laid out, but it is known that he made out a hit list earlier.  So he definitely had this on on his mind. It also was not a random, senseless act, even if those killed were. The act itself was planned.

    A mass shooting takes forethought. It requires that you gain access to the weapons, conceal the weapons, and bring the weapons to the venue where the killing will take place. This in itself is prima facie evidence that that mass shootings cannot be termed “senseless”. YOU might not get why someone does such an act, but there is always a reason. And lately? It is tied up somehow with politics. I’m getting really fed up with the “thoughts and prayers” response. I mean sure, DO THAT, but also pass EFFECTIVE GUN CONTROL LAWS WITH TEETH, TOO!

  • Stop Saying “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”

    Stop Saying “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”

    I recently had this exchange with a gun-rights person on FB. I’m very tired of hearing the “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people!” retort. That isn’t correct. People WITH GUNS kill people. And often, it followed by a false equivalency: people kill people with knives, too! You want to ban butter knives? Grrr….

    While I hold far more radical views on guns in society than most (see my earlier blog), I want to point out that there is reasonable legislation that has been rescinded by Trump (#NotMyPresident) (H.J. Res 40) which would have made background checks for those with mental illnesses more neccessary. In keeping with the gun-friendly era of Trump, Congress was in the process of passing a bill  (the Sportmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act) that would allow, among other things, the loosening of restrictions on transporting firearms across state lines, the classification of types of ammunition desgnated as “armor-piercing”, and the treatment of silencers as the equal to firearms, requiring only a fedral back-ground check. (The bill has not yet come to the floor in light of the Las Vegas shooting but still might later.)

    The point  I am trying to make is that gun-control laws do NOT attempt to ban all weapons, nor are law makers coming for your guns. (Let me point out to you that Obama was in office for TWO entire terms and never did he nor any federal agents come after your guns! This being said for the benefit of those of you who just knew that such would happen!) But there are some things that need to happen. Assault weapons do NOT need to be available to individuals. (If you read this and disagree, I invite you to leave a comment explaining to me WHY someone needs an assault rifle.) Everyone needs a background check, regardless of where and from whom they buy their weapon. And surely there needs to a limit on the number of weapons one person can own.

  • Radical Gun Proposal

    I’m going to make a radical proposal which will probably make those reading this post howl about the Second Amendment. Fine. When Obama was elected, I heard “Obama’s coming to take your guns!” Now it’s “Hillary’s coming to take your guns!” Here what I propose: the government-the federal government-SHOULD confiscate every firearm belonging to anyone, outside of those weapons legally issued to those employed as policemen (and after the coverage of recent shooting by police officers I have my doubts about the wisdom of this) or the military. If you are not in the militia, you DON’T need a gun. Period. This is not the colonial era, when you had to hunt for food. Yes, I know that people still hunt. And they enjoy doing that. So I’m making an arbitrary moral judgment here. (This is my blog, so I can.) But I believe that in this day and age, when gun violence is so widespread, that owning a gun for even hunting should be forbidden. I live in a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. It’s bucolic. Yet yesterday a man with a gun drove down the interstate randomly shooting at people. A woman was killed. I don’t want to hear “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” any longer. That’s simply not the case. The likelihood of violence dramatically increases when a gun is present. Guns don’t kill people. People WITH GUNS kill people.

    On a personal note, I want to address the idea put forth by a friend of mine that society would be safer if every household were armed, i.e. had a gun. However, studies show that guns are not likely to be used in self-defense and instead have a higher chance of being stolen, used for suicide, or ending in some form of accidental mishap. That’s research. If every household were like my landlord, for instance: sober, knowledgeable about guns and gun safety, responsible, serious about his duties as a citizen, sane, etc,, then perhaps I might concede her a point. But more households than I care to think about resemble the one seven blocks away, wherein dwell folks who are regularly visited by the cops for various illicit activities or the one down the street belonging to the man who informed me that I’m burning in hell due to being queer and a Jew. Do I feel safer, knowing THESE people could have guns? Hell, no!