Category: Guns

Shootings and Terrorism

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, Guns3 Comments

In the aftermath of yesterday’s tragic shooting in San Bernardino, where three shooters, one woman and two men, wearing fatigues, possible body-armor, and ski masks shot people at random, killing 14 and wounding another 17, officials said the following:

Terrorism cannot be ruled out

How in the world was this not terrorism? We have a word to describe three people committing premeditated mass murder at a facility for disabled people. That word is “Terrorism.”

Maybe it was not Islamic jihadist terrorism, but it was terrorism nonetheless.

The Colorado Springs shooter a few days ago was a Christian. The media didn’t call that terrorism either. Sorry folks. That, also, was terrorism, perpetrated by a Christian. I hate to say it. We have such a thing as Christian terrorism, and atheist terrorism, and batshit crazy nutcase terrorism.

But let’s all agree to calling it what it is:

Terrorism

 

Guns and Abortions

On By Norbert HauptIn Guns1 Comment

Found this on my Facebook feed – makes total sense to me:

How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion:

  • Mandatory 48-hour waiting period
  • Parental permission
  • A note from his doctor proving he understands what he’s about to do
  • Make him watch a video about the effects of gun violence

Then we close down all gun shops we can, so he has to travel hundreds of miles, take time off from work, just to get a gun. He’ll have to walk through gauntlets of people holding photos of loved ones who got killed in mass shootings. They’ll call him a murderer, beg him not to buy a gun, just because he is there.

It makes more sense to do this with gun buyers than with abortion seekers. No woman seeking an abortion has ever killed a room full of people in seconds.

 

Rumination on the Gun Debate

On By Norbert HauptIn GunsLeave a comment

A friend on Facebook posted this comment below the video of President Obama expressing anger about the lack of will in Congress to enact working gun laws:

This is bull shit!! What we need is harsher penalties for those who commit the crimes. We don’t need more gun control. Don’t change the gun laws, change the penalties for the crime!!

That had me pause. I happen to think we need stricter gun laws, and we desperately need a national registry for gun ownership. We already have one for social security, for income taxes, for FBI background checks; we have state registries for drivers licenses; we have private registries for credit reports, credit card ownership, and spending habits. We have an international registry for opinions: Facebook. It is my opinion that we need a national registry for gun ownership.

Now about harsher penalties for those who commit the crimes? The crime for  mass murder in many states is death, and in those states where the death penalty is not available, it’s life without parole. How are we going to make those harsher? I don’t get this argument.

Many mass shooters end up dead in the act anyway. They apparently walk into the crime knowing it’s a suicide mission. I just don’t believe that any pre-meditated mass shooter gives a single thought to the harshness of the penalty. He wants to have as many people as possible to go down with him, in his hate or confusion. Do we really believe he’d stop and draw a pro and con list and then decide not to do the crime because the threat of the death penalty?

This argument has also been used with rapists. Really? A rapist stops before the act and thinks about the consequences? If that really happened, there would be no more rapes.

Stricter gun laws, here they come!

Bill Gates up Against NRA?

On By Norbert HauptIn GunsLeave a comment

This article in Business Insider says in its headline: “Bill Gates Is Going Up Against The NRA”:

Bill Gates is opening up his considerable piggy bank in Silicon Valley’s fight against the National Rifle Association. The Microsoft billionaire donated $1 million to Initiative 594, which will require criminal background checks for firearm sales.

— Gregory Ferenstein

In this country, you need to pass criminal background check for many government service and private industry jobs. So what’s wrong with passing a criminal background check when you want to buy a weapon?

I just don’t get this. The NRA would garner much more credibility with me if its arguments made sense. This one, as well as the one that argues against a national registry of gun owners, just makes no sense to me.

We have a national registry for social security payers and recipients. We have one for taxpayers. We have one for the military. We have three (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union) for credit records. We have one for our baby pictures (Facebook). You can’t drive an automobile without having it registered with the state.

What again is the problem with a gun registry?

Guns are Forbidden at NRA Conventions – Really?

On By Norbert HauptIn Guns2 Comments

The NRA does not allow people to have firearms at NRA conventions. They blame this on the city or the venue.

The NRA is on national television telling us that more guns make our society safer.

If that is really true, and they really believe it, why don’t they encourage people to tote their guns to their meetings? They’d be the safest meetings of all.

The fact is that at least since 2010 their conventions were held in a place where attendees had to pass through metal detectors. Guns were forbidden.

Why?

Edit Correction 5/28/14: Someone commented below that I am wrong and at least at the 2013 convention carrying of firearms was allowed. I guess I was misinformed. My apologies for that.

Ted Nugent, Hating Freedom and the NRA

On By Norbert HauptIn Commentaries, Guns1 Comment

Ted Nugent keeps talking about people who hate America and hate freedom. This is an interesting twist of logic. If a person does not agree with the premise of a war that is viewed as illegitimate by most of the people of the world, as well as the people of the United States, and if a person does not agree with allowing assault rifles being openly available to anyone, including criminals, that person somehow HATES FREEDOM?

How does that logic work? We don’t all hate freedom just because we don’t agree with nuts like Ted Nugent.

Nugent is known for his sexist, homophobic,  racist, and anti-Latino comments.  Yet he is still one of the top directors of the NRA:

Some facts about NRA board member Nugent:

  • He thinks America might be better off had South won the Civil War.
  • Ted Nugent likes to use the n-word.
  • Ted Nugent has called President Obama “a piece of shit.”
  • Ted Nugent thinks Nancy Pelosi is “sub-human.”
  • He said that DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a “brain-dead idiot.”
  • Ted Nugent has called Hillary Clinton the c-word, a bitch and a whore.

What organization would tolerate a board member who is this offensive?

The NRA.

Now, let’s remind ourselves that this very Ted Nugent, this lover of freedom,  is also a person who dodged the draft for Vietnam in a most offensive way.

And this is the hero and celebrity board member of the NRA?

But I guess I hate freedom, so what do I know?